Hip-hop duo Cool Kids garner buzz from MySpace

NEW YORK (Billboard) - The past few months have been very good to Chicago's Cool Kids.


After emerging from MySpace onto the national scene last summer, the hip-hop duo recently scored its first chart ink with the EP "The Bake Sale," which hit No. 152 on the Billboard 200.


The EP was initially released on the duo's own C.A.K.E. imprint last October but is out now via indie label Chocolate Industries, to which Cool Kids signed late last year.


The Cool Kids joined forces in 2005, when Evan "Chuck Inglish" Ingersoll found Antoine "Mikey Rocks" Reed on MySpace. Since then, they've been releasing tracks via the social networking site.


Further mainstream inroads were made late last year when their song "Black Mags" appeared in a Rhapsody TV ad. The track has sold 45,000 digital downloads in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.


"Our sound is basically us not wanting to grow up musically and still trying to make music that excited us when we were younger," Ingersoll says. "It's just us having fun with music. I think that's where we shine, because we don't have an intention of creating a particular sound."


Beyond online banners and radio spots, Chocolate Industries is making sure Cool Kids are on a busy tour schedule that includes opening for female British vocalist M.I.A., spot dates on the hip-hop Rock the Bells tour, a European run, and a hometown appearance at Lollapalooza in August.


Before year's end, the group is planning to release its full-length Chocolate Industries debut, "When Fish Ride Bicycles." To tide fans over, a new mixtape, "That's Stupid," is being planned for a summer release on coolxkids.com.