Was I Too Hyped? - A Review of âWhen Fish Ride Bicyclesâ, The Cool Kids
As someone whoâs been a fan of The Cool Kids since the first time I saw that Rhapsody commercial with âBlack Magsâ, Iâve gotta say their first commercial release was a huge letdown for me on a lot of levels.
First, Iâll say that I gave it a 3, but even that, I feel, is me giving them a little too much credit; I wish I could give it 2.5 stars instead.
Like I said before, Iâve been a longtime fan of Chuck and Mikey (Cool Kids faithful since â07); I remember bumping âThe Bake Saleâ EP along with N.E.R.D.âs âSeeing Soundsâ in my car the summer before my senior year, which were two albums that really shaped who I was at that point in time. They were not only a soundtrack for my summer, but for an awkward 17-year-old kid who had a lot of emotions to deal with and who didnât really believe in the power of hip-hop anymore, so much so that he quit listening to the radio that year. âBake Saleâ is still so influential on me today that a few years ago, I wrote it down as one of my top 10 contenders for favorite albums of all-time, saying âThis album put my faith back in hip-hopâ. Obviously, this make for big shoes to fill.
Soon after âBake Saleâ, I heard the news of âWhen Fish Ride Bicyclesâ. Obviously, I was ecstatic, but every few months itâd keep getting pushed back, compounding the frustration each time. I started to build it up, putting it on a platform and thinking maybe it was gonna end up like âDetoxâ or how âLasersâ was. I was really excited when they got with Green Label Sound because they seemed to maintain their style and direction while also having âBicyclesâ moving forward. Over the years, âBicyclesâ stalled and they released some mixtapes; some I felt were good (âThatâs Stupidâ, âRocks Reportâ), others not so much (âGone Fishingâ, âTackleboxâ). The biggest problems I noticed were around when âGone Fishingâ dropped: Don Cannon and the Cool Kids own style.
Something changed. When they teamed up with Cannon, Chuck and Mikey didnât feel familiar anymore. Their style altered and not for the better. For one thing, Chuckâs production style feltâŠwrong. It went from generally upbeat, 80âČs-90âČs-esque, simple and bass-heavy in all the right places to just feeling like something I might hear on the radio. Now itâs very slowed down and bass-heavy all the time, like he was making this while he was doped up. That also leads me to my next point, which is their lyrics.
One of the biggest reasons I became a Cool Kids fan was their lyrics: they were real without always being about sex, drugs and violence, which was a big thing for me when I first heard them. They just told stories and talked about partying, having fun, dancing with good-looking women, cool shit and just generally about how they were fly BECAUSE they were different. Now, all thatâs largely gone out the window; when you go from making âDelivery Manâ (where you specifically say youâre not talking about moving "work," but working an actual job) to âCell Dopeâ (a song which only talks about how you have so many cell phones and jewels that people will think youâre drug trafficking), thereâs a problem and a clear deviation from what you used to stand for as an artist & where you are now. The lyrics no longer contain any sense of depth or meaning to them, if not at least creativity. Everything is weed, alcohol, sex, money, jewels and cars. And to a certain degree, thatâs fine if you wanna rap about that (although donât expect to be a favorite of mine), but it hurts to see that transformation of Chuck and Mikey before me.
My final knock on them is their delivery. While itâs always been a bit more laid-back than others, I felt it was an intentional thing and that when needed, they could be more evocative, particularly Mikey. Now theyâre both so laid-back, I can hardly tell which one is which if Iâm not paying attention, something I imagine is a result of their self-proclaimed copious weed usage. If nothing else, they used to at least change up their flows from time to time; now, itâs all the same the entire album, which makes it extremely boring, monotonous and hard to listen to.
Now, Iâve been talking about their traits in general for the past 3 or so years. With regards to this album, I find little else has changed. But it does give me a small grain of hope. Itâs definitely more tolerable than âTackleboxâ or âGone Fishingâ on the production front. Thereâs more beats that actually stand out here than on most anything theyâve come out with since â08. âRush Hourâ crescendos to a head-bopping hook; âBoominââ is gets good after about 0:35; âSour Applesâ (one of the few solid whole tracks on the album) makes good use of the synth to add a stinging sensation to what theyâre saying; âGas Stationâ was perfect for an accompanying Bun B to be on and itâs one of my favorite tracks here; âSummer Jamâ (probably the most mature and perfectly tailored beat here since the Neptunes produced it) makes you wish summer were already here. Still, âGMCâ is reminiscent of the tracks I donât want to hear from them, and âGet Rightâ reminds me of N.E.R.D.âs âNothingâ (since it too was Neptunes-produced), although thatâs not necessarily a good thing.
Another flaw, is I find myself tending to just listen to the hooks then tune out the rest of the tracks, which is really only a problem because the songs I always want to hear them on have the chorus start no more than 45-50 seconds into the song, so Iâll put up with that, listen to the hook and either skip or zone out. The biggest offender is âPenny Hardawayâ, which has a great hookâŠand thatâs about it. I also would call out âRush Hourâ except their chorus at least has the decency to start at the 1:00 mark exactly.
I think my biggest problem however, is that I keep finding my favorite parts of the album are generally the features. From Tennilleâs light-hearted singing on the chorus of âBoominââ to Bun B laying it down on âGas Stationâ to the posse cut âRoll Callâ which actually makes me like Asher Roth. Hell, Ghostfaceâs verse on âPenny Hardawayâ doesnât really do much for me, but I just like it because it at least sounds different!
There are some solid all-around tracks. âSour Applesâ was tight with the production and Mikey actually comes correct lyrically; I already spoke on behalf of âGas Stationâ; âSummer Jamâ, with its fun, airy feel as well as Maxine Ashley absolutely demolishing the hook by fluctuating between intensity and mistiness in her voice to emulate summerâs lingering heat, shows Chuck and Mikey at their most playful (lyrically and flow-wise) and is probably their second-best track behind âBundle Upâ. Which brings me to âBundle Upâ. Itâs easily the best song on the album and the one I play most often on repeat. Production, lyrically, technically, content-wise - itâs the best executed cut and most reminiscent of their previous work, namely âDelivery Manâ, for a good number of reasons.
Like âDelivery Manâ, it was a single released and promoted through Green Label Sound. It was actually the first single off the album, and it contains that fun-loving âIâm cool because I say I am, which makes me cooler than youâ feel they always used to have about them. Does it make a lot of sense, outside of an extended metaphor for how cool they are? Not really. Does it matter? Of course not! âThis is our style, so deal with itâ is the message theyâre trying to deliver. And that all brings me back to my statement of me being hopeful because of this album, because after years of not seeing anything reminiscent of the artists I fell in love with as a weird kid just trying to have fun with his friends in the summer, Iâm starting to see some glimmers of hope. And that thrills me.
At about 39:40, the recordâs only 7:20 longer than âThe Bake Saleâ, which is criminal considering how long itâs been in the making and an unverifiable feeling that I bought âBake Saleâ for $5. Besides that, the album is a semi-solid debut studio album from a group that Iâm now hoping moves back towards what got them such a loyal fanbase in the beginning.
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