The Cool Kids are to hip-hop what Wilco is to rock: different, better, smarter.They’re superindie, having gone from dropping beats on myspace to build their hardcore fanbase to now starting to cross over into sorta mainstream radio and video play (in fact, I just heard this track on kexp.org , right beofre Moby stopped in for a guest DJ set).

The Cool Kids get heads nodding with the backpack crowd with a sound as rooted in old school as modern hippity-hoppity, but some of their subject matter is supernerdy; witness the shoutouts in the above song “A Little Bit Cooler” to Star Wars belts and eating Fruity Pebbles (mmm… purple milk…) . More importantly, there’s an awesome homage to Street Fighter at the tail end of the track. Jump 1:32 in to hear the duo rap about playing SF on a Sega Genesis, closing with a sweet beatbox imitation of SF sounds. Street Fighter, Street Fighter!