Cool Kids Cover Snoop and Skee-Lo at Old School Lollapalooza Show

If the enthusiastic hometown reception for the Cool Kids is any indication, hip-hop's future is firmly rooted in its past. Harkening back to an era of two turntables and a microphone — and adding one more mike for good measure — the tag-team MCs rhymed playful raps for the everyman. There were no hype men or brand-name call-outs — just catchy refrains, solid beat-boxing and an undeniably good rapport between Chuck Inglish and Mikey Rocks. The pair told jokes and shared a story about Magic Johnson, then celebrated summer with a medley of Snoop Dogg, ODB and Skee-Lo hits. Arm-waving fans mouthed the words to the Kids' "A Little Bit Cooler," "Black Mags" and "What It Is" as if the tracks were already old-school scripture.

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Song Stories

“Tonight's the Night”

The Shirelles | 1960

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."

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