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Cool Kids Party Like It's 1989 at Black Cat

"Mikey Rocks" Reed (white hat) and "Chuck Inglish" Ingersoll. (By Michael Temchine For The Washington Post)

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"I think we should go back like 20 -- or a couple years back," said Ingersoll, who is from a Detroit suburb. (Reed is from suburban Chicago.)

The group's deejay obliged, going back 14 years to drop Notorious B.I.G.'s debut single, "Juicy," over which Ingersoll and Reed repeated Biggie's lyrics about reading Word Up magazine, with "Salt-N-Pepa and Heavy D up in the limousine/Hangin' pictures on my wall/Every Saturday, 'Rap Attack,' Mr. Magic, Marley Marl."

Two golden-era rap revivalists getting nostalgic during a song about nostalgia: very meta.

They also rapped along to Ice Cube's "It Was a Good Day," a song about a good day that transpired some 15 years ago.

But not all of the songs were about a bygone era. There was a Cool Kids original about tricked-out BMX bikes ("Black Mags"), another about the very concept of coolness ("A Little Bit Cooler"), plus one about a party with a playlist heavy on 2 Live Crew-style Miami bass music ("Bassment Party").

And in "Gettin' It," the Kids cleverly referenced a thoroughly modern rap single by Hurricane Chris, declaring: "The Cool Kids in the sandbox, y'all can't play/Sayin ABC's, not 'A Bay Bay.' "

Then again, that same song did include a decidedly anachronistic line about throwing "it in the air/like I didn't care."

The Cool Kids: 1988's next big thing, 20 years too late.

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