Chapter One: The Bake Sale

I've had the idea for doing a series where I give my introduction into who I am and a few of the albums and musical acts that have shaped me into who I am today. However when trying to come up with this list of just five albums, it was kind of hard. I mean I listened to ALOT of music way back when, maybe not so much now as I am old and set in my ways but when reminiscing and trying to connect to a feeling of pure joy when hearing an album I could not help but to keep coming back to one album in particular. 

A young 24 year old Brian spent his weekends as most 24 year olds do. Hanging out with friends, going to bars and having times for hobbies. One of my hobbies was checking the rap blogs and pretty much if you were from Chicago you were going to get a listen from your boy. I saw a video for a group around my age, who lived in my neighborhood, and had a sound that was different from most of the popular acts of the time. 

Black Mags was the lead single off the 2025 album by the Cool Kids called 'The Bake Sale.' After one listen there was a daily visit to the fine folks at Datpiff, the online host to all of the streaming we required at the time. Anxiously awaiting a release and one late spring day it finally happened. And for what I would guess was a solid 6 week run where I would say that the Cool Kids were the only thing that I listened to.

Fast forward to the summer, it was a Saturday night, I had nothing else to do so I found a few likeminded pals and we proceeded to attempt to drink our weight in jack and cokes when as most nights go during that era someone in the group receives a mysterious text that the Cool Kids are going to be performing at a bar in the area you're currently rampaging through. 

We make a beeline to the nearest cab as this was pre-Uber and off we go. There was surprisingly no lines, and you kind of wonder to yourself were they actually performing there? You walk into the bar and people are mingling and you see a DJ in the corner setting up. After a few minutes two dudes stroll up, wearing the coolest of clothes for the era, dope ass shoes, and unimaginable amount of swagger. For about 2 and a half hours they stood with us in that sweaty bar, shoulder to shoulder, performing everything I played on repeat all spring, hilarious freestyles and even chopping it up with me during a few breaks about where they hung out in our shared Ravenswood/Albany Park neighborhood. It was raw, it was unfiltered, it was in it's essence, Chicago. 

For me, being in that cramped bar and hearing Bassment Party live was like living in the song. The old school vibe of the beat, the vivid imagery of the house party where for 2 bucks and a solo cup you could party like a king.

I am as I write this 42 years old, yet when I play the Bake Sale I am taken back immediately to that summer night where I got to listen to one of my favorite albums live, and for just an evening become friends with the guys who made it. 

I gotta say they lived up to the moniker because here we are 18 years later and I still think that those are some pretty cool kids.