When you get down to it, Cool Kids is more like a crew of socio-philosophical pranksters than a hip-hop outfit. Think about it – these guys have come to be accepted as a paragon of cool by laying tracks about haircuts, lasers, and grocery stores on top of beats and production that could be largely reproduced on a mid-80’s department store keyboard/sampler combo. Not exactly the archetypal version of hip-hop cool, at least not the 2010 edition. That said, everyone who gets Cool Kids is of the opinion that the traditional swagger trappings don’t necessarily fit the bill, anyway. Like so much music that comes in from the outside, Cool Kids reject your notions of cool and substitute their own, and they do it so well that laid-back, velveeta raps about how fly they are become pretty damn convincing. NICHOLAS HALL

Tue., March 9, 8 p.m., 2010