The prospect of catching the next big thing in hip-hop attracted a few hundred people to the Vogue Sunday night.

The Cool Kids rewarded the audience's curiosity with an unpolished but endearing tribute to the vibrant past and anything-goes present of rap music.

Riding red-hot buzz built on the Internet, Michigan native Chuck Inglish and Chicago-based Mikey Rocks are set to issue their debut EP, "The Bake Sale," May 20.

In the context of landmark MC duos, the Cool Kids split their workload more evenly than Public Enemy's Chuck D and Flavor Flav and they're more collaborative than Outkast's Andre 3000 and Big Boi.

When rhyming in tandem at the Vogue on the topics of Fruity Pebbles cereal and Sega gaming systems, Rocks executed a smooth flow while Inglish's harsh, bullhorn voice provided balance.

Inglish and Rocks aren't snobs when evaluating the hip-hop canon, as NWA's "F - - - tha Police" and Kriss Kross' "Jump" were quoted with equal reverence when used as departure points for Cool Kids originals.

What's defined as fresh in the Cool Kids universe? Touting themselves as "a new black version of the Beastie Boys" and a roadie who documents concerts with a Polaroid self-developing camera.

Rocks and Inglish are comfortable mashing up current fads with outdated trends. "Gold and a Pager" -- a song tailor-made for a mainstream breakthrough -- features its title repeated in today's low-and-slow "chopped and screwed" treatment while lyrics focus on being beeped (rather than called on a cell phone) and thick necklaces that swing from "here to there."

The necklace Inglish wore at the Vogue wasn't particularly thick, but he earned style points for an eyeglasses-shaped medallion attached to the chain. He wore a Notorious B.I.G. T-shirt, while Rocks sported a grey-and-red cardigan sweater over a T-shirt that advertised the long-running flossing empire of Gucci.

Rocks showed off the best wordplay of the night during an a cappella rendition of "Action Figures" (a track currently available for free download at the Cool Kids' MySpace.com profile).

"Crooked cops are the biggest gang on the block," he stated in the tune, which also cleverly alluded to a classic De La Soul album. "It's like T-bones on the top shelf: The steaks is high."

Some of the Circle City's brightest MCs did their thing before the Cool Kids arrived onstage. Class of 93's Alpha distinguished himself as a self-described "verbal mathematician," and Skittles of the Mudkids shared his steady, clutch-time talents as a guest of the Twilight Sentinels.

Sentinels MC Joe Harvey summed up the night's parade of hip-hop goodness within the song "Smoke Screen." If a listener wasn't feeling it, he guessed he or she must have a "heart made of Novocaine and chicken livers."