The Cool Kids, Flosstradamus, The Party

As if Kanye West, Common and Lupe Fiasco weren't enough proof on their own, you still need more examples before you'll buy into the fact that Chicago is where it's at right now in the world of hip-hop?

OK, then: Meet Flosstradamus and The Cool Kids. Both duos call Chicago home, and both carry themselves with a swagger that can only come when you've got the thumbs-up approval of pretty much every music mag in the nation. The Cool Kids are the main draw here, offering an '80s-inspired, Hypercolor-toting, hipster-approved update on the tenets of underground hip-hop, with members Mickey Rocks and Chuck Inglish trading barbs about girls, parties and, well, Chicago, over minimalistic beats. Paired with the DJ duo of Flosstradamus as an undercard act/pre-packaged party instigation system, this night looks to be less the "Throw your hands in the air and wave them like you just don't care" affair and more of a dance party deal.

So it makes sense then that local DJ troupe The Party—the closest thing Texas has to its own Flosstradamus—has been tapped to open the evening.