It was the summer of 2012. If you were anywhere near a computer, you probably heard that rattling, bass-heavy beat and the high-pitched, confident flow of a group of kids from Minneapolis. The hot cheetos and takis song wasn't just a viral fluke; it was a cultural reset for the early 2010s internet. It was catchy. It was wholesome. It was, honestly, better than half the stuff on the radio at the time.
Most people remember the hook. "Hot Cheetos and Takis, Hot Cheetos and Takis / I can't get enough of these Hot Cheetos and Takis." It was a simple ode to the snack staples of every corner store, but the polish on the track was what caught everyone off guard. This wasn't just kids playing around with a GarageBand loop. It was a professional-grade banger that eventually landed on Rolling Stone’s list of the best songs of the year.
The Beats and Rhymes Origin Story
The song didn't come out of a major label boardroom. It came out of a YMCA. Specifically, the North Community YMCA Youth & Teen Enrichment Center in North Minneapolis. The kids—known as the Y.N.RichKids—were part of a program called "Beats and Rhymes."
This wasn't some daycare where kids just colored and waited for their parents. Beats and Rhymes was an after-school program designed to teach kids about music production, songwriting, and performance as a reward for staying on top of their schoolwork. By the time the hot cheetos and takis song blew up, the program had already quietly produced eight albums.
The kids involved, like Frizzy Free (Freeman Hickman), Ben 10, Fly Guy, Lady J, G-6, and Nas, were mostly between the ages of 10 and 13. They wrote their own lyrics. They worked with YMCA staff who acted more as facilitators than "producers" in the traditional sense.
The video itself was shot at Wally’s Foods on Penn Avenue North. It cost almost nothing to make, yet it garnered over a million views in its first week. Famous comedians like Aziz Ansari and Hannibal Buress tweeted it out, and suddenly, these kids from North Minneapolis were the biggest thing on the web.
Why the Hot Cheetos and Takis Song Still Matters
You've gotta wonder why this specific track outlived a million other viral memes.
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Kinda comes down to the quality. The beat, produced by the YMCA staff, was actually hard. It had that crisp, Southern-influenced trap sound that was just beginning to dominate the charts. But the real magic was in the verses. Each kid had a distinct personality.
- Frizzy Free came in with that "Where them mosquitoes at?" line that everyone quoted.
- Ben 10 (Rapper #5) had a flow that was genuinely sophisticated for a pre-teen.
- The group dynamic felt real—because it was. They were classmates and friends from the Nellie Stone Johnson Community School.
The song also tapped into a very specific, universal childhood experience. Every kid has that one snack they’re obsessed with. The red-stained fingers mentioned in the lyrics? That’s a badge of honor for anyone who grew up eating spicy snacks.
The Controversy: Who Actually Got Paid?
Success brought drama. It’s the oldest story in the music business, but it hits harder when it involves 11-year-olds. As the video climbed toward 10 million views, questions started popping up about the money.
The song was available for purchase on iTunes, and the YouTube ads were rolling. However, because the track was created within a YMCA program, the legalities were messy. The parents of the Y.N.RichKids eventually voiced their frustration, claiming the kids hadn't seen a dime from the digital downloads or the ad revenue.
The YMCA maintained that the money went back into the program to keep it running for other kids. This friction led to a split. The group rebranded as Da Rich Kidzz and moved under new management.
They eventually landed a massive payday through a Kmart back-to-school campaign. If you were watching TV in 2013, you probably saw them in "The School Bus is My Limo" commercials. They even got Screen Actors Guild (SAG) cards, which meant they were finally getting those residual checks and building college funds.
From Snack Songs to Broccoli: The Legacy
The Y.N.RichKids didn't just stop at snacks. They paved the way for other youth-led musical movements in Minneapolis.
In 2016, a different group of kids from the same area—working with a nonprofit called Appetite for Change—released a "sequel" of sorts called "Grow Food." The song featured the line: "Screaming Hot Cheetos and Takis, but you better eat your broccoli." It was a clever nod to the original, using the same viral energy to talk about food justice and healthy eating in "food deserts" where fresh produce is harder to find than a bag of chips.
Where Are They Now?
It's been over a decade. The kids from the hot cheetos and takis song are all in their 20s now. Some stayed in the music scene, while others moved on to regular lives.
- Freeman Hickman (Frizzy Free) has continued to release music under the name Frizzy.
- The Beats and Rhymes program is still a legendary part of Minneapolis history, showing how after-school programs can change lives when they actually respect kids' interests.
Looking back, the song represents a specific era of the internet—before TikTok made everything feel manufactured. It was just a group of kids who really, really liked their snacks and happened to be incredibly talented at rapping about them.
Next Steps for the Nostalgic:
- Check out the official "Grow Food" video by Appetite for Change to see how the next generation of Minneapolis kids used the same blueprint for social change.
- Search for Da Rich Kidzz on streaming platforms to hear their later work, including the tracks "My Bike" and "The Business," which show how their skills evolved after the initial viral explosion.
- Support local after-school arts programs like the one at the North Community YMCA, as these initiatives are often the first to lose funding despite proving they can produce world-class talent.