Heroes for the new hip-hop generation

The Gym Class Heroes aren’t yet a household name. But with 350,000 MySpace friends, 1.7 million web pages mentioning their work and the hearts and minds of most of MTV’s “TRL”-watching population, the up-and-coming alt-hip-hop band are well on their way.

In the midst of their 40-city “Daryl Hall for President” tour — a reference to ’80s pop/R&B/adult contemporary duo Hall & Oates, which is almost certainly lost on most of their fans — the band has hit several cities, including Boston, where they recently played a sold-out show along with openers k-os, P.O.S. and RX Bandits.

Formed in 1997 by frontman Travis McCoy and drummer Matt McGinley, who met in a high school gym class in Geneva, NY, the Heroes remain true to their roots of pubescent awkwardness — down-to-earth, sarcastic and self-deprecating boys next door.

The group is part of a growing number of hip-hop acts that prefer live instruments and a mélange of musical genres to pre-recorded beats and the conventional sounds of mainstream hip-hop.

“It took a lot of work to get people to hear us because our music doesn’t fit into a nice little package, and that’s what they’re used to,” explained McGinley. “Our music is rooted in hip-hop but not restricted by hip-hop — and that’s what makes it stand out.”

Each of the four Heroes brings his own influences to the collective style of the group, sounds ranging from KRS-One to Jimi Hendrix, The Pharcyde to the Beatles. The result is a genre that serves as a gateway for emo kids and pop-punk fiends to the drug known as hip-hop — a genre true hip-hop heads might find too diluted for their taste.

But that doesn’t stop the Gym Class Heroes from staying on their grind.

The band released four independent albums — “Hed Candy” (1999), “Greasy Kids Stuff” (2000), “For the Kids” (2001) and “Papercut Chronicles EP” (2004) — gaining a small but strong fan following along the way. In addition, the band played Warped Tour in 2003 and 2004 as they gained popularity. In 2004, the present incarnation of the Gym Class Heroes materialized with the addition of guitarist Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo and bassist Eric Roberts to the group.

“We played every bar, party and community event that we could,” said McGinley. “Travis and I decided that we were really committed to making this thing happen, and eight years later we were signed.”

Now the band is playing shows alongside the likes of Nas, Erykah Badu and Pharrell. Though their success has been eight years in the making, the band’s rise to fame occurred virtually overnight.

“Taxi Driver,” a track off of the “Papercut Chronicles” EP, shouts out a variety of indie rock and emo bands, including the wildly popular Chicago outfit Fall Out Boy, whose bassist and lead vocalist Pete Wentz heard the track and met with McCoy. Later, Wentz helped sign the Heroes to his label, Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen Records, which re-released “Papercut Chronicles” with more widespread distribution.

The label also released the Heroes’ most recent album, “As Cruel As School Children,” in 2006. The mellow sounds and witty, humorous lyrics on the album are reminiscent of classic lighthearted hip-hop, a raunchier mixed-genre throwback to the likes of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince circa “Rock the House.”

With tracks such as “New Friend Request,” which unfolds the tale of unrequited MySpace love, “Scandalous Scholastics,” about an affair between a schoolboy and his ultra-hot teacher, and “Shoot Down the Stars,” which serves as an inspirational account of starting out as an unknown high school band with big dreams, “As Cruel As School Children” was created to be the anthem for high schoolers on the sidelines. The tracks are even listed as class periods rather than being numbered.

The most popular single off of the album is the warm and fuzzy “Cupid’s Chokehold,” which is currently in heavy rotation on MTV and has broken the top ten on Billboard Hot 100 list.

“We’ve built up our fan base through touring. But now that we’re on TV and can reach out to so many fans, the success is really surreal,” said Lumumba-Kasongo, who dropped out of Cornell University to join the band.

“The success is something we’ve all worked really hard to achieve,” added McGinley. “It makes you think about things, though — if people you meet are genuine or just trying to get something from you.”

While McGinley ponders that question, he and the rest of the Heroes will wrap up their tour at the end of April — in all likelihood with an even greater legion of fans than they had when they boarded their tour bus.

In a time when focusing on the trials and tribulations of high school is a welcome change to the heavy subjects in the media, the Gym Class Heroes are a must-listen to bring back the old-school flavor of hip-hop that does anything but take itself too seriously.