A rapper fronting a live band could crack the same mid-2000s audience that was buying pop-punk records, and Gym Class Heroes did exactly that. Travie McCoy and drummer Matt McGinley met in gym class at Geneva High School in upstate New York when they were 14, and started the band in 1997. The Papercut Chronicles (2005) and As Cruel As School Children (2006) built the run, and "Cupid's Chokehold" reached No. 4 in the U.S. "Stereo Hearts" later matched it at No. 4, and The Papercut Chronicles II followed in 2011.
After that came a long quiet stretch. The Rochester Music Hall of Fame inducted McCoy and the band in 2025, and in 2026 they came back with "Universal Language," their first new single since 2011 and the first taste of a new album, then spent September and October on the Back to Basics Tour across the U.S., co-headlining with Lupe Fiasco, with B.o.B in support.