Friday, May 28th

So yesterday was my 3 year wedding anniversary with my wife. I'm a very happy and lucky man, and I'm thankful every day. We were out at dinner last night reminiscing about the good times and particularly about our wedding day, and we got to talking about the special wedding mix CD that we made to commemorate the occasion. It's a mix that we gave out to all the people that attended, and is just a cross section of records that we love. We both picked out the songs - although she had more of a hand in the choices than I did - and we both completed the mix together. So this is a joint thing, crafted with love. She suggested that I put the mix up for others to enjoy...

We started the mix with the East Of Underground version of "I Love You For All Seasons" which was actually the song that we had our first dance to. Most people probably know the original version by DC soul trio The Fuzz. But my wife fell head over heels by the rare EOU version and so that's the one we used. Truth be told, I didn't have the original vinyl when we made the mix, but I ponied up a couple months later for a copy - which cost me a cold $1000+. But you got to pay to play, man hahah... Thankfully she understood the sentimental significance of me owning the OG. Nevertheless, here's the mix. I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it!

Sydney & Cosmo: Love, Life & Music - 2007

East Of Underground "I Love You For All Seasons"
The Dramatics "Whacha See Is Whacha Get"
Detroit Emeralds "Baby Let Me Take You (In My Arms)"
Funk Factory "Rien Ne Va Plus"
Quincy Jones "Body Heat"
Bootsy Collins "I'd Rather Be With You"
D'Angelo "Lady"
Raphael Saadiq "Still Ray"
Robin Thicke "Lost Without You"
Zapp "Computer Love"
Chris Brown "Yo (Excuse Me Miss" (Black Chiney Remix)
The Gap Band "Yearning For Your Love"
Donny Hathaway "Love, Love, Love"
Shuggie Otis "Island Letter"
A Tribe Called Quest "Bonita Applebum" (Hootie Mix)
Earth, Wind & Fire "Devotion" (Live Version)
Rick James "Moon Child"
Stevie Wonder "As"
Bill Withers "Lovely Day"
Taana Gardner "Heartbeat"
De La Soul "Buddy" (Native Tongues Remix)
The Isley Brothers "For The Love Of You"
One Way "Cutie Pie"
Tom Tom Club "Genius Of Love"
James Brown "That's My Desire"

Happy anniversary, hon! You're the best! - XOXO, Cos...

Thursday, May 27th

Last night I went to check my homie Rich Medina at Le Poisson Rouge which is the brand new home of his long-running night with DJ Akalepse. Anyone who goes out in NY knows that Wednesday's at APT was always the jumpoff, and now that APT is closed it's a good thing that Rich and the crew have a new home. Lil Ricky's is an all-time classic party and a New York institution, so long live Wednesday nights. Which brings me to the next point - me and Rich are spinning this Friday at Deity in Brooklyn. For those that don't know, Deity is one of the best spots in Brooklyn and it's also my local watering hole so I'm fully down with it.

The fact of the matter is I'm pretty hyped about this. You see me and Rich go back a long time, probably going on 15 years at this point easy. I remember the first time I met the dude, back when he was still working "on the plantation" as he would call it, he used to come into Armand's Records where I worked and cop vinyl from me. Here's this tall lanky motherfusker with a high-top fade coming in buying indie hip-hop. A couple snaps back and forth and we were friends instantly.

In 1997 I started a new party with my dude Jack Boogie and my best friend Rahnon and it was an immediate success. I used to bring in my friends and local DJs as well as some bigger named DJs to do guest spots on Monday nights. Rich was one of the first and most frequent. By this time he already kind of started to develop a distinctive sound as a DJ. About a year into doing the party, I was in a car accident that almost ended my life. While many of my so-called friends took this time to either distance themselves from me or to find an opportunity to use my misfortune to their benefit, Rich stepped up to bat. While I was hospitalized Rich took over The Remedy's operations and DJing and kept it afloat. All without paying himself a dime. Him and Rahnon held it down and so later on that year, when I was able to return to work, I was returning to a lively scene that was better than ever. But the story doesn't end there...

Rich Medina, Rahnon Motley, Cosmo Baker (with backpacks, son)

After I returned and for the next several years with me and Rich as partners in this music thing, we really changed the game. I can say that right now and with all humility that I can muster say that we were doing things and had a scene that was unlike anything that had come before. Our roots planted firmly in hip-hop and funk but we were really all over the map. Anything was game and our people were extremely loyal. Before we knew it we had a monster on our hands, basically the illest party that I could have imagined.

Rich cutting up doubles of D.I.T.C. while Kurupt freestyled on the mic. Me playing Gary Numan "Cars" while Andre 3000 and Big Boi danced alongside some of Philly's finest dancers. Rich DJing for Slum Village while they performed right on the dancefloor for my birthday party, me and Baatin (RIP) sharing wine from a jug that he brought for the occasion. Me beatboxing on the mic while Goldie played dubplates in a surprise set, later on watching a pre-solo career Justin Timberlake dance to doubles of James Brown "Mind Power." Rich being the very first person up in the clubs that I saw that would have the whole room of hip-hop heads rocking to a 12 minute Fela Kuti jam - yeah, it all went down there in Philadelphia, at Fluid "University," at The Remedy, with me a Rich. And ask anyone who knows about that last hour of the night - that pretty much made people want to switch careers straight up.

Jack Boogie, Rich Medina, Cosmo Baker

So yeah, out of the 90s and into the 00s we went and eventually Rich and I broke off into our own directions and the party ended around the time I moved to New York (and ended up helping start yet another legendary party, The Rub.) But although we both have garnered our own levels of success there's so much that is lent to that extremely pivotal era of my career, those several years where we went all out every Monday night in Philly. And remaining friends for so long we've always talked about making another run at this grand old RX215 thing. So this Friday at Deity in Brooklyn, it's going down. Hope you can make it - we fin to get it cracking up in there.

Prince Paul, Cosmo Baker, Rich Medina

A few years ago me and Rich did a one-off at Fluid and it proved to be an amazing time. My homies over at The Fader magazine decided to ask me a few questions about the night, it's history and whatnot, the music, and they still have that interview up on their site. That's where I got all these photos from. Anyway, check the article out here: Doing It Well.

Cosmo Baker spins records while Jazzy Jeff works lights.

Also, I found this article that the homie Bobbito wrote about The Remedy back in 2001. Granted he's the homie and he spun at the spot a few times so it might be a little biased, but nah man fisk that this is the real haha. But for real though it's kind of a glowing and apt description of the energy.

Foglights in the Front - By Bobbito (Originally published on www.360hiphop.com March 16, 2001 )
__________________________________________________

Sick of the bullshit? Your favorite hip-hop purist provides the Remedy while waxing poetic about the charms of Illadelph.

by Bobbito

Let me say that Illadelph has it going on, to the pumpkin-pie-delicious-smell level. I've been one of the rotating guest DJs along with Cash Money (the hip-hop relevant one) at Club Fluid on 4th Street off of South Street. The jam is called the Remedy with resident DJs Cosmo and Big Rich Medina, and has been going down funk-hard on Monday nights for the last three years. It is, without question, a hip-hop paradise, the dopest continuous weekly hip-hop (the cultural reference, not the abused meaning) jam in the United States that I've been to since Payday's in New York back in 1988-9. It took them a second, early on, to clear out the radio-programmed club clientele but since then the place is chock full of HEADS, female and male, who shit, wipe, and dental floss hip-hop.

The crowd wants to hear album cuts, early releases, indies, old school, and originals; Anything that remotely fits into the realm of what hip-hop should be, they slurp up like spaghetti pasta. What separates it from everything else is that people don't just stand and bop their heads like all the younger "I'm-down-with-the-underground-so-I-don't-dance" kids of the home hip-hop development generation. People move to rhythm in Philly, with their mind, neck, heart, knee joints, and toes. I can spin in Europe a thousand times and get the same amount of people to get on the dancefloor and move to unfamiliar music (in fact, the more obscure you go, the more the crowd responds). For that, Europe's hip-hop community gets mad love. They revere a DJ's ability to select. Stateside, most club-goers think you're a jukebox in the DJ booth, only playing mundane requests from radio and video playlists they're familiar with.

New York is no longer the home of hip-hop. It's home now is much more personalized, residing only in the hearts that know. Philly, or more specifically the constituents of Remedy, are all as open-minded as Europeans crowds. But I'm more satisfied, more rewarded when I spin there as opposed to Europe. People in Philly not only dance, they dance really well. And respectfully. And together. Normally, if I start spinning breaks at a spot, the b-boys in the room take over the dancefloor, demanding so much room for their circle that it kills the vibe for the other dancers who just simply enjoy dancing to breaks. At Remedy, the breakers share floor space with everyone. And in the circle, everyone else joins in: Capeira dancers, ex-house music dancers and just straight up nasty hip-hop dancers (yes, people forget, but you don't have to be a b-boy/b-girl to dance to hip hop and be nice with yours. It's supposed to be interpretative). I also like that the nicest breaker I've seen out of Philly is a women named Jewel. It's by no means a male dominated community as it is in most locales.

The other thing that separates Remedy from so many spots, at least here in New York, is the sound system. New York clubs have horrible sound in general. Club Fluid's has clarity, depth and power. You will feel the funk down to your marrow. If you live in New York, Jerusalem, Delaware or Southeastern Pennsylvania, make the trip Monday nights. If you are visiting Illadelph from out of town, make sure your travel itinerary includes a Monday night stay. Big Rich Medina and DJ Cosmo will make it worth your while, I promise. I've spun there almost 10 times now in the past three years and there has never been an off night. It's on like that (Ha-hot music, the hot music). To my DJ brethren, just imagine spinning at a club and playing JVC Force "Strong Island" and the crowd not only stays on the dance floor but knows the words. Or as KRS-One said, " I know a few understand what I'm talking about.

Peace and Blessings,

Bobbito aka Cucumber Slice

I'll leave it with some music - I posted this up back in February but I figured that it's probably a good time to repost it. It took place at The Remedy some time back in 1998 (or maybe 1999 actually...) This snippet is recorded live from the club with DJ Jazzy Jeff on the wheels with Black Thought, Common, Rehani and more spitting freestyles over "Love Rap" and "Mardi Gras. This is the way that it used to go down, son.

DJ Jazzy Jeff, Cosmo Baker & Rich Medina "Live @ The Remedy, 1998 Pt. 3, feat. Common, Black Thought, Rehani, Rasheed, Dice Raw, Scratch & more..."

 

Friday, May 21st

Happy Birthday to Christopher Wallace, better known as The Notorious B.I.G., and always known to me simply as Biggie Smalls. My favorite rapper of all time. And if you don't think he's the greatest rapper of all time, stop smoking that schitt.

I remember the first time I heard Biggie rap - I had just come home from buying the latest Heavy D & The Boyz record "Blue Funk" (A criminally underrated album by the way.) So I listened to the whole thing, and finally got to the last song on the album, the posse cut "A Buncha Ni66as" and heard this dude flow for the first time. He bodied the cut, even using the funny noise gimmick "Eeehhh" in his flow back then. But listening to the dude, you knew you were listening to greatness.

Heavy D & The Boyz "A Buncha Niggas feat. 3rd Eye, Rob-O, Guru, The Notorious B.I.G. & Busta Rhymes" (Uptown, 1992)

Over the course of the next couple years it was like every time you heard him drop a guest verse, whether it be on a Super Cat record or on a Mary J. Blige record, you knew you were listening to history being made. I'm a Philly dude, I'm not a native New Yorker, but listening to dude rap he was our champion doing it right before our eyes. Biggie Smalls songs were leaked all over mixtapes that we use to bring down from Harlem, and your man was a problem. Then the Big Mack promo dropped, complete in the old school styrofoam hamburger containers, and it was a wrap - nothing could stop Biggie. That was a mad exciting time for me and for everyone around me at the time, and for music in general. Of course he released 2 classic albums and changed rap history and will always be remember as one of - if not the - greatest rappers of all time (thank you Canibus for your one contribution to rap in your paltry career, the "March 9th" line.) But when I think of Biggie I always think of those early years. It was so exciting, and had so much electricity and promise. Miss that dude. There will never be another.

I did this remix a couple of years ago. Of course the original (both the original and the original remix) versions by Lord Finesse are classics. But I wanted to just do a little 21st Century update for the clubs, using the Flaming Arrow flip, and I had to painstakingly add in the samples from Doug E. Fresh and from The Last Poets as well. I always get a good reaction to this when I play it out. Hope you enjoy it.

The Notorious B.I.G. "Party And Bullshit (Cosmo Baker Remix)

01 Party And Bullshit (Cosmo Baker Remix) by cosmobaker

Thursday, May 20th

So I been on the run a bit this week - I just got back from Boston where I did a Sheen Bros show with my partner in crime 4th Pyramid and the man who holds it all together, the illustrious Tamir Z. Brown. It was great and I got the chance to rock with my homies from up in Boston, the one and only Kon as well as 7L & DJ Beyonder - collectively known as The BladeRunners. I'm going back up to Boston on Saturday to rock out with 7L again so it should be dope.

I forgot to drop this week's Breakbeat Tuesday so I'm gonna send this one out to Boston. I was actually trying to think of an artist that had a breakbeat that was a Boston native. I swear, the only thing that I could think of was Aerosmith "Walk This Way" and I am NOT about to get all up here on this site and talk about freaking Aerosmith and Walk This Way, son... Although this is a pretty dope video of them, with a fresh break at the front and Joe Perry going all in on the talk box circa 1977.

So I just decided to think out the box a little bit. This here is a song by Hamilton Bohannon, a drummer, songwriter and producer from Georgia. You probably know him from his biggest hit "Let's Start The Dance" which is like a 13 minute percussive disco stomper that just basically murders every dancefloor dead. Bohannon was born and raised in Georgia and, after getting a job as Stevie Wonder's tour drummer, settled in Detroit to work as a drummer and producer for Motown. After they relocated to Los Angeles, Bohannon stayed behind and released his first record, 1973's "Stop & Go" on Dakar Records, based out of Chicago. So how does that tie in with Boston?

 The Stop & Go record became really popular after it was sampled for Boston rapper Ed O.G. & Da Bulldogs (or should that be B.U.L.L.D.O.G.S. - Black United Leaders Living Directly On Groovin' Sounds) for 1991's "I Got To Have It. The amazing Awesome 2 aka Teddy Tedd & Special K as well as Joe Mansfield from The Vinyl Reanimators all have production credit for the song so I'm not sure who actually mined the sample. But it's dope not hype it's dope... I actually bought a copy of the vinyl about 10 years about from Tony Triple Double and Diplo (yeah, Diplo was way into old records before he became a club and techno superstar DJ. He still is though quiet as kept.) So yeah, there you go. In a roundabout way I guess this Bohannon record does rep Boston in a sense. At least it does in my Private Mind Garden. And yeah, I know it's not a "breakbeat" per se but whatever dude...

Bohannon "Singing A Song For My Mother" (Dakar, 1973)

Bonus beats from my homie Deep Sang out of Washington DC. There's obviously been a brand new disco movement happening for a few years now and DS has been one of the top dudes, along with the homie Meistro, holding it down in DC for a minute. He hit me off with this really tasteful and useful edit of Bohannon's "Let's Start The Dance" a few years ago and it's always gone over well with my dancefoors. You can check more about Deep Sang and his crew and how they hold it down in DC - shout to Dirty Bombs and also my man DJ Stylus - on his Soundcloud page. And also more music as well.

Bohannon "Let's Start The Dance" (Deep Sang's Edit) (CDR, 2008)

Sunday, May 16th

Rest In Peace Ronnie James Dio. A true master of metal and the creator of the "horn hands." Not only was Dio the one time front man of one of my favorite bands of all time, the almighty Black Sabbath, but in his own right he was a true music industry survivor, having been in bands for well over 50 years. That's an amazing feat in itself, not to mention the fact that dude went HARD for a vast majority of this years.

Black Sabbath was one of the first concerts that I saw when I was a kid, back in 1989 at the Tower Theater in Philly. It was a sans Dio, sans Ozzy performance, but still made a lasting impression on me, someone who is a lifelong fan. Any kind growing up at that time idolized Sabbath, especially any kid that was into graffiti. And to quote my man Eli Escobar, "Dude stepped into a vary hard postition to fill, and really killed it. Dude was that ill." Plus I have to admit that the album cover from "Holy Diver" scared the shit out of me when I was a kid.

Like I said, I've always been a huge Sabbath fan. Me and Pusher Matt and DJ Ayres and crew even created the Sabbath In The Park franchise in honor of one of the greatest groups of all time, and it transcended being a group and was more of a lifestyle thing I guess. I even made an all Sabbath mix in 2006 to reflect that mind state. Sad to say that when I did it I took a very "Pro Ozzy" stance and didn't include any of the Dio joints, but that's not to say that he didn't contribute anything to the legacy. Quite the contrary - was an integral part. Here's the mix, after some words:

It began with a dream, and now it is consumed in fire.

Back in 1989, my best friend Julio and I got tickets to see Black Sabbath perform at the Tower Theatre in Philadelphia. After weeks of anticipation and mental and physical preparation we got ready to set out on that fateful Friday evening to experience darkness in it's truest form. We stocked up on the supplies, including a half empty bottle of Old Grand Dad and a nickel bag of brown herb - which we had nothing to smoke it out of so we resorted to coring out an apple. We rode the EL train for miles and waited in line outside of the show in the cold, dark night. Once inside, we were bombarded by the loudest and most potent sounds I had ever heard in my young life. We were witnesses to all the power and glory that is Sabbath. Forever altered, we returned to Julio's house and broke out the guitars. After a few hours of trying to perfect "Iron Man" we eventually moved on to more challenging - but not as spiritually important - numbers like "Smoke On The Water."

Fast forward to the summer of 2006. Sabbath was in the air again. It had never left but at this time it seemed to be permeating through the collective consciousness of "the people." After weeks of publicly declaring my allegiance to Sabbath and insisting that we must take this one step further, together with Matt So Real, Sabbath In The Park was born. What was just a natural progression to us metamorphosed like pupa to chrysalis to moth. The flames burned a little hotter that night. Something was summoned that none of us could have expected, from both a deep dark place and from within ourselves. The spirit was now alive, MAD BEER was in effect, and it was going down, dudes.

After several successful events across the continent, facing and beating "The Man" (proving once and for all that the Power Of Sabbath is too much for man's puny "laws") and gaining devotees from all over the globe, we are now pleased to present SABBATH WICKED MIX 666. Recorded live amongst the throngs of evil and including special guest commentary from Austin's SXSW festival, come with us and live the dream, and bask within the fire of Sabbath.

And so with no further ado, I present to you, in the memory of the late great Ronnie James Dio, "Sabbath In The Park Wicked Mix 666."  74 Minutes of Guitar Licks & Darkness, mixed by Cosmo Baker. Rock on, Ronnie - HORNS UP!

Cosmo Baker's "Sabbath In The Park Wicked Mix 666"

Sabbath Wicked Mix Track List:
N.I.B.
The Wizard
Rat Salad
Supernaut
Gypsy Woman
Killing Yourself To Live
Looking For Today
Fairies Wear Boots feat. Sick Dog
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Children Of The Grave
Paranoid
Symptom Of The Universe VS Rob Scavone
Planet Caravan
Sabbath Volume 4 Radio Spot
An Interview With The Founders
Iron Man
A National Acrobat Meets The Queen The Canuck
Sweet Leaf feat. Pubes
Behind The Wall Of Sleep
Hand Of Doom
War Pigs

Thursday, May 13th

Stevie Wonder turns 60 today. I can't think of any living artist that embodies the term "legendary" more than him. It's beyond effort to try and classify him. He's a true national treasure. He is The Grand Canyon, and Mount Rushmore. He is the Statue Of Liberty and our "amber waves of grain." There should be a Stevie Wonder holiday. For those of you that live in New York, it's safe to say there already is one in a sense, thanks to DJ Spinna...

I once said in my bio that I have no desire to spin for any crowd that doesn't lose their collective schitt to the above song. That's as true today as when I said it. But I think that there might be no other artists that is more unifying than him. Even MJ, with the genius that was him, had his detractors because of his personal character sad to say.

I remember seeing both of these episodes when I was a kid - and in doing the math I know they must have been repeats because I wasn't even born when these shows were aired in 1972. But they definitely are worth repeating, PBS to me, and now me to you. I used to scoff at the "Cult Of Stevie" that would be running around. "How dare you lay claim to him. He's all mine and my connection to him is deeper yada yada yada..." But Stevie belongs to no one person, he's a once-in-a-lifetime gift to humanity, and his very being here in our universe helps hold it together in a sense. Stevie is the living embodiment that music makes the world a better place to live in, even though Stevie is so much larger than just his music. He belongs to none of us, and to all of us. "Happy birthday Stevie, happy birthday to you, HAPPY BIRTH-DAYYYY..."

"Didn't know that you would be jammin' until the break of dawn..." A selection:

Stevie Wonder "Black Man (Kay Sputnik Re-edit)" (Bipolar, 2007)

Tammi Terrell "All I Do Is Think About You"  (Motown, 1966)

The Brand New Heavies "I Don't Know Why I Love You (Tom Moulton Mix)" (Delicious, 2008)

Stevie Wonder "I Love Every Little Thing About You" (Tamla, 1972)

Sweet Blindness "Ain't No Use" (Celebration, 1976)

Stevie Wonder "Positivity feat. Aisha Morris (Ronson 68 Mix)" (Unreleased, 2005)

Stevie Wonder "Master Blaster (Jammin')" (Motown, 1980)

Wednesday, May 12th

Here's a few things. Number 1: About 20 minutes after I posted the Breakbeat Tuesday site post about Eugene McDaniels, I get an email from Left Rev McD's publicist. Like... really? Yes... really. Apparently some things are happening, and that is how they like to say "what is up." More on that to come...

Number 2 on this list would have to be this month's Rub Radio. Our friend Star Eyes joins us this month on Rub Radio, throwing down a fierce DJ set live at Bad Manor and talking to us about raves, her former job as editor of XLURB8R magazine, and her new job playing filthy bass music all over the world with her crew, Trouble and Bass. And as always, us Rub dudes play a bunch of our favorite jams for the hell of it.

Peep the trailer below, and of course the show can be heard in the dedicated Rub Radio widget at the top right of the page, or right here at http://scion.com/channel2

Scion Radio 17: May Star Eyes Interview Preview from Scion A/V on Vimeo.

Number 3 is this amazing speech from music writer Chris Weingarten. Like we're dealing with at least 14,000,000 LVLZ of on-point-ness up in this jawn. Real rap? Really really real rap, do not get it twisted. And this is applicable in so many ways, I can't even get started. Peep game:

* EDIT - I took down the embed link because Ippio has THE ABSOLUTE WORST website integration where it just automatically plays over and over again and you can't stop it. Regardless, you can check the Chris Weingarten speech right here - it's super good. And Ippio - change your schitt where you make the preferences for autoplay available to your users.

Last but not least I'll be in Boston TWICE this week - that's right, I'm back up there spreading some Cosmo love. Just have to make sure that I wear my Philadelphia Flyers flag high as a mother... Not saying, dudes. Just saying. Peep the events page for more info.

Tuesday, May 11th

First and foremost, I want to send a Rest In Peace shout to Lena Horne & Frank Frazetta. Two people from another generation who changed things by just doing them - no more and no less.

- Breakbeat Tuesday: A couple of days ago was my baby brother Walker's birthday so I want to give him a shout for that. Happy belated officially up pon the site, my dude. He's my brother but also he's the best dude in the world and that's real rap. We've always been close and it's tough not being with him on his birthday and just in general. But he truly is one of the most amazing dudes I've ever had the honor to know in my life. Kind, absolutely brilliant, and talented to a depth that I don't think that I can truly comprehend. Here's the sucker below, with our 2 sisters, our mom and yours truly.

So the other day I was having a bit of a twitter rampage - not in a bad sense really, but more in a reflective manner. So during my barrage of 140s I made the remark that this marks my 20th year in the game as being a DJ (thank you, thank you - hold your applause.) I'll probably reflect on that in the coming months, but I'm talking about The Dude here. So I was a DJ for the majority of Walker's childhood and adolescence and he's always been "into it" in a passive sense. I don't think he actually tried to DJ but after watching his older brother do his thing I know he installed turntables in his bedroom. We definitely share tastes and values as to what we like musically, which in a nutshell could be boiled down to various Moog records and The Beatnuts. And I'm sure a lot of it has to do with wanting to be just like his big brother. But in many ways he would try to emulate something that I would do and end up taking it so far and beyond that it surprised everyone. Case in point - he knew that I dug for old records. So one day when he got out of school, on his journey downtown he passed a yard sale that had records in it. He picked up a couple things including one funny looking record that had a guy screaming on the cover between to samurai for 50 cents. (50 fusking cents!)

My phenom of a brother had just brought home Eugene McDaniels freak-folk-funk power-piece "Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse" a tour-de-force concept album that was a complete departure from music that had been heard before or since. "The Left Rev Mc D" Eugene McDaniels, hailing from Kansas City, had already become an accomplished singer and songwriter by the mid 1960s, most notably with his song "100 Pounds Of Clay." And he saw continued success later on in life having penned such hits like Roberta Flack's "Feel Like Making Love" - which a lot of you younger folk might actually think is just a D'Angelo record.

But something happened in the mid to late 60s. The Vietnam war was in full swing and people were mad disillusioned and just generally fed up with things. Out of this environment McDaniels wrote "Compared To What" which was the first song on Roberta Flack's debut album. Later on that year Les McCann & Eddie Harris covered it for their "Swiss Movement" album, the recording of their performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The song was a runaway success, a simple protest song that took on a life of its own because it reflected the sentiments of the people and their frustrations with the direction our country was headed. And also because it was incredibly groovy. Check this video out, which after years of listening to this song, I never even knew it existed. COOKING...

So McDaniels signed onto Atlantic Records and proceeded to put out a couple of solo LPs. Both produced by the legendary Joel Dorn, the first of the two is "Outlaw" which was the first shot across the bow of Mc D's new freak-folk-funk sound and philosophy - a philosophy that possibly can be summed up by the simple liner notes of the album: "Under conditions of national emergency, like now, there are only two kinds of people - those who work for freedom and those who do not... the good guys Vs. the bad guys" The album didn't do so well, but less than a year later he returned with "Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse." This ground-breaking album set the bar kind of too high in my opinion. First of all the session players that they got for the recording were the best in the business at the the time - Harry Whitaker, Miroslav Vitous, Gary King, Alphonse Mouzon to name a few - all guaranteed that the groove would be locked it. Couple that with Mc D's provocative but deadly on-point lyrics mad this an album that people just had never been privy to before. Approaching subjects like the co-opting of black culture by white artists ("Jagger The Dagger,") the history of American colonialism ("The Parasite,") and racial profiling and police brutality ("Supermarket Blues,") Mc D opened up a new door for radical subject matter in pop music. This was a door that the powers that be didn't want opened. Atlantic was one of the biggest record companies in the world at that time. The story is that Spiro Agnew, Vice President under Dick Nixon, personally called Ahmet & Nesuhi Ertegun, founders of Atlantic and, for the sake of  not "causing public unrest" demanded that support for the album be pulled. I don't know what happened after that but promotions immediately dried up and the album sunk like a lead balloon. Now like I said, McDaniels went on to have a successful career as a songwriter despite this order of Executive Branch Hating. And, as you probably have figured out by now, the music on "Headless Heroes" went on to be revived for it's second life through the world of hip-hop music. But the story about how it all came about and went down is pretty remarkable to me. And I have my brother to thank for putting me on. Thanks dude, and happy birthday! This Breakbeat Tuesday is dedicated - and completely indebted - to you!

Eugene McDaniels "Supermarket Blues" (Atlantic, 1971)

Eugene McDaniels "Jagger The Dagger" (Atlantic, 1971)

Thursday, May 6th

So I'm off to the University Of Wisconsin this Friday in Madison. I've never been to the mighty WI but I'm psyched to rock for all the good folks out there for their 2010 Summer Jam.  I willingly admit that I don't know anything about Wisconsin, other than Paul Molitor, Robin Yount, the whole "cheese" thing and that's where T-Pain is going to buy some girl a mansion. But here's some music treats from that great state, starting with Madison, Wisconsin's own native son Boz Scaggs. One is a bona fide lite FM "white heat" classic, and the other is a lesser-known album cut from his second LP which has some serious funk undertones.

(*Disclaimer - Sorry, I couldn't think of any Wisconsin rap music other than the Coo Coo Cal. Also, to all my people from UW-Madison who are checking this, I probably will not play any of these songs below at tomorrows show. Expect rap music. And club music. And perhaps a Violent Femmes song...)

Boz Scaggs "Flames Of Love" (Columbia, 1971)

Boz Scaggs "Lowdown" (Columbia, 1976)

After Boz left The Steve Miller Band for a pretty great solo career, he ended up doing some guitar session work for fellow Wisconsinite, signer / songwriter Ben Sidran, from neighboring Racine, WI. Here is the groovy track featuring Boz from Ben's first album of the same name.

Ben Sidran "Feel Your Groove" (Capitol, 1971)

Traveling north a little bit to Milwaukee, here's one of my favorite videos featuring that city's own Al Jarreau. This is a rare video of Jarreau taken from German television in 1976, and it's of him performing the Dave Brubeck & Paul Desmond standard "Take Five." Absolutely sublime...

And last but not least, here's Coo Coo Cal straight outta Milwaukee. This song was my schitt back in the day (I can't believe I just referred to a song that came out in 2001 as "back in the day.") But yeah, this song goes hard, and it was actually a bit of a big record in Philly when it was released.

Coo Coo Cal "My Projects" (Tommy Boy, 2001)

Tuesday, May 4th

This month's Top Ten List (that you will find below on the right side of the page) has a common theme - cars and driving. They're all songs that I love, and this month's list is dedicated to the memory of my late, great car, that was killed this past Saturday morning in Philly. RIP.

- Breakbeat Tuesday: You  know, as I've said in the past (both on this site and to my family and friends in person,) I am a professional DJ - and if faced with the question as to having one's vocation be the definition of the person, then I guess that would be where I would fit in. And, although we all know that there's way too many shades of grey to fit people into that box of "what you do defines you" I have fully embraced what it is that I do, and have been grateful for the opportunity to do what is truly my passion for many years now. But, when I travel, for business or for pleasure, when it comes time to fill out a customs form, under "occupation" I write "DJ." Obviously the main aim of this site is to chronicle my thoughts and journeys as a DJ, with the ultimate goal being that those who come and visit this site to buying some music from me or finding out about a time that they can come out and see me perform live. But again this is where those shades of grey come into play. There's a tremendous amount of research and studying that goes into learning about this music thing, and that's great for me considering my love for old music and penchant for incorporating oldies and forgotten gems into my current sound and repertoire. This is great for me because I'm a bit of a history buff. Also, it's in my nature to share and so if I unearth something that I think is cool then it's a natural urge for me to spread that information around to those who I hope are in to this sort of thing. In addition to all this, I've been writing for a long time now and although that's not really the medium that the muse directs me towards, writing is still pretty much second nature to me. Over the past several months of me working on keeping this site updated, after a long period of neglect, I have started to find my voice again. And it's a wonderful thing when people come up to me and tell me that they "read my blog religiously" because there's a sense of validation I get knowing I reach people outside of the music. I'm compelled to do this - I have no other choice.

This site has kind of taken on a life of its own. Sure there are lots of people who are more well suited for writing about the great archeological quest that is digging for records - "this thing of ours" as I like to call it. I think of Oliver Wang at Soul-Sides, I think of my man, the great Matthew Africa, a person whom I am eclipsed by his super-human knowledge of music. But this site is just me - it's my voice, and a conduit for me to get what I want off my chest. With all that being the case, the past several weeks I've been talking with a friend of mine (a super well known DJ and Producer) and he's convinced me to work on a greater project that will transcend this little hobby / blog of mine. It's kind of a big endeavour but over the past week or so all the signs have pointed me in the direction of deciding that this has to be done. So with what started as Breakbeat Tuesday will hopefully transform into something greater. It's going to take a while, a year easy, but I think it's going to be worth it. Like I have said - I'm compelled to do this and I have no other choice. But enough of my ramblings, let's get to the MUSIC...

I don't know much about "Sugar" Billy Garner and I've tried to do as much research as I could, and thanks to my friend Larry Grogan who runs the Funky 16 Corners site I was able to figure out a few things. Garner (also known as Willie Garner among other things) was a Detroit based signer and songwriter who in the early and mid 70s released a few 45s as well as 1 LP (which became very popular years after the fact because one of the songs on it was covered by Joss Stone on her debut LP.) Most of his music was produced by Dave Hamilton who was the one-time guitarist and vibes player for The Funk Brothers, Motown Records in-house band. Garner faded into obscurity and by some accounts eventually made his way to Memphis, TN and became a brick layer. But in the cyclical nature of the way this thing works, his music was given second life through hip-hop. In 1992 the great DJ Premier gave a nod to Garner when he used (and masterfully flipped) Garner's 1971 funk / breakbeat monster "I Got Some" for "B.Y.S." off the "Daily Operation" LP.  The original song begins with an incredibly raw and powerful breakbeat and then launches into a heavy hammond and piano driven funk monster about Sugar Billy coming home and "gettin' some" from his woman. And those piano hits were chopped to high heaven by Primo in an unconventional way for 1992, proving that Mister Works Of Mart was so far ahead of his time, and not for just the choice of the original sample source material alone.

Garner's records are very hard to come by and especially the original "I Got Some" 45 on New Day records which I've seen go for up to $500 for a copy. For us record fiends though, that price might just be well worth it because it's a monster... Breakbeat and all.

Sugar Billy Garner "I Got Some" (New Day, 1971)

The bonus beat goes to DJ Clinton Sparks for his decision to use the original "I Got Some" for Kanye West and Busta Rhymes to spit over for his "Touch The Sky" mixtape in 2006. Basically the same construction as B.Y.S. but with a little touch of the raw break and Garners impassioned vocals that come slipping through. And I can't front, I love hearing MCs spitting over some "real schitt" sample-based bangers...

Clinton Sparks "Love 2 Hate feat. Kanye West & Busta Rhymes" (Mix Unit, 2006)

Monday, May 3th

It was a fun weekend at The Rub at Southpaw as well as doing The Rub in Philly. What sucks is that someone crashed into my poor car, totalling it. So my car is now dead, a hunk of metal, and that is my Sobb Story...

Looking on the bright side, today is the born day of The Minister Of New New Super Heavy Funk, James Brown. The world of music would not be the same were it not for him of course, and my DJing wouldn't be what it is today without question. But all that is a given and I don't even need to speak on it. But for real I figured this would be a good time to re-up my James Brown mix that I did for the Mad Decent Podcast a few years ago. Basically it was something that I put together really quick, comprised solely of joints that I loved that fall under The Godfather's umbrella. It's real short, clocking in under 30 minutes, but I could have gone on for weeks making this mix. The homie Diplo asked me to do this for his podcast, but I'll let him put it in his words:

"James Brown died on Christmas, and I couldn’t do any more podcasts til we did it about him. Cause James Brown gave birth to this podcast and he gave birth to everything in modern music - nothing is the same after he was here and now he’s gone and I feel bad for people in heaven that have to rewind through his life cause it must be pretty damn nuts. This mix of JB songs and production credits is under 30 minutes and I thought I was listenin' to it for 3 days before it ended. Mix was done by Cosmo Baker... he’s a true hero to me. I used to go to Fluid on Monday nights to check Cosmo at his party called Remedy... It was on fuckin' Monday nights and it was packed thick and Cosmo would drop his signature style of hip hop and classics and weird stuff no one would expect but would turn it out... I recognized Cosmo as that dude from the On The Go video that was in 9th St. Records and bought Funk INC. and McCoy Tyner LPs for like a dollar (that was crazy staged cause I know that dude behind the counter was mad cheap!)... At The Remedy I saw everyone from Phill The Soulman to Cash Money to MF Doom to DJ Drama up in there playing... I even slipped Pharrell a copy of Newsflash on 12” on a Monday. So JB gave birth to everything in modern music then Cosmo was a dude that gave birth to DJs like me. I had to ask him to do this mix cause he was a more then a mentor... his James Brown science is like Mr. Wizard... As you can listen these days Cosmo is killing it as a member The Rub in BK and doing loads of parties from Calgary to Tel Aviv on the weekends so I suggest you go to see him play or you will lose a little bit of your soul..." - Diplo, 2007

01 The Land Of Milk And Honey With James Brown by cosmobaker