Cosmo Baker Interview
Cosmo Baker will describes himself as a gentleman and a scholar, although his mom just thinks his a regular kid and his wifey sometimes thinks he is a space cadet. Cosmo grew up in Philly and got his start in music and DJing in the hip-hop scene down there, after moving to Brooklyn 3 years ago. Cosmo along with DJ Ayres and DJ Eleven partnered up to form The Rub a party/sound system.
What inspires you away from the music?
Art, in the all encompassing sense, inspires me to no end. Also things like everyday life experiences, just going through the motion, that’s the juice that gets me charged. That’s where it really comes from for anyone.
Do you have an earliest musical memory? A first time you heard something and realized, “That’s music, that’s what sound can do.”
Well I grew up with music from since a wee lad, but I have another music related memory. There was this dude who used to play saxophone on the steps of this building right near where I used to live. I was about 4 or 5 and I had this matchbox car carrying case shaped like a wheel. I used to go over there and bang on it like a drum with branches and sticks. One day dude knocked on my mom’s door and gave me a drum practice pad saying he’s “never seen a kid with a more perfect sense of rhythm.”
What’s a typical day in the life of Cosmo Baker? What do you like to do in your spare time when you’re not in the studio or touring?
Seriously my schedule is so crazy I have so little time for anything else, especially with all the touring. However when I have off time I like to chill with wifey and we’ll just do the regular domestic life shit, which is really good, Enjoying the little things in life like actually doing dishes and laundry. Other than that I live a pretty simple life.
How would you define your style?
Well growing up exposed to so many different styles of music it’s hard to pinpoint MY “style” considering all my influences. However I like to think maybe my thing is on some soul music shit, the soul of Philly combined with the angst of being an angry young man. That sounds fucking stupid, but we had a big show in LA last night and my mind is a little twisted so that’s all I can think of. I’m really like a soul music dude, but ultimately what I like to do is to draw these parallel lines between sounds, lay them out in a danceable format, so that I can get hip-hop kids dancing to rock and rock kids dancing to Sylvester or whatever. 
How do you approach your DJ sets?
I like to build my shit up like a movement, where it has a natural arc and there are plateaus and crescendos and climaxes all carefully scripted… however I never plan out what records I’m going play. I pretty much always go freestyle, with each record I play setting up whatever the next 4 or 5 might be, which is always changing.
What DJ’s would you pay money to watch?
David Roddigan, Keri Chandler, A-Trak… just three dudes off the top of my head.
So what would you say that you are most proud of in your DJ career at this time?
Well I would like to think that the shit I’ve done in my life has had some sort of broader influence on DJs and music in general, but I’m actually most proud of being able to thrive and feed my family off of music. Not everybody gets to do that, and it’s super hard, but unbelievably satisfying.
What’s the weirdest place someone’s ever recognized you in public?
In supermarkets or at the bodega at like 2 in the morning buying beer. Also other places, like I was recognized on the street in San Francisco from being in the On The Go video when I was 16.
How hard has it been to reach the point where you can call hip-hop your 9 to 5?
It’s been a grind, like I said I’m super fortunate to be able to make music my life. But it’s an everyday thing, and I’ve been at it for so long that it’s just natural. Anything else feels uncivilized.
What is your favorite mixtape you have done so far?
Probably Love Break because I made it just for some listening shit, and for some reason it just resonated with folks.
What do you want people to walk away with when they finish listening to one of your mixes?
The feeling that they just got laid or went to the best party of their life.
Are you getting into more production work?
Been doing it for years, but for a long time it took a backseat to gigs and traveling but it’s picked up something fierce recently.
Do you think that music as a whole is suffering due to the follow the leader type of style?
Well it’s always been that way. Leaders and followers. Shit goes through stages but there’s always new people pushing that shit forward. It’s natural.
Besides yourself what other artist do you believe we should look out for in 2007?
My whole Rub crew, Spankrock crew, A-Trak. Fuck everyone else… sike.
What projects should we be looking out for in 2007 from Cosmo Baker?
Too many to mention but some seriously big CDs are already in the works and I’m hoping to get enough work in to drop an album by the end of the year.
When all is said and done what do you want people to remember about you and your music?
That I knew what the fuck was up, maybe; they’ll say “Damn that Cosmo was a BAD BAD MAN.”
Any last words, shout outs or plugs?
Shout out to everyone who showed me love and all that shit. All the haters can fall back or fall back. Dudes need to get on my level. Shit is a movement.
el fin
myspace.com/cosmobaker
cosmobaker.com
itstherub.com
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