Cosmo Baker - GET ON MY LEVEL

- Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

- What an eventful weekend. I rocked a strictly vinyl set with Eli Escobar at our weekly Bang! party at 105 Rivington and it was insane. Before I go any further, first thing's first - Inner Life's "Caught Up (In A One Night Love Affair)" sounds infinitely better when played off of 12". I mean, everything does, but this record really in particular haha... But shout to everyone who came out, including the one and only Hex Hector who murdered it (and wasn't afraid to drop James Brown at exactly the right time.) As an aside, you've got to love a mid-week party that has such great guests like Hex Hector, Stretch Armstrong, DJ AM, among others, for free! Get on our level...

Also, shout out to my lovely wife, my mother-in-law, and their cousin for trekking out to deep Bensonhurst to rock some ill Italian food at L&B Spumoni Gardens. Realness indeed. And shout to my moms for checking out our new neighborhood - the mighty mighty Fort Greene.

Friday night was ILL at Studio B for the Down & Derby Roller Disco party. Easy a couple thousand people, all going off to nothing but roller skating anthems. Leave the blog house at home, how about some First Choice (this actually was the only request I heard all night.) Shout out to Rok One of the Bangers for putting on such a dope party, and a perrenial shout goes to DJ Lindsey for rocking with us properley (the way she always does. Also big shout to the one and only DJ Gina Turner for coming through and blessing me with her new track that she recorded with [CENSORED] which is a HUGE LOOK. More on Gina in a moment...

More photos of Down & Derby courtesy of Village Voice

- So Gina Turner & Louisahh BKA Staccato are here on the East Coast and are going to be at Bang! on Wednesday April 22. These girls are the homies and so it doesn't feel funny saying about how much they're killing it right now. Definitely need to check them out here or if you're ever on the West Coast or anywhere near their home of LA. Peep the link to their Virb Page for some great music.

- Speaking of homies and good music, the dudes Scott Melker (my partner in The CMB) and the Super Sever homie DJ Jayceeoh have put out a brand new mix called "New York State Of Mind" - incorporating the classic sounds from ALL FIVE BOROUGHS. An ill concept, and an even better mix. Click here to grab it, and you ever have the OPTION of paying some money for it - whatever you want. That's right, the future is here...

- Okay I'm just going to leave you with some music:

First Choice "Let No Man Put Asunder (DK Medley Of Frankie Knuckles, Walter Gibbons And Shep Pettibone Remixes)"

- Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

- Big shout out to everyone that came out to the Lose Your Shit party this past Saturday in Bushwick. It kind of was crazy, and big shout out to the homies House Of House for killing without playing that record (which is like one of the biggest records for me right now.

Rest In Peace Harry Kalas. As I said on Twitter, "Harry is the voice of my childhood / is THE voice of baseball. Irreplacable."

- Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

- Yo happy Passover to all my peeps. Let's go!

- PS: Not to be on the negative tip but this basically sums up exactly what I'm thinking about a lot of fools out there running yap and / or just being weak in general...

... Okay, now back to the regularly scheduled program.

- Monday, April 6th, 2009

- So I'm off to Philly this week to visit the family, which I do ever so few and far-between even though I live less than an hour drive to my hometown. I love Philly. It holds a very special place in my heart and I'm glad that it's the place where I came up at.

Coming up in Philly, perhaps some of you remember Krush Video with the homie Mike Elliott. Mike went on to some big things but to hip-hop heads he was the dude who premiered all the hot new rap videos, featuring underground videos by everyone from Gang Starr to MC Rell & The House Rockers (what a video!), from The D.O.C. to this little diddy by a then unknown Jazze Pha (if anyone got this record holler at me!)

Best thing is I can still recite what Mike Elliott used to sign off his broadcasts with "Remember, ignorance kills, and knowledge is power. Leave the drugs alone, and always do the right thing. This is Mike Elliot and, until next time, Ho-tep!"

The reason why I'm reminiscing about Krush Video right now is because during the broadcasts there were commercials bombarding you about the new album "Music Makes You Move" by someone named Tony D. Now I didn't know this dude but after the eleven-teenth time seeing this commercial I decided that I was going to buy the record the next time I went down to Armand's. That's how I discovered YZ and eventually Poor Righteous Teachers. There was a whole community over there in Trenton that were doing it large and they definitely were considered to be part of the greater Philly hip-hop community, being that South Jersey is much more Philly than it is New York.

Anyway, Tony passed away the other day. It's a shame that someone has to die sometimes for you to take the time for people to reflect on their contribution. But I appreciate you Tony - always have. Hope you're banging those beats out wherever it is that you are. Tony D RIP.

- Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

- I'm back from good old Austin, TX and Miami Beach, FL where minds met and hearts were broken, titans clashed and real headz know tha deal. Big shout to everyone down there at both festivals and extra shout to all my Scion folks for helping make it happen.

Sammy Bananas, Ian Meyer and myself were eating brunch at Jerry's and I swear out waiter looked just like Jeffrey Tambor. He said he gets that a lot. This is the one photo in Miami that I made sure got taken. There's another one out there of me wearing a Medieval helmet at an after hours bar with Jake Jefferson... I don't know where that one went. Maybe that's for the best.

Me and "Fake Jeffrey" holding it down.

Me and Cozmo D from Outer Space.

Me and Bay Area legend Davey D.

Lots more photos to come I'm sure.

Also, big happy birthday shout to my big sister Zoe. You're killing the game - LET'S GOOOOO...

This month Rub Radio welcomes special guests Runaway (DFA, Wurst), who talk about disco, travel, production, and settle once and for all the rumor that they were once literally homeless. (They weren't.) Plus they bang out a mix of house music including their own exclusive new tracks. The Rub dudes get on the turntables and mix in everything from hip-hop, soul and funk to calypso, French pop and Krautrock. Let's Rub!