Cosmo Baker

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Cosmo Baker (born 1974) is a New York based DJ, music producer, and turntablist.

Baker was born in Reno, Nevada. In 1976, at two years of age, he moved to Philadelphia, with his mother and older sister, photographer Zoe Strauss. At the age of 16 he was playing at many of the city's nightclubs, including Revival, Sugarcube (with DJ Storm), and Silk City, holding one of the original resident spots alongside King Britt at the Back 2 Basics party.

While living in Philadelphia, in 1997 he started a party named The Remedy. Bobbito has called this party "The dopest continuous weekly hip-hop jam in the United States".^[1]

Baker began traveling to Las Vegas on a weekly basis to spin at his residency at Baby's Nightclub, inside The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. He also started to devote more time to production and recording. Since 1997, he released several records. He also worked on his own solo material, which was by definition hip-hop, but showed as much influence of Neil Young as it did by EPMD. "Though I could see him in the booth, I couldn't believe my ears. Franz Ferdinand? The Rapture? Where were the smooth soul jams I dug on his Love Break mix? Once I'd shaken off the initial shock, it started to make sense. Baker rocks the party, and this was how the party needed to be rocked."^[2]

In 2003 Cosmo moved to New York and joined DJ Ayres and DJ Eleven as the third member of the collective known as The Rub: a classics and hip-hop party. "The Rub has gained an avid following for hybridizing genres with the aplomb of a skilled gardener. Like Philadelphia's Hollertronix, the Rub's fans dance to Stevie Wonder, MOP, Björk Justin Timberlake, and Young Jeezy with equal fervor."^[3] As a member of The Rub, he has performed at the South By South West festival in Austin, Texas (2006 and 2007) ^[4] and the Winter Music Conference during the same years. He also DJs alongside Scott Melker under the moniker "THE CMB." The pair recently released "Live At the Spotlite," a cd focused on New Jack Swing music. Cosmo has had a CD added to a time capsule in Honolulu, Hawaii.^[5] Baker was also the winner of the 2006 Scion DJ mixing contest.^[6]