Even after living in Philadelphia for the last ten years, I’m constantly in awe of the talent I encounter daily. Some artists are newer to the entertainment industry, trying to learn the ropes and figure out their avenues. However, Philly is home to many veteran talents who are homegrown and raised and have represented the city worldwide for years, some even decades! Despite DJing to international fanbases, they always make it back home to the city of Brotherly Love to remind us just why their names are so recognized and respected. One of those artists is Cosmo Baker, a South Philly native who is one of Philadelphia’s most renowned DJs with one of the most eclectic tastes in music I’ve ever encountered.

I had the pleasure of befriending Cosmo in Miami when I was checking out Dante’s, a vinyl bar where he frequently spins when he’s visiting his slightly more tropical home away from home. When embracing his palm trees and linen shirts over in Wynwood, Cosmo dresses the swanky, groovy walls of Dante’s with his passion for Brazilian funk records along with a plethora of global sounds, performing to the crowd as if their energy is what feeds his soul. If you’re lucky enough to see him behind the decks, you may even get to see him bust out his tambourine, showcasing his percussive roots to add dimension to his dynamic sets. Although we don’t get to see Cosmo in Philly bars and clubs as much as we deserve (hint hint, Cosmo!), his legacy and influence is felt throughout the city’s DJ and arts scenes, not only within his historic sets alongside other Philly legends but through his community-driven and educational work as well. All you need is the opportunity to sit with Cosmo for 30 seconds to know that while he could probably name at least one song with roots from every single country in the world, his love for music stems from the Hip-Hop and House scenes, fueling his desire to learn more about music as a whole to understand its origins. And if you’re granted that opportunity to pick his brain, seize it. It is rare to find someone who truly eats, breathes, and lives music the way Cosmo Baker does.

When Cosmo and I met, we instantly hit it off, building a friendship of song of the days and our own makeshift wine flights around pretentious Philadelphia bars and restaurants. Upon discovering that this week marked his 50th birthday, we kicked off the celebrations with what was supposed to be a calm glass of wine at a new spot on a relaxed Sunday evening. By glass number three, our glass of rosé (which we transitioned to from a white to an orange and finally to the glass of tart, pink deliciousness), I mustered up the courage to ask if I could interview him. Unfortunately, our adventure continued on for two more unnecessary glasses of wine, ultimately ending with us conducting our Q and A in the middle of Rittenhouse Square at 2 AM, five glasses of wine deep, with an audience of homeless individuals and scurrying rats. You can listen to the chaos below.

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Shaana: “Hi everybody. So I have a very special interview today in honor of a very special celebration for one of Philly’s own DJs. We are actually celebrating Cosmo Baker’s 50th birthday. In honor of that, I decided to meet him out for five glasses of wine and sabotage him *slurring incoherently* the interview.”

Cosmo: “All the tapes?”

Shaana: “Absolutely. So why don’t you say hello?”

Cosmo: “Hello, everyone. Cosmo Baker here it is July 7th, 2024.

Shaana: “We’re very sweaty in the middle of Rittenhouse Park. It is 1215 in the morning.”

Cosmo: “Listen, we’re we’ve been exercising tonight, all right? You know, really getting the blood moving.”

Shaana: “AKA Drinking a lot of wine.”

Cosmo: “Drinking and walking.”

Shaana: “We walked ten minutes!”

Cosmo: “And now you see us, right?”

Shaana: “Yeah. We’re not looking too great.”

Cosmo: “On the contrary, we’re looking fantastic.”

Shaana: “Uh, okay. Okay, so basically, I wanted to do a very special interview that I kind of sabotaged you into. Um, considering it is your 50th birthday.”

Cosmo: “Not quite yet.”

Shaana: “Not quite yet! Yeah, we’re getting there. Okay. You’re still in your 40s for, like, two more days. But I wanted to highlight who you are as a Philly artist, as a Philly DJ, the things that you that you do in the beautiful community that we have. So if you could just give a little bit of information as to who you are for people who might not know.”

Cosmo: “Well, hi, I’m Cosmo Baker. I’m a native Philadelphian. I’ve been involved in music for the better part of not just my career, but my life. I guess for brevity sake, you could say that I’m a Philadelphia DJ.”

Shaana: “As opposed to what? What else would you compare that to?”

Cosmo: “Uh, a Philadelphia bricklayer or a bus driver or New York DJ. Now, I’m saying that because there’s a very, very specific cult of identity around the idea of Philadelphia DJs. So with that said, I feel very privileged and honored to consider myself a Philadelphia DJ.”

Shaana: “What would you say are some of your favorite aspects about being a member of the community?”

Cosmo: “Well, Philadelphia is a really special place. You know. We’re the perennial underdogs. People look at us and they say, you’re not capable of X or you’re not worthy of X or whatever the variable is that you wanna use. And I think that that’s one of the things that has really helped to define what Philadelphia artistic communities are in general, but also specifically the identities of Philadelphia artists. The idea of us being in the underwritten, the overlooked, and in a sense, it’s almost as if those are the things that make us actually work harder to develop our art and our craft. So I’m not sure if that answer your question. But-“

Shaana: “We’re gonna be losing track a lot. It’s okay.”

Cosmo: “We have a tendency to.”

Shaana: “In addition to who you feel you are as a Philadelphia artist, what would you say your individual identity is?”

Cosmo: “Uh, I am a guy from Philadelphia.”

Shaana: “South Philadelphia. Let’s specify there.”

Cosmo: “All right, so you want the scoop?”

Shaana: “Lay it on me.”

Cosmo: “So you want to scoop. I don’t think I’ve ever actually talked about this. You’ll be the first person in press to to know this so.”

Shaana: ” Exclusive Spice on the Beat.”

Cosmo: “So you get the exclusive. So I was actually born-“

At this moment is when Cosmo decides to point out the massive rat running around, causing a drunk Shaana to lose her cool (that she honestly never had).

Shaana: “No. Fuck, no. Oh, God. Cosmo.”

Cosmo: “I’m sorry.”

Shaana: “In the middle of Rittenhouse Square, 1215 in the morning. Jesus Christ. Okay. Keep going. This is still recording.”

Cosmo: “We’re trying to get an exclusive here and there’s vermine over here. Listen, I live a city, motherfucker.”

Shaana: “God, we’re, like, sweating our asses off. There’s. Oh, no it’s coming towards us.”

Cosmo: “It’s not coming.”

Shaana: “It’s right there.”

Cosmo: “It’s okay. See he’s on his own path.”

Shaana: “Fuck no.”

Cosmo: “He’s on his own path. He’s doing what he wants to do. He’s not looking for us. You don’t want us.”

Shaana: “Okay. All right. Continue.

Cosmo: “Now I feel guilty, though, because I didn’t want to derail this.”

Shaana: “You derailed the interview already.”

Cosmo: “Oh, come on now. All right. Take two.”

Shaana: “Take two. I’m not I’m not cutting any of this.”

Cosmo: “Spice on the beat. “

Shaana: “Spice on the Beat. We’re sweating our asses off. There’s rats everywhere. Take two. What is your identity as a DJ?”

Cosmo: “My identity as a DJ. That is a big question. Let me think about it. My identity as a DJ is, well, personal identity and the way that I see deejaying in general. It could be kind of two different things. Right? So me, I’m just a guy. I’m just Cosmo. Right? You know, I love music. Obviously. I have a very specific connection, a special connection to music, obviously. And I’m saying that with absence of all hubris, the idea of me being somebody who is a steward of the music. And I’m throwing up the air quotes right there. And when I say the music, what I mean is music. The lineage, the legacy of everything that has led up to the creation of this particular form of communication. Because that’s what music is. Communication. Me? I’m nothing. I have no bearing on the massive and incredibly important and world changing force that is arts, culture, communication. Other people may say. you do this, you just blah, blah, blah. It’s fine. I don’t care about that shit. All I care about is me being somebody who can somehow get music out to people and to allow them to experience it, and then for them to digest it and figure out ways that correlates to their life, and figure out ways that they’re able to find a voice in songs and music because they might not have a voice because we sing songs that we love and we don’t necessarily know how to sing about our own pain or our own joy. I know this is a little bit rambling as well, because I had five glasses of wine and I’m saucy.”

Shaana: “I told you, I love the Riesling.”

Cosmo: “This is also a sneak attack interview. So in the sense that the idea of me being a steward of music, I want to bring people in.”

Shaana: “So that’s in relation to others and how they react to your art. But what about your identity? What exactly does your role in music do for you?

Cosmo: “That was a fucking excellent question. Fucking excellent question. You’re good. Well, it keeps me paid and it put a roof over my head. I can buy houses, travel the world, and blah, blah, blah, right? But. In a deeper sense, I would say that it has allowed me to find my voice. Like I was saying earlier, you don’t necessarily know how to sing or how to how to say what is inside of you? So you use something which is pre-recorded media or something that’s already been written or played and that’s how you can sing. They sing D’Angelo “How does it feel?” when you love somebody, right? But you don’t know how to because you don’t know how to make those words on those notes inside of you because you’re not trained. The music has done that for me. It’s been the propellant as I’ve moved through a very uncertain and interesting life. And obviously my involvement in music has become self-perpetuating in the sense that life has been interesting. But I always come back to this one quote, which is attributed to Frankie Knuckles and his idea or his quote, that the minute that you start thinking that you’re bigger than the music, then you’re done, and that’s something that actually strikes a very resonant chord with me. Me as a figure and me as somebody who people know around the globe. All right, you’re Cosmo, you’re playing X, Y, and Z, and like. Yeah, cool. Maybe I do something special. Maybe I do something with skill. Maybe I’ve got particular talent. That’s all fine and good, but it’s the message in music that’s really the most important thing. And that’s the thing that I’m always going to personally put in front of me. Always.

Shaana: “Would you say that you have one or two songs in particular that communicate your message more than anything else?”

Cosmo: “Yeah, “‘Love is the message.’ That’s the song by MFSB, ‘Love is the Message. It’s the quintessential Philly soul record, Philly disco soul record. There’s that song and, uh. Fuck. I mean, the thing is, you’re going to ask this and I’m going to change the answer within 30s. So we’ll just do ‘Love is the Message’. ‘Love is the Message’ by MFSB. And I don’t want to waste time. I’m just going to say ‘Can I Kick It’ by A Tribe Called Quest.”

Shaana: “Okay.”

Cosmo: “Why? Because it’s the first thing I thought of. But also A Tribe Called Quest. And also like, can I kick it? I’m a pretty fly guy so can I kick it, right? Wait. Hold on. I’m going to change that. Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath.”

Shaana: “Repetitive theme throughout the night. Why the Black Sabbath?”

Cosmo: “I love Black Sabbath. Oh. They’re great.

Shaana: “What message are they conveying for you?”

Cosmo: “That is also an awesome question. Back in the day, Black Sabbath was a group from, I believe they were from Manchester, not Manchester, maybe from Birmingham, England.

Shaana: “Those damn Brits.”

Cosmo: “Right. Those Brits. They’re always taking something and making it much better.”

Shaana: “All right. Okay. As a victim of colonization.”

Cosmo: “Listen, there’s colonization, and there’s heavy metal. There’s a mutual exclusivity here that both of them can be really, really good and fucking horrible.”

Shaana: “Okay the Brits can have heavy metal. It’s fine. They don’t get chicken tikka masala though.”

Cosmo: “No they don’t. Although, curry is the national dish of England. Right?”

Shaana: “Goddammit.”

Cosmo: “I know. Although I will say, I’ve never been India but I’ve been to Britain a bunch and-“

Shaana: “It’s wack.”

Cosmo: “I don’t know, I thought it was really well done-“

Shaana: “Okay if it was made by Indian people.”

Cosmo: “Yes, it was made by Indian people. It’s also a lot better than the curry that I’ve had here in in Philly.”

Shaana: “Because it’s not-oh no, it’s still made by Indian people.”

Cosmo: “It’s just like Philly. And then like London!”

Shaana: ” Once again imperialism!”

Cosmo: “It’s imperialism. Right. Which we must do what we can do consistently to smash through playing heavy metal. This is all going in the interview, right?”

Shaana: “Yeah. Nothing’s getting edited, I’m too lazy.”

Cosmo: “It’s going up. We should be live streaming this.”

Shaana: “We’re too sweaty to live stream. I’m not gonna lie. We’re in the middle of Rittenhouse Square. We’re sweating our asses off. We’re sweating all the wine out. Okay, back to the music. I know you travel a lot for DJing, spinning all around the world, all around the U.S., you’re at Dante’s a lot. What would you say is the biggest difference in terms of the gratification? Because that has been the keyword for us tonight, the gratification that you take in from spinning in Philly versus in other locations.”

Cosmo: “That’s a wonderful question too. And I want to actually contextualize this that I actually don’t spin in Philadelphia a lot. It’s just the market, right? Maybe we’ll save this for interview part two. Philadelphia hasn’t always been very kind to its own local community. Often many Philadelphia artists have to leave Philadelphia to even get some sort of modicum of success, which is outside of this very limited ecosystem here. That’s what I did. I left Philadelphia and I lived in New York for going on 15 plus years. But the thing about Philadelphia and then playing outside, the things that are great about both and the differences between the two. I’ll start with playing outside. In the industry of being the traveling DJ. Somebody will go to, Calgary or Tulum or Brazil or wherever and you’re always greeted with welcoming, open arms of somebody who, they may know you from the internet, they may know you from recorded music, whatnot. And so there’s a very special dynamic to that where it’s like you’re a special guest. We’re happy to have you there. And we want you to feel welcome in our city. And on the other side of that, like with me being a DJ. I’m going to do something which is super cool that you might not have ever heard of but also represent where it is that I’ve come from. Philadelphia. And then playing in Philadelphia. Philly is a very, very critical place. Philly is a very, very place a tough place to play. Growing up when I was younger, the crowds in house parties, loft parties or small little clubs. The people would let you know if they weren’t feeling you very quickly and they’d be very vocal about it. That’s one of the reasons why people say Philadelphia DJs are so good, like there’s something in the water. No, it’s not anything in the water. The fact that the people we were DJing for let us know whether or not they like us. And they’re very vocal about it. So you have to develop your skill, your technique, but also your own specific style and your own voice very quickly, or they’re just going to be like fuck this lame. On the other side of that, when you do become good and do become tapped into something deeper and then you find your own voice, the amount of love and gratitude that they show to you is phenomenal. So Philly is a very much like a well, we hate you, we hate you. But when we love you, we love you environment.

Shaana: “Absolutely. I feel like that extends all throughout the music industry. It’s not just with the DJs. It’s throughout. Even with the rappers, whether you’re trying to make it on the business side, too, it’s very heavy on, if you put on for the community, then the community puts on for you. They will do whatever they can to support you and uplift you. But the minute you start acting like you’re better than that, Philly will call you out.”

Cosmo: “Also, Philadelphians can smell bullshit a hundred miles away.”

Shaana: “And I love that about it. I’m not gonna lie. That is why I think that I enjoy being in Philly. Moreso than New York or something. There’s no room for that falsehood. Cause you will get called out on it so quick.”

Cosmo: “Rightfully so. We don’t we don’t take our shit. And we are the younger sibling of New York also with proximity there. The idea of New York being the epicenter of culture specifically, we’re talking about a hip hop culture or something like deejaying culture. Philadelphia was always the younger kid, the younger sibling, the underdog. That’s why we developed our bullshit detectors very keenly. And that’s why we have pushed ourselves artistically and creatively with the craft and the music so that we can kind of show up and show off to our big brother or sister or gender nonspecific sibling city, which is New York for you.”

Shaana: “As someone who lived in both cities, did you find more fulfillment as an artist here in Philly or in New York?”

Cosmo: “It’s a great question, too. I think they both exist independently. I think Philadelphia, because of its affordability, you are able to live as an artist in a way that you aren’t in New York. Because in New York, obviously things are a lot more expensive. You have to hustle a lot more. But that the caveat to that is, in Philadelphia, because of the affordability, it lends itself to a little bit of a lackadaisical, almost a laissez faire, where you’re like, I’m just going to do my art and it’s all good. Like I don’t really need to the zone in and and push boundaries, because of the outside pressure that New York has, which is such an incredibly competitive city and market. But because of the competition that’s in New York, it really makes you say, fuck it, I really need to push myself. They’re both good in their own ways. How do I feel about where I fit? I don’t know, I mean, I’m a Philly guy, but because I’m not going to be walking around Philly, like, you motherfuckers need to step your game up. Let’s go, let’s push it.”

Shaana: “Cosmo says that as he’s sitting on the side of Parc restaurant with a $300 meal, with his oysters, his fancy bottle of wine.”

Cosmo: “Am I that guy, Shaana? Am I really that guy?”

Shaana: “I don’t know. You keep telling me you’re not bougie. You’re a little bougie.”

Cosmo: “I’m so not bougie.”

Shaana: “You’re pretty bougie.”

Cosmo: “I’m a South Philly guy. Look at me.”

Shaana: “You’re in a linen shirt. White boat shoes.”

Cosmo: “I am so that guy. Well, what the fuck happened to me? Legitimately, 20 minutes ago. I’m talking about writing graffiti.”

Shaana: “This is what happens when you keep going out to Miami instead of hanging out in Philly. Now, with that being said, now that this is such a milestone birthday for you, what would you say has been your biggest takeaway in the last 15 years of being in the industry? How have you evolved, especially considering we’ve gone through things that are so unprecedented, like the pandemic, which we talked about or, going through the Trump administration or anything like that? These are times in which none of us have truly experienced.”

Cosmo: “We’ve really been through a lot. Haven’t we?

Shaana: “Should we go to Canada?”

Cosmo: “Oh my God, I mean, honestly, I wish. I love Canada. They’ve got all the water up there. All the fresh water is up there. It’s funny a few years ago- this actually shouldn’t be in the interview. (I still have no idea what story Cosmo was going to tell me.) Honestly, I would love to go to Canada, but, getting back to what it is we’re talking about. In the past 15 years, we’ve seen so much shit. But we’ve seen so much stuff in terms of the industry. The way that it works mechanically, the way the technology has just changed, and that’s changed commerce and the way capitalism has really tightened its grip. I’m a staunch anti-capitalist. That’s something at 50 years old, I’m really trying to figure out. To find the balance of being a staunch anti-capitalist and at the same time, I’ve got a nice pair of shoes. The inner turmoil. Some of the ways that it has changed in the past 15 years. The internet’s a great thing. It’s changed the course of humanity forever. It’s been a wonderful resource for knowledge and development and communication. Internet’s also done a lot of fucked up shit. There’s a lot that I could say in response to your question, which is a really big question. I’m going to try to boil it down to something small. The thing that is small is the vinyl and the resurgence of vinyl, both with DJs playing it, people going out and wanted to hear people play vinyl and wanted to hear a final in general, and also with the sales of vinyl, which have started to skyrocket. Right? The first time over the course of 30 something years. I think that there’s been a huge disconnect with people and themselves. People and each other, people and the idea of how they fit inside of the community. Or society. And I don’t want to say I blame the internet for that. But yeah, granted, the internet is about 30 years old. We’ve all seen the way that the people interact with each other online. It is different from the way that they act or should act in person. And granted, I’m coming from the perspective of somebody who’s 50 years old. And so I know what it was like and this isn’t blaming the internet. But what I’m trying to point out is just the concept of the disconnect. And with all the accessibility and all the connectivity that we have it feels more alone and isolated than ever. The odd thing, us just being humans mean we’re social creatures. We want to hug people and want to look people in their eyes and be like, I feel you.

Shaana: “The irony of it, I don’t know if you felt this way too, but during the pandemic, I felt more connected to my peers than ever. In those moments of isolation, that was when I checked up on my friends more than ever. That’s when we video called. That’s when we played stupid little games, or we met up for picnics or walks. In today’s day and age, I constantly make jokes about how I don’t respond to people because I’m constantly disassociating and it’s like, it’s not a joke. I truthfully will open up messages and quite literally forget that I read that and then hours will go by and I’m like, oh fuck. That was work related and I need to go back to it. But it will quite literally escape my mind because of how fast we’re meant to internalize all these messages, all of this data, all of these things that we see, all at once.”

Cosmo: “And it gets so overwhelming in our brains of a finite amount of wattage, if you will. There’s only so much information that we can process and fucking use. And it’s so crazy because we’re inundated with just activity and sensation and so bringing this back to vinyl when I was stuck in the house and I thought the fucking world was going to end, I thought I was going to die. I was fucking terrified that I was going to get Covid and give it to my dog, and he was going to die. I talked to my brother and I said, if I die, it was one of the most intense conversations that I’ve had with my brother, which was like, hey, listen, I haven’t done a will, or I need to revise my will. I need to revise my will so that if I die, Boots goes with you? And I know that’s the sentiment that a lot of people were feeling. But on the flip side of that, the sense of connectivity that we all had, especially during this first several months of like, oh, shit, shit is hitting the fan. It’s all fucked up. But then us as a society. W said, all right, cool. We’re going to make it. We’re gonna make it, right? And then you saw so many cool things happen. So much cool shit happened. But, it was out of that that I decided I was bored in my house. And I’m like, well, God damn, I got all this vinyl in my house, right? It had been collected for a long time. But I’m looking at this stuff and I’m like, 20,000 records in my house. Which for a person who’s a DJ and is a vinyl collector, like, okay, that’s cool. Right? For sure. But for a regular person, for a sane person, a normal person. That’s fucking insane. I decided I was going to downgrade. I was going to sell off a lot of my stuff, which I did. And I downsized to what I considered a normal amount of vinyl that as a person who’s an adult, I’ve got a house that’s like, all right, cool. I’m going to get rid of records and shift down to 10,000 pieces of vinyl. Now, like the people who are quote unquote one of us they’re like, yeah, that’s cool. That’s respectable. Right? A normal person is like, are you fucking out of your mind? Are you either a hoarder or, not to shame mental illnesses, but you either got some serious issues or you just can’t let go of shit. This is the long version of the answer to your question, which is, I think that people, through their sense of disconnect and their feeling of isolation and loneliness and the fact that we have all been marketed to for generations at this point, and we’ve been sold to and sold to and sold to by Madison Avenue and, big capitalism. We need to feel something. right? And that’s one of the reasons why I truly believe that the slowing down, which is coupled with the care and the hands and the dirt ethic of like, this is what we do. It’s like farm to table restaurants. It’s like slow food. It’s a farming. It’s not McDonald’s or whatever is the comparison. We’re hands in the dirt. We try to bring soul to this. We try to be something which means something. I want to play a record because it reminds you of my grandfather. You’ll never know that, right? But you’ll understand because of the passion and the zeal of which I play it. And, if you’re a good DJ, the way you format it in program it. I don’t know if that answered your question.”

Shaana: “I forgot what the question was.”

Cosmo: “Well, the question was about over some of the biggest changes. I think the changes what we’re talking about right now, is getting back tosmaller, deeper connections with our audiences. The big artists are not selling out the stadiums anymore. The midsize audiences and mid-sized artists are not selling out the midsize rooms anymore. We’re looking for the smaller experiences. What are other ways in which we can connect throughout the music versus having to go to like Wells Fargo? And what do these experiences mean to me? I can’t tell you how many people have met on the dance floor while I’ve been playing music and have fallen in love and have had children and and have had families. That’s something that I know I might not necessarily be directly responsible for. But I know that in me creating these environments and creating these situations and baring my soul, this is fucking Cosmo right now in my soul, I want to play something in a particular time. And who knows, maybe I did do something to help create that spark. We’re looking for connection. We’re looking for meaning.”

Shaana: “What piece of advice would you give the version of you who, I know it’s a cliche.

Cosmo: “No, you’re killing it.”

Shaana: “But the version of you that first started out in this industry, because, so much of what we talked about tonight was just us getting beaten down by the hurdles of the music industry and all the times that we thought that we couldn’t push through, or all the times that we had to find ways to stand out. What would this new 50 year old version of Cosmo tell that version of Cosmo that is just now starting out?”

Cosmo: “That’s a great question, too. Not to toot my own horn, but I feel as if all the advice that I followed ended up being pretty good. I definitely would say do this because you love it. Don’t do this because of money. Or fame, or notoriety, all that is fleeting. If you want money, become a fucking banker.

Shaana: “Or an accountant. You’re gonna hate your life. But you’ll make good money.”

Cosmo: “*I edited out me talking shit on Cosmo’s accountant, and him defending him by name because the poor guy had nothing to do with our drunk antics.* My accountant’s pretty good. Maybe we should beep that because, shout out to be *bing*.

Shaana: “Oh, my God, that’s requiring so much editing skills of me.” *It did not. I just cut it all out.*

Cosmo: “Believe me, I’m not trying to ask much of you. I’m just putting this out there. I’m going to keep this 100. What would I suggest to young Cosmo first starting out? Well, any one young DJ for starting up, scare yourself, do something which terrifies you creatively. Do something that terrifies you, and then do it again like that. Once you do the third time, you’re going to have something which is a brand new trick and a brand new tool. Another thing, I gotta think about this. This is a lot. We’re astral traveling right now.”

Shaana: “We’re also watching homeless people in the middle of Rittenhouse Square.”

Cosmo: “Yeah, I know, we’re doing good, though. *We weren’t doing all that well. This is where it really starts getting chaotic.* I mean, this is us working, this is our backyard.”

Shaana: “This is pretty on par for who we are.”

Cosmo: “Second thing that I would suggest to myself. This is going to sound cliche, but trust the process. Because you never know where it’s going to going to get you. Don’t let the phone fall. Trust the process. As cliche as that sounds. But also, shout out to my Sixers crew.”

Shaana: ” You don’t even like sports. Shut up.”

Cosmo: “Au contraire, mon frère.”

Shaana: “Oh my God. Bullshit.”

Cosmo: “See, there’s a thing. You may know, but you don’t really know. I’m joking.”

Shaana: “What the heck? Literally two hours ago. You know I don’t really like sports.”

Cosmo: “I like Sixers. I’m a Phillies fan. Baseball.”

Shaana: “Oh, my God, I know what it is. The sport of baseball?!”

Cosmo: “Have you heard of the sport of baseball? They hit a ball with a stick!”

Shaana: “Oh, my God. Men. Gotta stop interviewing you guys.”

Cosmo: “Really, okay. Cool. All right. I’m really pleased that I can stand up here, emblematic of all men. Or maybe I could be like when you look in the dictionary under the term not all men, right. Like not all men and then it’s Cosmo.”

Shaana: “Ew! Oh, my God. Keeping all this in. Trust the process.”

Cosmo: “Because honestly, what you might think may be a low point could end up being the channel to another great time or period or part of your career, which is prosperous or is a great place for artistic development. Sometimes, I’ve had successful events and event series and touring around the globe, etc., and then, three years later or five years later, fuck. Well, what am I going to do? You got to pay bills, etc., and then you start second guessing yourself, Oh, man. Look, maybe I suck, right? And that’s another thing I should probably mention is that, understand that there is the work and the artists, right? And that there is the product that you put out.”

Shaana: “Unless you’re R Kelly.”

Cosmo: “Unless you’re Kelly. Do we mention his name?”

Shaana: “We gotta talk about it. Or we leave it at that. We leave it at that.”

Cosmo: “Can I, uh. Ah, these are our confessions right here? Okay. Okay. All right. Yeah. I never liked R Kelly. ‘Step in the Name of Love’ is good. The Remix to ‘Ignotion” went good in the club, right? There was one song that he did with, like, Keith Murray back in the 90s. ‘Home Alone’, I think was the name of the song.”

Shaana: “What about the ‘Trapped in the Closet’ series?”

Cosmo: “It was interesting, but it’s not good music. It’s entertaining. But it’s not good music. Maybe other than a handful of joints, and this is including the stuff he did back in the 90s like Public Announcement, right? most of it is fucking mid. Mid. In fact, mid doesn’t even say because mid means eh, right? Most of it was kind of corny. In fact, listen I’m bringing out the guns. Even the shit did, the shit that he didn’t perform, but he wrote for other people who are legendary artists. Fucking bad. Michael Jackson, ‘You Are Not Alone. It’s a bad song. I’m sorry. That’s a bad song. That’s a bad song.”

Shaana: “This is all a hot take. Spicy. Jalapeno spicy. Okay. That was dumb. I totally forgot what you were just saying.”

Cosmo: “You’re doing great. You were asking me about R Kelly. We’re bouncing all over the place. This is also a great idea because this is a good trial run for the next series of interviews that we do, which we should do, like 3 or 4.”

Shaana: “Well, I’m going to get canceled before then.”

Cosmo: “Why are you getting canceled?”

Shaana: “Because we’re talking about R Kelly. We’re actually talking about shitty R Kelly is. Okay so this is our one of four part series.”

Cosmo: “You just said four!”

Shaana: “I thought that was what you were alluding to!”

Cosmo: “I said one of a few. And then you said four.”

Shaana: “Well, how many is a few?”

Cosmo: “Isn’t it three?”

Shaana: “All right, all right. Technicalities.”

Cosmo: “No, we can do four.”

Shaana: “Well, you already said you’re going everywhere. What were you talking about?”

Cosmo: “All right. What are you doing? We’re talking about, uh. We’re talking about. Talk about R Kelly. Here we are sitting in a park. 1:00 in the morning I forgot. Talking about R Kelly. You’re interviewing me, about R Kelly, we’re taping this.”

Shaana: “Okay, we’re going to close out the interview. Now that you are 50 years old, you’re halfway to 100.”

Cosmo: “I feel great about that, too.”

Shaana: “And you’re at your midlife century.”

Cosmo: “Oh, no. I already had my midlife crisis.”

Shaana: ” Really? What did you do? How did you celebrate? Did you buy a Corvette? Because I was going to say I haven’t ridden in a Corvette.”

Cosmo: “No, we’ll talk about this another time off the camera.”

Shaana: “So now that you are halfway to 100, what kind of legacy do you want to leave on the Philadelphia music scene? Like when people talk about Cosmo Baker, what do you want them to highlight?”

Cosmo: “That’s a beautiful question. Thank you for asking that. I don’t ask for much. In fact, I don’t know if you’ve been able to tell this by now, but I’m not really the type of guy like, hey, look at me? So I’d be really happy if the legacy would be something that did something great for the city, and it didn’t even have to have my name on it. I’m cool with that. I don’t need nothing. My life is good. But if it were to be the type of thing where, like I say, Cosmo did X or Y, talking about a heavy existential question right here, I want to think that I’ve already done it already. I’ve contributed to the development and the solidification of what Philadelphia teaching is also Philadelphia music. But maybe if there were to just be one person like a young person who were to be like, I listened to that guy play a record once. I saw him play something and I was moved, and I wanted to do that. I’ve always joked around, we don’t need any more DJs. It’s kind of true. Out of the nine out of the ten people who we don’t really need, theres was every one person that really kind of policed in the music and helped push that forward. So maybe if there’s just one person that I’ve inspired to really be about, continuing the legacy.”

Shaana: “I think it’s a humble mission, but it’s a possible one.”

Cosmo: “I’ve never heard humble described with my name on it.”

Shaana: “But that’s a good point. Okay. Last, last last question. What record are you spinning at 1159. It’s technically 102 on a Monday. Your birthday’s on Tuesday. At 1159 Monday night. What record are you spending to bring in?”

Cosmo: “I don’t know, what should I say Shaana?”

Shaana: “You got a right or wrong answer. I don’t know what the right or wrong answer is. The world is your oyster.”

Cosmo: “I mean, would it be kind of trite if I were to say 50 Cent ‘In Da Club’, right?”

Shaana: “Oh God. Apparently it’s Cosmo’s 21st birthday.”

Cosmo: “Okay. So I’m going to say, a song that I love by a group called The Controllers *Update that it’s actually The Winners* The song is called ‘Get Ready for the Future.’ It’s a good song. So at the stroke of whatever, I’m going to be playing the controllers, ‘Get Ready for the Future’, the slow version, not the fast.

Shaana: “We’re slowing things down while Cosmo hangs out with Boots to ring in his 50th birthday. And I would say that sums everything up. Is there anything else you would like to say to close out this miraculous chapter of the last day of your 40s?”

Cosmo: “Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.”

Shaana: “Of course, you didn’t have a choice.”

Cosmo: “I know, I know. Well, I’ve been watching this. I understand that I’ve been watching this slowly unfold for weeks now. At this point, I knew that it was coming.”

Shaana: “The first time we hung out: ‘Shaana, this isn’t an interview, right?’ All right. Anything else?”

Cosmo: “Thank you all. God bless. Good night. Make sure you brush your teeth multiple times a day.”

Shaana: “Brush your dog’s teeth.”

Cosmo: “Brush your dog’s teeth. Health is wealth. Pee before you go to bed. Avoid the rats at Rittenhouse fucking Square. They’re pretty big. Don’t be a dick. That’s a big one, right? Don’t be a dick. And that’s also gender agnostic, too, right? Because you could be a woman and be a dick. Be nice to people. That’s the shit, be nice. Be nice. Be nice and tender and sweet. This is good. And you could be a man. You could still be tender and sweet, right? In fact, if anything, I think that actually reinforces the quote unquote idea of masculinity. There you go.”

Shaana: ” We’re rambling.”

Cosmo: “I actually thought there was a very, very poignant point. I thought that was good.”

Shaana: “With that being said, happy birthday, Cosmo.”

Cosmo: “Thank you, Shaana.”

Make sure to find Cosmo on Instagram and wish him the happiest of birthdays!♥

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