DJ Cosmo Baker curates the official mixtape for The 6th Annual Roots Picnic. The event takes place June 1st in Philadelpha, PA, and features performances by The Roots, Gary Clark Jr, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Araabmuzik, DJ Premier, Joey Bada$$, Hit-Boy, Lushlife and many more. To purchase tickets, click here

Man I wish I could go to just one of these at some point.  Maybe next year who knows.

Tracklist:

1. DJ Premier “Young Gifted & Black Intro”
2. Gang Starr “Full Clip”
3. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis “Thrift Shop”
4. The Roots “Dynamite”
5. How To Dress Well “Running Back”
6. Sonnymoon feat. Melo-X “Htlv (Houstatlantavegas) (Melo-X Remix)”
7. Naughty By Nature “Hip-Hop (DJ Scene 2013 Remix)
8. Trinidad James “All Gold Everything (Emynd NOLA Bounce Remix)
9. Robert Glasper “Black Radio feat. Yasin Bey (Pete Rock Remix)”
10. The Gaslamp Killer “Anything Worse”
11. The Roots “The Seed 2.0″
12. Solange “Losing You”
13. Jennah Bell “Monster Killer”
14. Solange “Sandcastle Disco”
15. The Roots “How I Got Over”
16. Duck Sauce “Grand Steppin”
17. Grimes “Circumambient”
18. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis “Can’t Hold Us feat. Ray Dalton”
19. Grimes “Oblivion”
20. A-Trak “Tuna Melt feat. Tommy Trash (Grandtheft Remix)”
21. Jay-Z & Kanye “Niggas In Paris”
22. Trinidad James “Females Welcome”
23. AraabMuzik “The Prince Is Coming”
24. The Gaslamp Killer “Impulse feat. Daedelus”
25. Kendrick Lamar “Backseat Freestyle”
26. A$AP Rocky “Goldie”
27. Gang Starr “Above The Clouds feat. Inspectah Deck”
28. Robert Glasper “Twice feat. Solange (?uestlove’s Twice Baked Remix)”
29. Gary Clark Jr. “The Life”
30. Joey Bada$$ “Waves”
31. Naughty By Nature “Jamboree feat. Zhane”
32. Smoke DZA “Gotham City feat. Joey Bada$$”
33. AraabMuzik “Hammer Dance”
34. The Roots “Act Too… The Love Of My Life feat. Common”
35. Shlohmo “Don’t Say No feat. How To Dress Well”
36. Lushlife “Magnolia”

This week it’s classic shit thanks to Rob V. Ill mix right for those who love that real good soul music. Click here and enjoy

As long as it took to get my first podcast done I find myself not having the time right now to even do much. I need to focus on moving to Ohio so almost everything is put on hold. No recording at all, hell I haven’t even gotten a new laptop for just that. Summer is here too and a quiet place is hard to come by too, my girlfriends youngest is the master of loudness, he is sleeping right now and he snores like a cartoon giant. I will get back to everything soon enough. I haven’t even worried about focusing on politics because the impeach Obama and the battle of the American soul between the GOP and Obama has become ridiculous to me. So there will be gaps in my posting dates from now until….. School starts.

With me being way too busy to sit down and go through all the old records I grew up listening to and puttin another mix together for Mother’s Day this year I chose to look for a dope mix. Enjoy and Be Educated  from The Diggers Union Local 1200 site, I  never caught the show live, had a good mix and be sure to check the show out, a lot of good shit… REAL MUSIC. Anyway click here to listen and  enjoy the show and Happy Mother’s Day and R.I.P  to Lillian Hooker

-  Mike Jeffries

By now it has made the round that Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries has stated that he doesn’t want “fat” people wearing his clothes. One thing that is crazy is these comments came in 2006. Seven years have passed and now since there isn’t much to focus on someone somewhere has taken issue with such a notion. The sad cold truth is “every” company that caters to the public has a target audience. I’m sure the men of FUBU and Karl Kani never expected white kids from the suburbs to wear their clothes. Of course those in the urban fashion world you don’t hear that kind of talk but the fact that the target consumers are African Americans comes through in the ads. Most ads show slim “cool kids”, the difference is some a good portion of stores as well as designers do have some plus size clothes.

So why is Jeffries drawing heat, because he said what many people would love to say? I get that how it was said was wrong but again the average phone commercial is trying to attract cool people who can afford those phones. You’ll never see some overweight trailer trash or project chick or some low wage blue collar guy in a Samsung Galaxy, Iphone or Ipod commercial. Image is everything and we as people want to be part of that in crowd. What you have with Abercrombie & Fitch is the bold truth that it is  an exclusive club. What does that do for Abercrombie & Fitch? Nothing at all, I’m sure plus size people have went in to an Abercrombie & Fitch store saw there were no sizes for them and moved on to another store and got something just as good. I mean I’ve seen Abercrombie & Fitch clothes and it looks no different than what American Eagle or The Gap offers to me. If anything Jeffries is and has been like any clothing company over exaggerating the importance of his clothing company. There are places in this country where the store isn’t around the cool kids in those cites and towns aren’t less cool. If the hottest pop stars came out and said they’ve never worn anything by Abercrombie & Fitch the brand nor the stars credibility would be damaged. Abercrombie & Fitch is no better than Nike, some people will forever be Nike people but it doesn’t mean Reebok is hurting or that those who don’t wear Nike aren’t cool. Tommy Hilfiger got caught out there on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and his brand was still doing fine. There lies the lesson, ptople who are loyal to your brand won’t leave because of your CEO statements.

I’m not defending the comments mind you, i’m just saying this outrage will blow over and it will be business as usual.

I know the last week was all about the first active player in a professional team sport coming out. Well the fact the average Joe has no idea who Jason Collins is makes it not that big of a deal as far as his NBA career is concerned in my mind. Who I am concerned about is Paul Pierce. The rumors are that The Celtics as we know will be no more, no Garnett and or Paul Pierce. I really don’t care where Garnett goes but Pierce needs to stay a Celtic. It is becoming harder and harder to see players finish their careers where they started, just look at the Knicks, they have a bunch of journeymen. The NBA should step in and make sure Pierce retires a Celtic. The same can be said for Kobe as well, not a fan at all but I think those two as well as Parker, Duncan and Ginóbili should retire with the teams they started out with. They’ve all became the face of their teams and in a league that has watched teams just become baby all star teams, to know that five future hall of famers stayed with one team in today’s NBA means something. Of course those players also have something to do with it as well, but I know Kobe and Pierce wouldn’t leave Boston and LA.

At this point the fact that a veteran team like Boston and San Antonio were top teams most of the year says something, Rondo being out messed the Celtics up. Hell by all rights The Heat and Knicks are veteran teams as well. From where I sit that is what has made the Playoffs for me this year, The Celtics scaring The Knicks and The Spurs just out playing The Lakers. I’m sure next year the playoffs will not look like this, but I also hope that Pierce is a Celtic too. I understand loyalty in the world of sports is dependant on what the player can offer a team. Still at this point as much as the NBA wants to showcase the young talent it should also salute the fact five players, six if you count Wade, have stayed with one team their entire career through the ups and downs in todays sports world. Be real isn’t that what made the Ray Lewis story even better, he was an original Raven and retired a Raven… And his team won the Super Bowl.

Last week the snow had me playin the crib hard. I di a few productive things one being the mix here. It’s a mellow, not much gutter Hardcore Hip Hop. I did set it off with a new joint and just followed the vibe. Click here and enjoy

01. Common ft. Cocaine 80s – Congratulations
02. Ahmad Jamal – I Love Music
03. Jay Electronica – The World Is Yours
04. Gap Mangione – Diana in the Autumn Wind
05. Slum Village – Fall In Love
06. Flying Lotus – Fall In Love
07. Mary J. Blige – Love No Limit remix
08. Sade – By Your Side remix
09. Dido – White Flag
10. Kendrick Lamar – Sing About Me
11. Grant Green – Maybe Tomorrow
12. Blu & Exile – More Out Of Life
13. Lauryn Hill – Zion
14. J. Cole – Can I Holla At Ya
15. Nas – Daughters
16. Cloud One – Dust to Dust
17. Phonte – Who Loves You More
18. Evidence – The Liner Notes
19. Outkast – SpottieOttieDopaliscious
20. Broken Social Scene – Shampoo Suicide

The title says it all, all the old 45 singles from back in the day. Click here and enjoy.

01. Gladys Knight & The Pips – I’ve Got To Use My Imagination
02. Sly & the Family Stone – Sing a Simple Song
03. Earth, Wind & Fire – Fantasy
04. Stevie Wonder – All I Do
05. Gwen McCrae ‎- Maybe I’ll Find Somebody New
06. James Brown – Funky President
07. Baby Huey – Hard Times
08. Ohio Players – Pride and Vanity
09. Bob James – Take Me To The Mardi Gras
10. The Four Tops – Are You Man Enough
11. Shalamar – This Is For The Lover In You
12. David Bowie – Fame
13. Aretha Franklin – Rock Steady

I know the answer to the question of course, they had the record to make it in the playoffs. What I mean is how did such a messed up team even get in the playoffs. The Lakers started out bad this year and to be fair never really got their footing right at all. One excuse was the team wasn’t all there, Nash was out the start of the season, Howard was has been so so the whole season. Two coaches with the city and even NBA fans wanting a third in Phil Jackson. It’s no secret that team chemistry has been bad from the start of the year. No one expected that Howard and Kobe not to get along but that is how it turned out. Howard was “test driving” life as a Laker. Sports writers and fans who wanted to be know it alls all think Howard was going to do one and split anyway.
The fact the odd man out was Pau Gasol made news. Gasol has been the scapegoat for all the Lakers problems for years and he has spent time on the bench this year as if he was he really was the problem.

The major winner here of course is the NBA. The Lakers have been major news just as much as The Miami Heats has this year. Not having the Lakers make the playoffs would be a major story but of course a bigger story would be them making the playoffs, not just making it in but making it to the 7th seed. The Lakers are like the Celtics, the last real pride and joy of The NBA, the difference is The Lakers have Kobe, the mid way between Jordan and LeBron. The Lakers are supposed to be a threat every they make the playoffs. They are the team out West no matter who has the number one spot or who is really the better team. The Thunder and Spurs were battling for the number one spot, well The Thunder was, and The Clippers are way better than The Lakers yet The Lakers are the still the news in the Western conference.

The issue for me isn’t they made the playioffs but if they beat the Spurs and make it good showing in the 2nd round. I know a team like The Celtics have done it before and so have The Spurs but those teams relied on team work, The Lakers are a Kobe first team second kind of team. Another problem is The NBA isn’t ready to move on, Kobe had planned on retiring after next year and the NBA needs to have someone to keep the Laker mystic alive. I don’t think the league will allow the team to fall like The Bulls or Pacers. The Lakers have always had someone great leaving with someone stepping up to keep things going. As of now when Kobe leaves there will be no one around to keep the team alive. This year was the start of the end for the team and Kobe has willed the team to make the playoffs. The NBA will have to get used to the playoffs without The Los Angeles Lakers. This year could have been the start of that, but whatever, they’re in and hopefully when they get beat all will be set right again.

Not sure what is going on with the site I had the mix on at first but I posted on Mixcraft. Same mix so if you’ve tried to listen to it and couldn’t hear you go.

Often overlooked but still respected New Edition had the game on lock since the early 80′s. This mix is songs from 89 through 99,. That means when the members went their separate ways and dropped albums to when all six linked back up in the 98. Click here and enjoy

N.E. intro
Bobby Brown – Don’t Be Cruel
Johnny Gill – Fairweather Friend
New Edition – You’re Not My Kind Of Girl
Ralph Tresvant – Sensitivity
New Edition feat. Missy Elliot – You Don’t Have To Worry
Bell Biv Devoe – Do Me
Johnny Gill – Rub You The Right Way
Bell Biv Devoe – Poison
Bobby Brown – Every Little Step
New Edition – If It Isn’t Love