“This? I’m definitely going to have the room to spread out,” Baker says excitedly. “So to speak . . . and stretch my limbs, so to speak, on the funk side of things. It’s been a long time since I’ve done a funk night.” Like Philly’s DJ Cash Money, Baker cut his teeth DJing soul and funk, primarily at his now-mythical “Finger Lickin’ ” funk-45 night at the 700 Club. “DJ Cash Money is a good example of a Philly DJ. He’s one of the greatest hip-hop DJs in the world, but at the same time he’ll do a night of funk 45s and raw stuff like that.” Baker also cites DJ Jazzy Jeff and Roots drummer ?uestlove as part of Philly history. “That’s the nature of the game coming from Philadelphia. Drawing the parallel lines between different genres, and it’s kind of become my calling card.”
Baker is part of a new kind of music business model, one that subsists mostly on tours and remixes. “We do make a lot of money off the tours, and that’s a wonderful thing, because you are able to command a price, and that’s net, you know?” Baker’s remix requests are slowly coming in, but expect them to get faster and faster. “The remix game doesn’t pay all that much, unless your name is, like, Diplo. And even then it doesn’t come around all that often. But companies will allocate a certain budget just for a remix, knowing that that remix is going to put a group over the top.”
Soon enough, expect Baker’s name to be more important than the subject of his remixes. “It’s a good game, but it’s not that new. When you look back, you’ve got guys like Tom Moulton, who did remixes for certain unknown groups. And guys like Junior Vasquez and Armand Van Helden in the ’90s. So the remix game, it’s good to keep moving and once you have the momentum, it’s just a matter of keeping that momentum rolling.” Baker’s most anticipated remix is that of the aforementioned Plastic Little with guests Ghostface Killer and Amanda Blank, all of whom have close ties to Philadelphia.“Somehow we all stay together like that, the community thing I guess.”
Sean Quinn’s community is primed for a new funk night, and DJ Claude Money is happy to comply. “We’ve got a whole DJ army ready to go,” Quinn says. He’s nearly right. The list of resident DJs at his club night includes names like DJ Beat Train, DJ Save 1, Selector70, Raliegh Fingers, and Eli “Paperboy” Reed, to name a few. Each DJ has his own unique take on the funk phenomenon, whether it’s the backwoods groove of John Funke or the North Carolina beach music of DJ Bullitt. “I don’t mind playing that real recognizable track that gets people dancing,” Quinn says. “It’s what happens afterwards that counts.”
