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Tucker and Bloom met up with the Sheen Bros at the site of their creative inception in Manhattan’s LES. The Sheen Bros may not be a name many people know…yet, but the members of the group, Cosmo Baker and 4th Pyramid have both had there hands in music for years. Although in its early stages the group has been raising industry eyebrows, crushing NYC dance floors, and getting busy in the studio.




Tucker & Bloom: How did the Sheen Bros. come about?

Cosmo Baker: 4th pyramid and I first linked up when we were touring with Pharoahe Monch, and we did a few tours afterward in different capacity’s.
I would be the DJ for the tour, and Pyramid would be on the road coordinating the whole thing.  We had talked about collaborating on music before, and than one night we were here (Plan B) at a scion event smoking a cigarette right out front…
4th Pyramid: If you look across the street there is the “Sheen Bros Inc” bodega and that’s where the name came from.
Cosmo: Pyramid looked up and said to me, “ha, yo Sheen Brothers”, and I said “HA Sheen Brothers”, and than we looked at each other and we’re like “SHEEN BROTHERS?”.
4th: We felt like, this is right.
Cosmo: So basically we had the name before we even had the group. That night we just ended up talking a bunch of shit on twitter. “There’s a lot of people over here. We’re Blowing up! Sheen Brothers is Killin It in 2009 and 2010!”
Everybody we know was really feeling the energy. It was something we just came up with on the humbug that quickly became something that we could put some work into and make happen.
Cosmo: I make music, and Pyramid does also, but when we started talking about the actual collaboration it was like this light bulb went off over our heads. On some eureka shit. Which brings us to Lyrics to Go…

4th: Lyrics to Go is our management company, and they have been doing events and all types of stuff. They produced the Big Daddy Kane 20th year anniversary party. They manage guys like J Period, Boogie Blind of the Executioners. Tamir and I have done stuff behind the scenes on some multi-million dollar mogul shit. He had heard the mix that I put out in May and was really feeling the energy. He wanted to get down with the group and so we all connected. He really brings the organizational aspect to life. When Tamir came in, and we had a bunch of cluttered ideas. He really helped bring the vision together and now were in full swing.

Tucker & Bloom: So what kind of projects do you guys have lined up?

Cosmo: We decided to put out some DJ mixes, volume one and two called “Skum Bag Funk”. The mixes are sort of alluding to some of the original stuff that we have been messing with. We actually put out the volume one a few months ago. The guys got on my case about making “Skum Bag Funk Vol.2”, and that just came out this Monday. These two mixes are just like teasers to “The Sheenic Route” album which is coming out soon.

Tucker & Bloom: Is the album going to be composed of DJ edits like those on the tapes?

4th: The mixes are filled with the kinds of records that we are influenced by and the kind of stuff that we’re sampling. It is going to be a more club record for people that have heard my solo stuff before. Previously it has been very boom bapish hip hop. This is defiantly something that were coming at with more of a producer and dj angle. As much a lyrical content as we want this project to have, we want it to be a record for the clubs.
Cosmo: Were trying not to pigeon-hole ourselves with a decidedly hip hop record, or a record that is a new boogie record, or a new funk record that sounds like its from 87. Because there are elements of all that stuff within what were messing with musically. I wont go as far as to say that the project is not classifiable but we are just trying to touch on a lot of elements and make something which sounds good to our ears.

Tucker & Bloom: What exactly are you guys rocking with? Whats the equipment?

4th: I’m on Abelton a MPD (midi controller)
Cosmo:For live performances, I’m on the turntables and Serato scratch live, although…I’m going to start incorporating Abelton into my live set as well.
4th The project is like live DJ edit set. We might play records back to back, but if you ever listen back to a set, its mostly live edits.
Its cool because it gives me a chance to step into the DJ world and a chance to show my production talents.
Cosmo: Its the same with me. Being predominantly a DJ but also somebody who’s been producing for well over 10 years. This is the first time in years that Ive been excited about making a project like this happen. Its a Sheen Thing.

Tucker & Bloom: How is it you guys are working together? How are you managing the distance?

4th: I’m in NYC a lot
Cosmo: I come to Toronto when I can.
4th: He’ll flesh out an idea and send it over to me, and than Ill write to it. We’re working out of Chung King Studios when I’m here, which is a legendary studio, and that energy is great.
Cosmo: There is definitely a particular creative energy with both of us. Already its resonated with people, who are really excited about the future of the project.
4th: Both of our fan bases are excited. Because it wasn’t a contrived thing. I’m like Cosmo in that Ive been working on working on music all the time but I haven’t necessarily been excited about anything like this. Its great when an electro blog
that’s posting the who’s who of electro, posts a Sheen Bros mix and says “this is a breath of fresh air”. As hip hop guys, to be able to get into that world is great. As much as we come from hip hop, the group is trying to make music you can dance to.
Cosmo: If you listen to volume two a lot of the inspiration I got for that was listening to Spoonie Gee. Disco rapping might be flavor of the month, but not really because its a trend that 30 years old.
Its always been timeless and classic, and that’s what we’re striving for.

Be on the look out for The new Sheen Bros album “The Sheenic Route” and check them out at their new monthly party @ APT NYC. Shouts to ML2 and Lyrics To Go

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