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| tracklisting |
| 1. Tony Navaja feat. Ruben Blades |
| 2. Non-Stop feat. P. Diddy, Black Rock, G-Dep |
| 3. How You Want It feat. Redman, Erick Sermon, Keith Murray |
| 4. Battle Skit 1 |
| 5. Capicu feat. Fat Joe, N.O.R.E. & JuJu of The Beatnuts |
| 6. Rock Steady feat. Raekwon, Method Man, U-God |
| 7. Dimelo |
| 8. Click Bang feat. Doo Wop |
| 9. Ay Ay Ay feat. Sean Paul |
| 10. Just Be Good To Me feat. Soni |
| 11. Spanish Harlem 2 feat. Hurricane G & The Cocoa B's |
| 12. Battle Skit 2 |
| 13. Spit 1 feat. Q-Unique |
| 14. Out Da Box feat. Large Professor, Pete Rock, Masta Ace |
| 15. Trouble On The Westside Hwy feat. Slick Rick |
| 16. A Beautiful Day feat. Nature |
| 17. Touch 1-Touch All feat. dead prez |
| 18. Como Suena feat. Don Chezina |
| 19. Spoken Word |
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| And yes, Tony Touch actually started out as a DJ. But not much of that person is left on here, with the biggest link to his past being an appearance from Q-Unique of the Arsonists fame on "Spit 1". Link because Tony used to DJ for the Arsonists. But many moons have passed
since then, and while the title of this song is actually quite a hint on the general content of this record, Tony's more likely to record with a Fat Joe or P.Diddy, than a Q-Unique. |
| But all three are on this record, with the last one playing host on "Non-Stop". Meaning he does his signature hype man rambling, while he lets Tony, Black Rob and G-Dep (who's the one Bad Boy seriously deserving a solo album) take care of the spitting. Again the word
spit. As said, this record contains a lot of spitting and little else. What's cool though, because it never acts or pretends to be anything else. Even though some exceptions apply. |
| As the spectrum is widened with "Ay Ay Ay", your typical hitting up woman song, that gets extra impact with the Sean Paul contribution. Somewhat bridging the 'not caring' and the 'you better care' is "A Beautiful
Day", a song featuring Nature. Here there is some sun coming through the clouds, while on "Rock Steady", a song featuring Raekwon, Method Man and U-God, along with a good RZA beat, the streets are dirty. As they are on "Click
Bang", the song with Tony's doobie brother Doo Wop. Slick Rick gives us another well written and read story on "Trouble On The Westside Hwy", while dead prez stay dead prez, therefore their contribution on "Touch 1-Touch All"
is political and educating the masses. And it fits well along the lines of "Spoken Word", which is exactly that. It's written and produced by Joey Aponte AKA Joey Blitz, conscious and well recited. |
| It's also one of three interesting examples, considering that they are on a record billed as a Tony Touch album. This record also features the previously mentioned "Spit 1" song, which was produced by Q-Unique and performed by Q, without Tony even stepping to the
mic. Or Tony lets Soni sing a remake of the classic "Just Be Good To Me", updating the timeless melody with some current and quite extended background production, to create a good song. These songs stray away from the pure and expected formula, without that actually giving reason to
mind. |
| One thing however also needs to be covered, before we can return to the pure spitting and repping: the Latin flavor. That we can find on the unofficial intro "Tony Navaja" with Ruben Blades who sings us into the album. Also on "Como Suena" with Don
Chezina and "Spanish Harlem 2", where Hurricane G gets the chance to rhyme along the Cocoa B's. But Hurricane G has always been weak or wack, so you might as well forget about that song, even though the beat would actually be quite nice. |
| But if it comes to nice beats, there's still the previously mentioned "Rock Steady" or "Out Da Box". This Pete Rock production also attracts our attention due to the guests: Pete Rock, Large Professor
and Masta Ace. "How You Want It" is impossible to not be identified as an Erick Sermon production, while the Def Squadians Redman and Keith Murray throw their rhyming hat in. What pretty much leaves us with "Capicu" featuring
Fat Joe, N.O.R.E. and JuJu of The Beatnuts. Which then leaves us with a lot of threatening verses and a beat that is a little thin to move much out of the way, but certainly got the pace and forward direction to at least try. |
| Listening to this record you'll certainly not get much of an impression of who Tony Touch is. Or was. This is so much more like listening to the radio or like what other people release as mix tapes. At the same time however, it also makes it impossible to dislike Tony or even this
record. That fits so many different artists and all their styles into its 56 minutes, you must find tracks you like, and can't mind the ones you don't. |
| review: tadah |
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