TONY TOUCH/VARIOUS
Mic Destruction
Sure Shot Recordings
· Promising debut for New York DJ’s new mix-tape series.
New York City hip hop DJ and self-proclaimed "mixtape king" Tony Touch, rounds up 25 artists from across the American landscape for this compilation, the excellent first volume of his Mic Destruction series.
There’s an element of surprise in the pairings here that’s extremely effective – Talib Kweli spitting alongside MF Doom, the sorely-missed ODB with Bad Boy also-ran Black Rob, and NY legend Big Daddy Kane teamed with North Carolina phenomenon Little Brother spitting threats about "getting stained like armoires at IKEA."
However the all-star awards go to the Theodore Unit team-up of Ghostface, Trife and Sun God, atop a ridiculous church organ beat on "Man Up." AZ gets honorable mentions for "The Come Up" and "AZ’s Chillin’;" the former an introspective chin-stroker over a mournful DJ Premier beat, the latter a homage to Audio Two’s classic "Top Billin’." Skillz’ "Imagine" is also a winner, a typically witty entry that cleverly blurs the line between fact and fiction.
But there’s nothing but Bronx cheers for Big Shug, who further decimates a surprisingly bad Premier beat with some rhymes about people being "traumatized when you see my ass" (might not mean what you think it does, dude); for Dipset soldiers Jay Bezel and Juelz Santana, who bring excruciatingly boring raps to a keyboard beat even Swizz Beatz would’ve tossed; and for The Game, whose two selections only add clout to the rumours that 50 Cent ghostwrote for him.
With 21 tracks and only a few duds, the inaugural Mic Destruction mix is quite promising. As long as Tony Touch keeps the quality up he should have a solid series on his hands.
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