Tony Touch - Best of 2010 Live from Shade 45

There are many you can front on in the world of those that call themselves DJs, but Tony Touch is not one of them. Son has been down for the longest, representing for Uptown and Rock Steady all the while. Whether you know him from his mixtapes, live DJing, or maybe the Piece Maker records, it should be indisputable that Toca is the real deal.

Eminem has certainly noticed. Tony has backed him up on the live tip and was the first DJ to sign to the Shade 45 radio franchise. Discriminating Tocaphiles know that Toca Tuesdays on Shade 45 are known for the guest freestyles. One of the highlights of the years end is always Tony's Year End Best Of Freestyle tapes and 2010 is no exception. Of course, front loading the tape with Rah Digga and Joell Ortiz is always a good recipe for JS-NYC props but know that this is the rare tape where most MCs here are worthy of the title. Get the Top 25 Toca Tuesday Freestyles of 2010 here from the Toca web presence and check out Toca Tuesdays from 8-12 every week at Shade 45.

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Tony Touch - Best of '09 Live from Shade 45

Mr. 50 MCs himself has got a new comp out that has 27 of the best freestyles from Toca's Shade 45 Radio show. Listening to it, you might actually think there is a future for hip hop. Toca drops old school freestyles along most of the artists, and for the record we are talking off-the-head freestyles, not their best writtens. He's hardly Big Daddy Kane, but he's a fair shade better than 95% of the crap that passes for today's hip-hop.

Of the 27, you'll be shocked to find that JS-NYC is coming out in favor of the Sean Price track. In other not so shocking nods, know that Joell Ortiz continues to decimate every other MC in the game. His track is fucking bananas and sadly for shitty rappers he twists the knife and appears a second time as part of Slaughterhouse. Don't think this a young man's game either, as old school players like AG and Steele also represent. Listen to this and ask yourself why these freestyles are better than anything that topped the hip-hop charts last year.

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Alchemist - Chemical Warfare

Album number two from Beverly Hills' hardest, The Alchemist. To the best of my knowledge, he doesn't rhyme on the record, unless that's him on the early part of the song with G. Rap. Granted, G. Rap comes with his for profit flow, but there is no reason why there should even be the illusion of those two trading off verses with any semblance of equality. I always though Al's beats were ok, and granted I'm not as familiar with Dilated Peoples as I should be, but there seemed to be a lot of guys out there coming with better shit, like Marco Polo or Tony Touch. That's just this asshole talking, and I bet the Alchemist doesn't barely make it paycheck to check like us over at JS-NYC.

There are a gang of high profile guest stars on Chemical Warfare. Snoop, KRS-One and Eminem all weigh in, along with up and comers like Kid Cudi and a track that heralds the return of Maxwell (who evidently sold like 350K this week -- whouda thought?). For all the star power, no one really brings their A Game on Chemical Warfare. Even Juvenile, who is normally the MSG of any track he guests on for this guy, didn't do anything for me. If you are an average hip-hop fan looking for a good cross-section of today's top sellers, this might be the record for you, but if you are a boom-bap guy, there's not too much for an old head like me to grab on to. If you want to buy beats from Al or see the lead-off video off the record, you can get it here.

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The Halftime Show 11th Anniversary Show download - part two

Now this shit is crazy. Second half of the Halftime Show 11th Anniversary Show set featured DJ Premier, Tony Touch and the Beatminerz. As you might suspect, it's pretty fucking bananas. 

Primo sets it off with some cuts from Heather B and Rakim, then rubs it in for another fifteen or so, before closing by chiding DJs that don't know their cuts and threatening to battle any other 42 year old DJs. Classic! Big Up Primo. Keep tabs on Primo, All Day Records and Works Of Mart here.

Tony Touch steps up next and tears shit up in a pronounced fashion. No deep cuts, or all that many out and out songs for that matter, but even in truncated form it's obvious that Toca is a master of the blend. Plus he thought that he was supposed to spin the next day and showed up in like an hour's notice. Time to prepare aside, you'll nod your head and shake your ass for the duration. Toca's up to Vol. 86 of the mixtape series and is gearing up for a redo of the 50 MCs tape for release 100, so keep an eye out. Check his whereabouts here.

With only fifteen minutes left, Da Beatminerz kinda got the short end of the stick, but Bushwick never has fucked around, so Evil D dropped platter after platter of Boot Camp griminess until the bell rang. Lots of deep cuts, old Smif and Wessum and Buckshot stuff, plus some KRS-One Nelly diss shit for some old school flavor. Boot Camp is always banging, and despite the fact that I'd would have like to have heard more Sean P up in the set, they were pressed for time and Mr. Walt didn't even get on. I shudder to think what crap pre-empted the Beatminerz set, but keep tabs on all things Beatminerz here. Duck Down!

Big up WKCR and The Halftime Show. Thanks to Robbie at Unkut for hosting the downloads.

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The Halftime Show 11th Anniversary Show download - part one

If you take a trip over to the mighty Unkut.com, with a little bit of investimatigation you can find a free download of WKCR's The Halftime Show with a gang of hot DJs spinning fire for the show's 11th Anniversary. There are two hour and fifteen minute sets for your pleasure. 

Halftime co-host DJ Eclipse chairs the show's proceedings, and casts the first stone on the opening half, throwing down a pretty hot set with some unreleased Common and Nas joints. DJ A-Trak of Kanye infamy drops a set that shows why he spends a lot of time clocking Euros, closing his set with some turntable pyrotechnics that prompts even the mighty Primo to jump on the mike and give props. DJ JS1 from Rock Steady kicks it off with a Fat Albert sample, then wrecks shop on break beat after break beat. Good stuff, but check in for the next half with its sets from DJ Premier, Tony Touch and Da Beatminerz.

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