Tony Touch: The Piece Maker

DJ and hip-hop impresario Tony Touch has been releasing popular mix tapes for years, and for his first big album as a rapper, producer, and DJ, he's recruited a who's-who of hip-hop to help him out. With guests including Big Daddy Kane, De La Soul, Eminem, The Wu-Tang Clan, and Gang Starr, The Piece Maker has star power to spare, but the lesser-known names make the biggest impact. Likwit Crew All-Stars Tash, Defari, and the ubiquitous Xzibit do major damage to a dynamite DJ Scratch beat (with an invaluable assist from Touch) on the terrific "Likwit Rhyming," while "P.R. All-Stars" features a slew of Puerto Rican MCs kicking Spanish-language rhymes as if their lives depended on it. "Pit Fight" teams Touch with Beatnuts' Psycho Les and the long-MIA Greg Nice for "Pit Fight," a potent slice of south-of-the-border raunch, which is appropriate, since there's a notable Beatnuts influence in Touch's delivery and production. As is true of that group, rapping isn't his strong suit, but Touch plays to his strengths, acting as an affable host who directs the attention to his high-wattage guests rather than hogging the spotlight himself. It's a wise tactic that allows such veteran heavyweights as Gang Starr (on the title single) and Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, and KRS-One (on the old-school reunion "Class Of '87") ample opportunities to showcase their formidable lyrical skills. Some collaborations just don't work: The promising teaming of Touch, De La Soul, and Mos Def on "What's That (¿Que Eso)" is yet another De La Soul song done in by uninspired production, and The Piece Maker has its share of filler and stupid skits. (Can there be a moratorium on Al Pacino impersonations in rap albums) But it's a solid, occasionally spectacular album that should expedite Touch's crossover into the musical mainstream.