In a recent interview by William Hernandez at DaveyD.com Tony Touch, one of hip-hop’s most respected individuals, spoke on number of issues. Here are some of the highlights:
On “The Piece Maker 2”:
“It’s basically a continuation of the Tony Touch formula, 50 emcees, all heavyweights. All original material, we got everybody from Slick Rick to P Diddy, Ruben Blades to Large Professor, Def Squad to Dead Prez; everybody is on this album. They weren’t on the first Peace Maker, they’re on this one. I switched the line up…I’ve got relationships with all these cats that either rhymed on the album or came through with beats. There is mad work to be done.”
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On DJing for Eminem on Saturday Night Live:
“His manager Paul Rosenburg, he manages Cypress Hill and Xzhibit, I went on the road with Cypress Hill for two and a half weeks. I filled in for Muggs on one tour. I’ve known Paul and Eminem for years. So the relationship has always been great. They came through on the first album. Eminem was one of the 50 emcees on it. A situation came up, they need a DJ last minute for the SNL show. So they reached out to me.”
On the current trend of “pause” mixtapes:
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“I can’t knock anybody for the way they present their product. For me personally, the one thing that’s got me disappointed is that there is not enough good music anymore like there was before. I’m not really motivated by a lot of the things that are coming out now. I’m not producing as many CDs because of that reason. That’s number one. Number two, in regards to all these pause tape coming from DJs or MP3 DJs, downloading music and recording song after song and putting out music, ff that’s your hustle, I can’t knock it. But me personally, I wouldn’t be real with myself if I wasn’t able to put together something that is fly. There are people out there still checking for skills. But they also want to hear new shit. So you got to balance it out. I’m all about balancing it out.”
Advice to up and coming Latino artists:
“The first advice I would give is don’t categorize yourself as a Latino emcee. Just categorize yourself as an emcee. If you put the term Latino in front of it, you’re already pigeonholing yourself. You’re already kind of stereotyping, throwing yourself in a little section. If you’re an emcee you’re an emcee. Real recognizes real. And sometimes we don’t get accepted right away or the opportunities aren’t given right way. You just have to continue and keep trying. Persistence overcomes resistance. With me, I had a lot of doors closed in my face; people telling me no. Either they weren’t giving me an opportunity or whatever. But I keep working hard, showing that hunger. Dreams come true. You just have to stick to your goals. Don’t get discouraged and have faith in yourself and move forward.”
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