Tony Touch - Avirex Sampler (Water Tite)
Our boy Wojavelli dug in the crates and unearthed a gem.
Okay! We’re back following our 50 TAPES run with some more classic NYC mixtapes to share. Our boy Wojavelli dug up a rare Tony Touch sampler, and it’s a real gem. Here’s the breakdown…
Words by Wojavelli
As an avid mixtape collector, it's rare that you come across a big name DJ tape that you cannot find any info for online. It's even more rare that said tape also ties in another one of your interests. I'm unsure if I came across this tape on Ebay by searching for "mixtape" or "Avirex," as I often search both terms.
My relationship with mixtapes began in the mid/late-’90s in Northeast PA (like where the tv show The Office takes place) where I would read about them in the pages of The Source, XXL, Stress, Rap Pages, On the Go and various skate magazines. A memory burned into my brain was being 14 years old at the local skate shop, The Happy House, and overhearing one cool older skater showing another an ad for Funkmaster Flex's 60 Minutes of Funk in a skate magazine and telling him about how many freestyles were on it and who from. When I signed up for BMG soon after, that was an obvious choice for one of my eight free CDs, and it has stayed in rotation since.
Soon after, I would be copping legit street mixtapes when I would take the Martz bus to NYC. I didn't have much money, but what I saved from doing teenage jobs (all the local hardcore/punk kids worked telemarketing) would be splurged at Fat Beats, Bobbito's Footwork, Beat Street, Breakbeat Science, Kim's Video and others for records and tapes. Locally, we actually had a great record store chain, Joe Nardone's Gallery of Sound, which still exists. They would get some 12 inches and a decent amount of mixtapes. I remember seeing a DJ Quest (local college DJ, not the Cali DJ Quest) in the mix with the Clues and Cutmaster Cs at the Wyoming Valley Mall location and thinking, "Woah, he made it."
My high school was so rural that I only knew a couple kids who were really into hip-hop like I was. One was Bobb Mac, who would later go on to book tons of local hardcore/punk shows, including the infamous Posi Numbers Fest. The other was my schoolmate, Jeff aka DJ Destro. Jeff and I learned how to DJ together and later started a crew called Type Ill with another local cat, DJ Mo (RIP). This was the backpack vs. jiggy era and we, of course, were firmly team backpack but enjoyed a little bit of everything. We wore out the "Get At Me Dog" 12 inch along with "Universal Magnetic."
Meanwhile, I was neck deep in the local Hardcore/Straight-Edge/Punk scene. Growing up within these scenes and taking in all of this culture, while being an active participant whenever I could, gave me the frames of reference and reverence to eventually begin working in the sneaker/streetwear world. I didn't know it at the time, but (for example) buying issues of UK mags like The Face to find out about this stuff I keep hearing about called UK Garage would subconsciously inform me on fashion, sneakers and the cultures tied to both.
Seeking out DJ culture in general in the ‘90s and early 2000s gave you a broad scope if you were willing to take it in. Through the years I stayed DJing here and there and started a hardcore band called Cold World. We would naturally genre bend and eventually did tracks with people like Sean P, Kool G Rap, Roc Marciano, and Meyhem Lauren. We still play here and there and are about to reissue our second 7" EP, Ice Grillz, for its 20th anniversary. I also dabble in making mixtapes myself as well as producing here and there (shouts to Genovese).
Years later, all of this obsessive nerdy behavior led to me searching "mixtape" and "Avirex" on eBay daily and finding this tape. Tony Touch ‘Water Tite’ Avirex Sampler. The tape unfortunately came with no cover so I have no idea what the art was. Tony's inclusion of his "Spanish Harlem" track with Cocoa Brovaz and Hurricane G leads me to believe the tape is from ‘98 (prime Avi era). The tape starts with a dope little produced intro with cuts referencing Avirex ("Son hold my Aye-Vee, let me rock this no-bah-dee") and quickly goes into a freestyle by a group called Clientele, which I'm admittedly not familiar with.
Next is the legendary Prodigy “Avirex Freestyle.” Could this be the actual origin of this track?!?! It's always been sort of mysterious through the years what this track was originally for/from, so maybe! This is, however, the only freestyle on the tape which doesn't shout out Tony, so perhaps it wasn't recorded specifically for this tape.
Following P is another freestyle from a group I'm unaware of, the first MC of which's name being Pokerface. Sadat X follows this up with a great Avi-oriented freestyle where he says, "This is how we put it down in ‘97." So the verdicts out on whether this tape actually came out in ‘97 or Derrick X recorded his freestyle in ‘97 for the tape's early ‘98 release.
Next is the last freestyle, a cat named Bugsy. The tape then transitions to Toca doing a Trouble Funk "Pump Me Up" scratch routine into "Spanish Harlem" which fittingly features many-a-Avirex in its classic video, then finally ending with a cool Spanish-sounding party break. Throughout the tape, Tony and almost every MC shouts out someone named Wonderland, who I'm guessing was Avirex's marketing guru at the time.
It's an honor to contribute to the Do Remember! newsletter and hopefully some aficionados (or Toca himself!) will have some further lore on this mysterious tape!
Please peep my Soundcloud for my little bedroom tapes HERE—hope you enjoy. Peace!
Big thanks to Wojavelli for the contribution! Stream Avirex Sampler (Water Tite) below and stay tuned for more posts as we celebrate the release of Do Remember! The Golden Era of NYC Hip-Hop Mixtapes, out now via Rizzoli.
Tony Touch - Avirex Sampler (Water Tite)