http://www.rapattacklives.com/charts_322.htm

Touch and Nato, Edmonton’s dynamic rap duo have done it again! They reached the number one spot on the esteemed US-based "Rap Attack" college radio charts. The single "Somethin’ Real" from their debut album "Intelligent Design", featuring Brooklyn, NY rapper Wordsworth has caught fire, giving the Canadian crew even more bragging rights after topping Chart Attack’s rap charts in 2007.
 
Also, Nato (the beatmaker and DJ of Touch & Nato) is featured prominently on the Cadence Weapon’s new smash album "Afterparty Babies", producing the banger "Your Hair’s Not Clothes", co-producing "Do I Miss My Friends?" and also being featured on the interlude before "Unsuccesful Club Nights". Cadence Weapon records all of his material at Nato’s Up in Arms Studio in Edmonton.

Taken from: http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2007-11-22/music_feature3.php

Hiphop hits

5 Canadian albums that should not be slept on

GRAND ANALOG Calligraffiti (Urbnet)

The thick, digital grit of this gifted collective puts a uniquely Canadian spin on an international sonic template, resulting in something rather rugged in the process. Around This Town, for example, captures Odario and co. concocting dub fire spreading from Winnipeg to Toronto to Kingston to England. Mood raw.

BOONAA Boonaafied (Stolen from Africa)

This young, gifted poet's fiery verbiage is fuelled by passion, without beats, on this inspired debut. Crystal-clear lyricism and childlike innocence helps catapult atomic thought-rocks at Goliath-sized targets. The valley-girl sarcasm of God Bless The Colonizer is deliciously wry. With some vocal sculpting, Boonaa will be a leader of tomorrow.

TOUCH AND NATO are… THE REPRESENTATIVES Intelligent Design (Up in Arms)

Proud Edmontonian Touch connected with mega-creative producer DJ Nato to make this headbangin' album meant to expand your perspective of western Canadian rap. Guests include Wordsworth, Cadence Weapon and Mindbender. Plus, the Slick Rick-inspired YouTube video Adult's Story is possibly the cleverest remake of the year. Find it.

MARVEL No Streets (Just The World) (Mumbles Hip Hop)

This tragically overlooked Toronto talent's debut LP finally emerges, and it's well worth waiting for. Marvel's jazzy wit dances all over the powerful, innovative production, spilling his heart and mind. Arcee and k-os provide mic support. Essential for your Toronto hiphop legends collection.

ETERNIA Where I'm At – The Set-Up (Urbnet)

A seamless concept project and precursor to her next power move, this 26-track labour of love establishes Eternia as a mature and increasingly lethal lyricist, capable of flowing with anyone on anything. Wordsworth, Polyrhythm Addicts, Promise, Grimace Love, Jessica Kaya and other worthy guests bless this rock-solid release.

http://www.hiphopcanada.com/_site/entertainment/interviews/ent_int415.php

Edmonton, AB – One the most exciting new collaborations coming out of Canada's City of Champions is the producer-emcee duo of Touch & Nato. While Edmonton is more commonly known on a National scale for the Wayne Gretsky-era Oilers and the West Edmonton Mall, the group's debut album release, Intelligent Design, has left a countrywide mark on the college and university radio circuit. The Slick Rick and Maury Povich inspired "Adult's Story" single [click to watch the video] has been getting love from DJs East to West and has introduced the country to 2 individuals who have already put in more than their fair share of work into the development of Edmonton's bubbling hip-hop scene.

Nato has been producing for various artists including Edmonton's Cadence Weapon. Cadence actually records a large chunk of his material at Nato's Up in Arms Studio, located in North-Edmonton, and will be featuring one of Nato's beats on his next album. Nato is also a member of the Low Budget Affiliates and contributed some stellar beats to their recently released album titled The Damage Is Done.

West-Edmonton's Touch, a member of the Dangerous Goods Collective and pioneer in the local scene, has been holding it down since the early 90's. His lyricism and presence on the mic can be attributed to a fundamental understanding of his craft and an onslaught of experience to build off of and grow with. He's been involved in a ton of projects including one group that also included fellow-Edmontonian E-dot, who signed with Uncle Howie Records (New York) a few years back.

The Touch & Nato combo makes for the perfect match and is a true testament to the untapped market of growing talent in the oil-rich city which has a metropolitan population of just over a million people. Intelligent Design is 18 conceptualized tracks that keep the beats banging, courtesy of Nato, who also holds down the one's and two's, the rhymes detailed and intensely intricate, thanks to Touch along with key guest appearances that play into the album's well-planned architecture.

HipHopCanada caught up with Touch & Nato some weeks back but unfortunately we had to wait on a hard drive recovery service to retrieve the transcript after some unforeseen computer issues. Hey, it happens. Luckily, Intelligent Design is still available for purchase and we highly recommend you support the movement. They've already let us know there will be a follow-up but let's not give you too much info before you check out the actual interview.

Touch & Nato on HipHopCanada.com… finally!

HHC: Touch & Nato, welcome to the HipHopCanada community! So the winter is upon us but how did you guys spend the summer?

Nato: We had a pretty interesting summer. Our goal was to release our new album independently and I think we've done a pretty good job with what we've had to work with. We released an 11 minute long promo of all exclusive material that we composed in about 2 or 3 weeks to help promote the album. Then we put a lot of work into doing a video for Adult's Story. The chain of events went over so well, from the promo, to the album release, to the video, to the release party, then we hit 1 on the Canadian campus hip-hop chart and that just topped it all off.

HHC: Thinking back, what would each of you credit as your earliest influences in becoming what you are today.

Nato: I'd have to give my older brother that credit. He got me into hip-hop at a very young age and I was sitting in front of a drum machine at the age of 12, and turntables shortly after.

Touch: I would say Run D MC, Ice T, N.W.A., The Fat Boys and KRS ONE were my first experience with rap, then it went to EPMD, Juice Crew, G Rap… cats like that, I would play all day...

GO HERE TO READ THE REST:

http://www.hiphopcanada.com/_site/entertainment/interviews/ent_int415.php

Taken from www.cream.cz

THE REPRESENTATIVES: „Hockey is our first dream career."

How did you two meet up?
TOUCH: Me and Nato formerly met at The Blackdog, a local club that had a weekly hip hop night on Tuesdays, if you were there, you were hip hop, so I met a lot of the scene there and made a lot of connections. It's too bad there really isn't another spot like that anymore, the music was always underground, and far from mainstream, so it didn't attract a lot of females, or people for that matter. But it did attract nearly all the heads in the city at one point or another. Nato and I ended up djing there together eventually since we both used to fill in for the regulars, C-Section, Reese, and Sonny Grimez every once and a while. That place was great for the community.

Your sound has a mood of the mid 90´s. What are you listening to?
TOUCH: Well, I listen to a lot of west coast and east coast shit, the Liks, Strong arm Steady, Planet Asia, I'm a die hard Wu fan, but lately I've been just trying to get all my cassettes from the 90's on wax, I just bought Wanted Dead or Alive by G Rap, and some Showbiz and AG on wax, so I still buy a lot of "old school" shit. I spin at a club every Thursday, so it's mostly shit from the 90's, Lord Finesse, old Heiro, Grand Pubah, shit like that.

NATO: Right now I'm really into Sean Price, Agallah, the new Marco Polo is real dope, I want to hear that new Necro album again too.

In Canada you have labels like Endemic and Clothes Horse Records that make more experimental stuff, Urbnet with the underground stuff and you two are totally different. Why do you think that the canadian hip hop is so diverse?
TOUCH: Canada is a huge diverse country, the closest major city to Edmonton is 3 hours away, so there is a lot of room for diversity. If Canada were similar from coast to coast I would definitely worry. I think lately there has been a lot more solidarity within some of the circles, which is an example to the whole scene and is gaining us more recognition internationally, but even with that, the styles remain extremely different from crew to crew, which just shows the honesty within the scene.

In Intro Touch answers the question about bringing it to Toronto or Vancouver this way: „You act like I ain´t welcome." I interviewed Scott Da Ros from Endemic and he said that there is a lot of beef going on in Canada. He didn´t say anything concrete, but it was obvious that he is not happy with the situation. What is your take on this issue?
TOUCH: I avoid beef like a vegan. I'm not in this for beef or to separate myself from anyone else. There's a lot of opportunity to make friends and there are a lot less opportunities to make enemies, so if you have hip hop beef in Canada, its most likely some personal neighborhood shit. Hip hop beef in Canada, I equate, to East Coast- West Coast beef in the U.S.; its really a myth, counterproductive and utterly ridiculous.


Talking about beefs, can you explain the line: „I ain´t the opening act like Fatt Matt"?
TOUCH: (laughs) I'd love to explain that line. You are missing a comma in that quote. You're the second person to ask me about that; the first was DJ Weasel. Fat Matt has a song called "I ain't the opening act". That's his hook, at the end of it he's like, I ain't the opening act! Its a song I think that defines him because he's so much more than an opening act, and I know a lot of Canadian rappers, who only get to shine when they open for us acts, I feel the same way he does. The way I wrote that line is "I ain't the opening act, like Fat Matt" it was a reference to his hook, not a diss in any way. I really just wanted to say his name on the album to help promote his cause. He's the first person to open his house up to me when I went on tour, and it was a great introduction to the wider Canadian scene for me. If you really want to know how I feel about Fat Matt, check my myspace (www.myspace.com/touch182) we did a song featuring production from Moves of the Dirty Crew. The people I have beef with are not mentioned on the album at all.

How did you hook up with Nomad? Have you heard his latest album Lemon Tea?
TOUCH: I've only met Nomad once, and even then I wasn't aware it was him until later on in the meeting. Epic has a habit of using first names and when he introduced me to Nomad he used his first name so it didn't mean much at the second, but I love his stuff, I've collaborated on another jam with him and Epic, and I've heard some of his stuff at Nato's studio.

NATO: I record alot of Epic's vocals in my studio. I did most of that Epic & Nomad album and when I heard it I really liked what Nomad had done. We needed a chorus for a song and I hollered at him. He did it up really quickly and Touch and I were really happy with it. We actually met him months later when he visited Edmonton. I haven't heard his new album but I bet I've heard a couple songs on myspace or from Epic – he's real dope.

In Pay Me Touch raps about everybody who wants a free show, verse or beat. If the money is right would you collaborate with somebody who you know is wack?
TOUCH: If the money's right everything's tight. I really charge according to how much time I have, I've been working on so many projects lately I find it hard to keep up, so basically, I've added a sir charge for my services in order to weed out those who were not really serious, or really didn't value my time. I know I've offended some people by doing this, but I don't see it as they are paying for my talent, I look at it like they are paying for my time, which I find a much more valuable commodity. I've done tracks with veterans like Wordsworth, down to people who just started rapping in 2002, so I don't discriminate. I rap on your track to challenge your ability to fuck with me.

NATO: I think you answered your own question, if the money is right then the deal is done! If somebody wants to collaborate then they've heard and want what we are known to do. There would be no compromise of artistry so why not?

How would you describe Intelligent Design using only 5 adjectives?
NATO: I'll start and make it harder on Touch – Honest, Dusty,
TOUCH: I'll finish with benevolent, underground, and uplifting.

Who and how came up with the concept for Adult´s Story and flipping Slick Rick´s Children´s Story?
NATO: I came up with that idea while watching the Maury Show. I'm not sure if you get it over there but it's kinda like Jerry Springer but more believable. I'm a big fan of the show and I especially like when the men get excited as they are told they are not the father, it's like they just scored a touchdown at the Superbowl.

You rap: „I´ve been to New York, I´ve seen kids fronting." Do you think it´s hard to succeed in NY (or anywhere in the USA) when you are from Canada?
TOUCH: Actually, I was just talking to E Dot about that, it may be hard to succeed, but it hasn't been hard for him to get respected. When we were rhyming together, it was an everyday all day thing, we breathed hip hop, so when we go anywhere, state side or whatever, people recognize the skills, which is what's important. I have no problem joining a cipher anywhere, cause I'll smash 70% of emcees with freestyles alone, not to mention writtens. A lot a people in Canada know more about New York hip hop than a lot of New Yorkers, I witnessed this in '91, and I'm sure its still the same way. But as for making it, I think that's such a relative term in hip hop. Who really makes it?

You are close friends with Cadence Weapon. How did you meet him? He is still pretty young and considered to be the next big thing, is he ready to be a star?
NATO: I met Cadence Weapon back in 2002 or 2003 at the Blackdog, a place Touch and I used to DJ at. We met and I had heard that he was a good rapper so I gave him a beat on a Saturday; he came over to record it on a Monday and it was flawless, the song turned out dope. He is a true talent, I've seen him in the studio more than anybody has as I record mostly all of his vocals. Believe me, he's the real deal and he is definately ready to blow. I got a beat on his new album too, make sure you check it out in 2008.

TOUCH: Yeah I literally live right next door to Cadence, I used to listen (as did the whole hip hop community) to his father Teddy on the local campus station. He introduced most of us to underground and revolutionary hip hop and soul back in the day. So I already had great respect for Cadence and his family when I met him. I'm pretty sure I met Cadence around the same time I met Nato, and to be honest I was surprised with his success because I really didn't see him that much in the hip hop scene, but when I heard his shit at Nato's, I was really impressed with his style, it was like nothing I've ever heard.

What´s up with the Oilers? The last season was one of their worst and there were even rumours about selling the club.
NATO: (laughs) I love this question because Touch and I both love hockey. Last season was terrible but we still watched. We went from being a goal away from the Stanley Cup to the worst team in the league in 60 games. And the rumours about selling the club came from a very rich man and huge Oiler fan who wanted to buy the club and keep it in Edmonton; he wanted to build a new stadium too, but the present owners wouldn't sell. The Oilers couldn't be more popular right now. But if they suck this year, I'm sure there will be alot of pressure to make some changes, whether it be a new coach or a new general manager. All in all it should be pretty interesting this year.

TOUCH: Well I've seen all of the Oilers cups so I'm pretty forgiving and very loyal. I remember when Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Coffee, Messier, Moog, and Fuhr were all playing together, our team changed the rules of the game, literally. So my heart is always with them no matter how their season is. I live right in front of where the riots were when we were a period away from a cup, and I'll say this, hockey is more important to an Edmontonian than anything. If I weren't a rapper I'd be a goalie in the NHL for sure.

NATO: (laughs) Yeah, we were both goalies back when we played! Yeah, hockey is my first dream career, then rap!

taken from http://until-the-train-stops.blogspot.com/

Touch and Nato - Intelligent Design review

by Renato Pagnani

I originally thought there might be some sort of conflict-of-interest in reviewing Intelligent Design, but then I realized that would be akin to Sean Fennessey not reviewing a Dipset album, or Henry Adaso not covering a Z-Ro single because they share the same place of residence. I've never thought that hometown bias was a negative thing, and in rap until recently it's sometimes worked inversely. So here's the disclaimer: for those who don't know, just like Touch and Nato, I'm from Edmonton. But I don't technically live in Edmonton (St. Albert, bitches), so what partisan leanings? Plus, I've never even met the guys. If I had gotten smashed while playing BioShock (game of the year) with them last night, then yeah, maybe I shouldn't be reviewing their album. But last night I was definitely alone in Rapture. Just like every night.

Cadence Weapon's debut Breaking Kayfabe (2005) was the first genuinely great rap album to come out of Edmonton; Intelligent Design is the second. For too long have aspiring rappers who don't hail from the Big Four (New York, L.A., Atlanta, and Detroit-slash-Chicago, for argument's sake) tried to mimic the styles other regions, especially the "New York sound," and this has led to little more than frustrating facsimiles of established sounds. This has been especially true of Canadian artists, unfortunately. They all want to sound like an eastern underground rapper or some gangster rapper (Nas, right?). Or if they're melanin-deficient, Eminem. The UK got it right when the artists there, while borrowing bits and pieces from here and there, managed to create something their own—grime. Those who have succeeded outside of the Epicentres of Rap have done the same. The aesthetic of Rollie "Cadence fucking Weapon" Pemberton's music falls somewhere between grime's paranoid danceability and 8-bit Nintendo cartridges; as an emcee he's like that friend of yours who has an incredible wealth of knowledge in numerous genres of music, and while he doesn't outright brag about how much cooler than you he is, you know he's totally thinking it. Yet you still hang out with the dude, mostly because he's a hoot after imbibing libations and a great wing-man.

There are obvious influences found on Intelligent Design, evident in both Touch's emceeing and Nato's production. Touch owes a lot to the wordy, underground rap he surely listened to growing up; his flow is of the labyrinthine variety, twisting around basslines and burrowing into the crooks and crannies of the samples Nato flips. But Touch's flow is more streamlined than a, say, Talib Kweli, and probably closer to Breezly Brewin's conversational stilt than Kweli's. And unlike most underground emcees, Touch doesn't take himself too seriously and even has a sense of humour (check out the amusing, Slick Rick-indebted "Adult's Story"). Nato's beats are all very clean, and his cuts and scratches could have been lifted directly from a Gang Starr album. His production fits Touch like a custom Italian suit, measured to fit snug across his shoulders and altered for near-total freedom of movement so he can make sudden flow changes without tearing something. "Somethin' Real," with Masta Ace-protégé Wordsworth, floats in an ocean of sorrow with its muted horns and Ghostface-sampled chorus, and Touch describes "Trained 2 Kill," a track that recalls Dan the Automator's work on Dr. Octagonecologyst, as some "superhero, Captain Canada shit," and he's not far off the mark.

Whatever the style of track, whether it be the Edmonton-anthem "Where I Reside" ("We outside with big coats that zip up past our throats/ So you can feel the chill in every rhyme I wrote") or the trapeze-jumping, water balloon-juggling "Freak Show," Touch and Nato don't shout out their influences as much as hint at them through riddles and sideways glances. Even the traditional battle track format is given a fresh coat of paint on "Brand New"—here Touch needs not deliver even one diss, but rather he deconstructs his battle with his opponent, calmly asserting that "you're still a biter even if you just nibble" while his foe shits his pants and runs home to his mommy.

Instead of aping New York rap, Touch and Nato, like Weapon and other Canucks such as Buck 65 and k-os (even if he's a conscious version of what Wyclef and will.i.am's love-child might sound like—not a dig at Brereton, I swear), embrace their place of origin instead of shunning it. And it makes for better music. Besides not sounding fraudulent, it helps add to the growing mythology of Canadian rap, and contribute in establishing a "Canadian sound," whatever that means. Intelligent Design isn't perfect; it feels overlong and the guests—Wordsworth and Pemberton, who is continuing to work out the kinks in his flow, excluded—sound pedestrian when compared to the veteran Touch. And the chorus to "Can't Hold Me Back" is just fucking awful. Two great rap albums do not a burgeoning rap scene make—but it's a start. Now where's Afterparty Babies, Rollie?

Rating: 8.0 (out of a possible 10.0)

HIP-HOP CHARTS

Top Ten Chart For August 10, 2007

To think, I started with only one album from Edmonton emcees, yet they keep on coming and coming. Obviously, Edmonton artists have been continuing their moment of grandeur as seen through up and coming artists The Representatives comprised of the duo of Touch (emcee) and Nato (producer/DJ).

With lyrical skills spanning back to beginnings of Edmonton's hip hop scene, Touch began to exercise his talents with the Dangerous Goods Collective back in the early 90s and has grown to become a well respected emcee to represent Canada's finest. As Touch teams up with Nato's innovative beats and use of an array of sounds, they initiate a legacy of superior Canadian hip hop with their debut album "Intelligent Design."

Canadians don't ever forget their roots especially The Representatives in "Intelligent Design" as the album begins with a dialogue between some onlookers and Touch as he is questioned about why he is still in Edmonton amidst the height of his rap career. Touch's simple response is, "I was born here. This is where I'm from." The background music of soft piano keys becomes louder and commences the beginning of "Where I Reside" building on the idea to always show respect to the city you come from. Regardless of the overrated hype of other cities and disapproval from others about possibly making it big elsewhere, Touch stays true to what he knows best. Touch and Nato sustains their representation in "The Representatives" in order to claim fame in the rising city of Edmonton.

It is almost imperative for Canadian rappers to include numerous battle raps in their albums because of the constant difficulties of coming up in the rap game. "Intelligent Design" follows the constant trend with their best tracks featured here. Commencing the track with a piano introduction, "Brand New" encompasses a soulful rhythm with saxophone interludes and cuts while dissecting the imperfections of an adversary as Touch says:

"When it came down to it
You weren't that fluid
When you decided to brag about your fifteen units
You're so last summer
With no receipts to prove it
Here comes Touch with some brand new shit

The way you approach the art is all wrong
It's not about you song
It's about how long
You can hold down the fort
Consistency, longev'
But what I'm witnessing from your stance alone
You took a chance a bit of flow
The practiced student playing the role
No real mic control
No distinguished blow"

Similar to the prolonged existence of the SP-12 synthesizer, "It's the SP-12" compares the respect and longevity of this celebrated piece of equipment to the music of The Representatives. They claim that "it aint about the CD, it's about how well you can hold down a show." Also, "What I Wanna Say" features a lively sound full of whimsical strings and heavy bass, almost contradictory to Touch's harsh rhymes as he calls out to all the whack emcees trying test his talents.

"Intelligent Design" gets some added help throughout the album from various featured artists to add a bit of variety of sound and cadence. "Somethin' Real" features Brooklyn emcee Wordsworth who has rhymed on acclaimed albums such as A Tribe Called Quest's "The Love Movement" and Talib Kweli's "Black Star." Sullen violins and horns permeate this track about the realities of city life in its purest form.

The abstract beat with sounds similar to that of water drops throughout the track featured in "Worda Mouth" includes Chris Plus, Stray, and Chazm. Another abstract attempt in a remix of "What I Wanna Say" is shown in "What I Really Wanna Say" featuring commended Canadian rapper, writer, producer, and mixer, Cadence Weapon. Introducing a more ethereal take on the original song with spontaneous cuts in the track, "What I Really Wanna Say" demonstrates the abilities of The Representatives to provide a multiplicity of sounds all the way through their music.

With the initial sounds of a motorcycle speeding away, "Can't Hold Me Back" features Chazm and singer Nomad reminding us to never stop trying even when adversity is staring you right in the face. Unfortunately, the off key chorus and monotony throughout the track made me quickly skip to the next.

The Representatives throw in some humorous tracks to break up the seriousness in "Intelligent Design" with for example, "Adult Show" which samples Slick Rick's "Children's Story" in an amusing way. As a Maury Povich talk show parody introduces an irate female named Naisha who wants to set the record straight that Touch is her baby's daddy, Touch begins his story telling techniques of what really went down. If anyone has ever seen a Maury Povich show, you know paternity test results are always revealed in the end and this time Touch was lucky…he is NOT the father.

The 18 tracks in "Intelligent Design" provide a glimpse into the increased capabilities of our friends in Canada. Not only have The Representatives proven to all of us that in fact, inventive, solid rap does exist outside of America, but they have also shown they are no longer the underdog. Like Canadian rapper Saukrates once said, "America has heard the east, they've heard the west, they've heard the south – now here comes the motherf---in' north."

Music Vibes: 7.5 of 10 Lyric Vibes: 7.5 of 10 TOTAL Vibes: 7.5 of 10

Originally posted: August 14, 2007
source: www.RapReviews.com