"Touch It" is a song by Busta Rhymes. Released on December 13, 2005, it was the first single from Rhymes'

Aftermath Aftermath may refer to: Companies * Aftermath (comics), an imprint of Devil's Due Publishing * Aftermath Entertainment, an American record label founded by Dr. Dre * Aftermath Media, an American multimedia company * Aftermath Services, an America ...

/ Interscope debut, ''

The Big Bang The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...

''. The song reached number one in New Zealand, and number six in the United Kingdom. The song features a minimalistic beat provided by

Swizz Beatz Kasseem Daoud Dean (born September 13, 1978), known professionally as Swizz Beatz, is an American record producer, rapper, disc jockey (DJ) and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, Dean embarked on his musical career as a DJ. At the ag ...

, and a sample from the song "

Technologic "Technologic" is a song by French duo Daft Punk from their third studio album, ''Human After All'' (2005). It was released as the second single on 14 June 2005. The music video for "Technologic" was directed by Daft Punk. Composition In the son ...

" by electronic duo Daft Punk. "Touch It" in turn was incorporated into Daft Punk's live album, ''

Alive 2007 ''Alive 2007'' is the second live album by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk, released on 19 November 2007 by Virgin Records. It features Daft Punk's performance at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy arena in Paris on 14 June 2007 dur ...

''.

History

The release date for the single in the UK was 15 May 2006. However, due to UK chart rules allowing songs to chart on download sales alone, one week before the single's physical release, "Touch It" managed to make the top 40, entering at #23 on download sales only. After the physical single release, the song climbed to #6, its peak position. The song had a strong chart run initially, spending seven weeks inside the top 30 there, however, because the physical copies of the single were deleted, the single was withdrawn from the chart due to new chart rules stating that singles could only remain in the chart for two weeks after their physical deletion. This is why the record seemingly fell from the UK top 75 from the top 30. The song was also popular on the charts in the U.S., peaking at #16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and topping the chart in New Zealand.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Touch It (Remix)

After the release of "Touch It", a series of remixes were set into play. The main remix features

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

Rah Digga Rashia Tashan Fisher (born December 18, 1974), known professionally as Rah Digga, is an American rapper and actress. She is best known as a longtime member of the Flipmode Squad, a hip hop group led by Busta Rhymes. Her debut album, ''Dirty H ...

, Missy Elliott,

Lloyd Banks Christopher Charles Lloyd (born April 30, 1982), better known by his stage name Lloyd Banks, is an American rapper. He began his career as a member of East Coast hip hop group G-Unit, alongside childhood friends 50 Cent and Tony Yayo. After th ...

Papoose Papoose (from the Algonquian ''papoose'', meaning "child") is an American English word whose present meaning is "a Native American child" (regardless of tribe) or, even more generally, any child, usually used as a term of endearment, often in t ...

and DMX. The result was five popular versions of the song and a video, each featuring different well-known hip-hop artists. An EP was released on iTunes featuring four of the remixes on March 7, 2006. The final full-length remix had an accompanying video.

Remix video

In the opening of the video, the head cheerleader and the rest of the girls are in burgundy and silver outfits. Busta Rhymes then arrives and decides who runs the city. Upon the entrance of each performer, they mention something positive happening. After Bust and Spliff finish their battle (freestyle), the cheerleaders sing and step to the "Touch It" beat. An electronic machine makes a zapping-sound and a bolt of green lighting appears in the background. In each scene, all the rappers wear colors that match the background. Usually, after one rapper finishes their verse the others appear and start strutting and dancing on beat. The screen shows two or more sides of the other backgrounds and their rappers. After Busta Rhymes, the other rappers appear in this order:

in white,

in pink, Missy Elliott in purple,

in blue,

in green and DMX in black (he has his hood up). Busta Rhymes and his friend,

Spliff Star William A. Lewis (born April 18, 1971), professionally known as Spliff Star, is an American rapper and record producer from Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York. He's best known for his work with Busta Rhymes. Both ''Vibe'' and ''Complex'' listed Spliff ...

, appear in red at the beginning and in yellow at the end. Each singer appears with different outfits, such as Busta's white T-shirt, Papoose's, DMX's,

' jackets, and the ladies'

fur Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...

coats. During Mary J. Blige's part, her alter ego, Brooke Lynn, appears dressed in a matching white costume. Other cameo appearances in the music video are of Sean Paul, DJ Kayslay, Deelishis, producer

Winky Wright Ronald Lamont "Winky" Wright (born November 26, 1971) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 2012. He is a two-time light middleweight world champion and was the last to hold the undisputed title at that weight until ...

, Félix Trinidad,

Black Rob Robert Ross (June 8, 1968 – April 17, 2021), known professionally as Black Rob, was an American rapper who was signed to Bad Boy Records. He was best known for his 1999 single " Whoa!", which peaked at number 43 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ...

and Spliff Star. At the 2006

BET Awards The BET Awards is an American award show that was established in 2001 by the Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate black entertainers and other minorities in music, film, sports and philanthropy. The awards, which are presented annua ...

, Busta performed the Video Remix live on stage, along with

will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas. ...

, Elliott, Banks, Blige, Papoose, and Rah Digga. DMX was absent for the performance, but his part was played on the screens onstage. The performance also featured a surprise final verse by Eminem, who began with some of Busta's lines from A Tribe Called Quest's "

Scenario In the performing arts, a scenario (, ; ; ) is a synoptical collage of an event or series of actions and events. In the ''commedia dell'arte'', it was an outline of entrances, exits, and action describing the plot of a play, and was literally pi ...

Official remixes and versions

*Touch It (Remix Version) eaturing Mary J Blige, Missy Elliott, Rah Digga(Dirty) - 3:57 *Touch It (Remix Version) eaturing Mary J Blige, Missy Elliott, Rah Digga(Clean)- 3:57 *Touch It (Remix Version) eaturing Lloyd Banks, Papoose(Dirty) - 3:57 *Touch It (Remix Version) eaturing Lloyd Banks, Papoose(Clean) - 3:57 *Touch It (Remix) eaturing DMX(Dirty) – 3:55 *Touch It (Remix) eaturing DMX(Clean) – 3:55 *Touch It (The Remix) eaturing Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott, Rah Digga, Lloyd Banks, Papoose and DMX(Dirty) - 4:00 *Touch It (The Remix) eaturing Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott, Rah Digga, Lloyd Banks, Papoose and DMX(Clean) - 4:00

Dedication

Busta Rhymes' bodyguard and entourage member, Israel Ramirez, was fatally shot outside the set of this song's

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

during filming in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

on February 5, 2006. The police have still not found a suspect. In the remix version video, the cheerleader scene is preceded by a slideshow of Israel "Izzy" Ramirez with a message from Busta Rhymes to the deceased telling him how much he meant to him and how he would not be forgotten.

Nominations and success

Along with the video for the original version of the song, a new video was created, featuring abridged versions of all six guest artists' verses. The video also includes cameos from Brooke Valentine,

DJ Kay Slay Keith Grayson (August 14, 1966 – April 17, 2022), professionally known as DJ Kay Slay, was an American disc jockey (DJ) from New York City. He is referred to by ''The New York Times'' as "Hip Hop's One-Man Ministry of Insults". He released fou ...

, Sean Paul,

, and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

champions Félix Trinidad and

, who had fought in May 2005. It was nominated for Best Male Video, and Best Rap Video at the

2006 MTV Video Music Awards The 2006 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on August 31, 2006, honoring the best music videos from June 11, 2005, to June 26, 2006. The show was hosted by Jack Black at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The 2006 Video Music Awards marked th ...

. Busta Rhymes himself placed it # 1 on his

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

Top 25 countdown. It debuted on ''BET 106 & Park'' in the

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season) Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...

and received major airplay. It also spun the career of

. The remix was also nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 2007 Grammy Awards.

References

External links

Touch It Remix Lyrics
* * * {{Authority control 2005 songs 2005 singles Busta Rhymes songs DMX (rapper) songs Lloyd Banks songs Mary J. Blige songs Missy Elliott songs Music videos directed by Benny Boom Number-one singles in New Zealand Song recordings produced by Swizz Beatz Songs written by Swizz Beatz Aftermath Entertainment singles Interscope Records singles Songs written by Thomas Bangalter Songs written by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo Songs written by Busta Rhymes