There should be exactly fifty MCs, or rappers, featured on this set; the third in a series of mixtape-style compilations from DJ Tony Touch; but there isn’t. My count, not including a spoken monologue by Angie Martinez, goes over fifty. That’s a major conceptual flaw as far as I’m concerned. If there are more than fifty MCs, in other words, what sense does it make to say “50” in the title? It’s a nice solid number, yes, but I see no logical reason to round down to it. The best thing would’ve been to simply limit the guest-list to 49.

That’s because Tony Touch starts the set with a verse of his own. He doesn’t have anything particularly clever or interesting to say; that’s actually the case for most rappers; but his drunken Puerto Rican flow makes it one of the best. Two of my favorite rappers; Eminem, who spit the best Piece Maker verse back in 2000, and Masta Ace; are also featured, but both disappoint. The best verse this time around comes from Papoose on Brooklyn with an honorable mention going to a surprisingly fresh KRS-One on The Bronx.

He rhymes “delay” more than once; he should’ve looked over his verse more carefully to make sure he wasn’t repeating words; but it’s still a relatively impressive verse. The Lox and members of the Wu-Tang clan also provide verses for the album. This is New York hip-hop music, so it’s no surprise that one of the best beats; the horn-laced banger on the aforementioned opener; is provided by DJ Premier. Another banger comes from Statik Selektah on A Queen’s Thing, a borough anthem by Action Bronson and Kool G Rap.

my rating : 3 of 5

2013