Song You Need to Know: Tony Touch, ‘Sacude’
“Sacude,” by the veteran rapper-DJ-producer Tony Touch, is an old-school hit. It’s not the kind of track popularized by big streaming playlists, served up by YouTube’s algorithm, or even booming out of radios. Instead, DJs around Brooklyn keep playing it as dancefloors near peak chaos time, usually the early hours of the morning. “Sacude” is brassy and bruising, with a hiccuping beat that hints at reggaeton but cruises at the faster tempo preferred by house-heads. Melody is almost non-existent — a stuttering horn slams the same note again and again — and it works like crazy.
Touch raps in both English and Spanish, shouting out the New York house legend Louie Vega (who co-produced the track with Touch and also turned in a pair of remixes, one dedicated to Brooklyn and one aimed at the Bronx) and the reggaeton star Tego Calderón. After terse verses, Touch always returns to the easily memorable hook: The single word “sacude,” shouted and stretched out so it sounds like a battle-cry. He translates for the English speakers that might not know its meaning: “Let me you see you shake it/That’s what we call sacude, letting go of that fake shit.”
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“Sacude” came out in July on Vega’s label, Vega Records.
Find a playlist of all of our recent Songs You Need to Know selections on Spotify.
