It’s Wednesday, February 4, 7PM at Sony Studios in midtown Manhattan and everyone’s patiently waiting for the man of the moment, Tony Toca to arrive. The voices of P. Diddy, Redman, Fat Joe, NORE, Sean Paul, Slick Rick and more blast from the speakers over Toca’s hardcore, salsa and reggae-tinged tracks. Journalists and photographers, from as far away as France, DJs, radio personalities, managers, label execs and other heavyweights smooze to good eats and booze — the vodka with cranberry and a splash of orange juice comes highly recommended.
The proud Pro-Ricans first major label mixtape was released on Tommy Boy Records in 2000 and sold over 400,000 copies. He followed that up with The Last Of The Pro-Ricans. For his second installment of his Piece Maker series, Toca partners with today’s hottest indie imprint, Koch Records for distribution. Koch’s catalog has blown up and now includes releases by Tupac, Royce Da 5’9″, X-ecutioners, Goodie Mob, Big Gipp, Death Row, Kurupt, Ying Yang Twins, Cormega, AZ, BG, Alchemist and more. They recently signed a deal with Master P’s New No Limit, which is now no longer with Universal.
Tony was all smiles as he bumped heads with his peeps in the place. NYC’s Power 105 personality Ed Lover was present sans his sidekick Dr. Dre, who was recently fired from the station. The French magazine Radikal flashed their article and photo of Toca in the John. Mike Baxter of MBE Management (Mountain Brothers, Chops) and Chris Landry of Sure Shot Recordings, which is set to drop Rahzel’s Greatest Knockouts in Spring 2004 came through to show love. As did Dru Ha, CEO of Duck Down.
