}} {{listen After the release of "Touch It", a series of remixes were set into play. The main remix features
Mary J. Blige,
Rah Digga,
Missy Elliott,
Lloyd Banks,
Papoose 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 women 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:
Mary J. Blige in white,
Rah Digga in pink,
Missy Elliott in purple,
Lloyd Banks in blue,
Papoose in green and
DMX in black (he has his hood up). Busta Rhymes and his friend,
Spliff Star, 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, Lloyd Banks' jackets, and the ladies'
fur 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 Kay Slay,
Deelishis, producer
Swizz Beatz,
Winky Wright,
Félix Trinidad,
Black Rob and Spliff Star. At the 2006
BET Awards, Busta performed the Video Remix live on stage, along with
will.i.am, 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".
Official remixes and versions • Touch It (Remix Version) [Featuring Mary J Blige, Missy Elliott, Rah Digga] (Dirty) – 3:57 • Touch It (Remix Version) [Featuring Mary J Blige, Missy Elliott, Rah Digga] (Clean) – 3:57 • Touch It (Remix Version) [Featuring Lloyd Banks, Papoose] (Dirty) – 3:57 • Touch It (Remix Version) [Featuring Lloyd Banks, Papoose] (Clean) – 3:57 • Touch It (Remix) [Featuring DMX] (Dirty) – 3:55 • Touch It (Remix) [Featuring DMX] (Clean) – 3:55 • Touch It (The Remix) [Featuring Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott, Rah Digga, Lloyd Banks, Papoose and DMX] (Dirty) – 4:00 • Touch It (The Remix) [Featuring Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott, Rah Digga, Lloyd Banks, Papoose and DMX] (Clean) – 4:00 • Touch It (Remix) [Featuring
Arcángel and
De La Ghetto] – 3:32
Dedication Busta Rhymes'
bodyguard and entourage member, Israel "Izzy" Ramirez, was fatally shot outside the set of the
music video for "Touch It" during filming in
Brooklyn on February 5, 2006. The case remains unsolved. The video for the remix is dedicated to Ramirez's memory, and includes a slideshow featuring images of him.
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,
Sean Paul,
Swizz Beatz,
Spliff Star, and
boxing champions
Félix Trinidad and
Winky Wright, who had fought in May 2005. It was nominated for Best Male Video, and Best Rap Video at the
2006 MTV Video Music Awards. Busta Rhymes himself placed it # 1 on his
BET Top 25 countdown. It debuted on
BET 106 & Park in the
spring and received major airplay. The remix was also nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 2007 Grammy Awards. ==References==