Mixtape Madness Vol I

I’ve been listening to a lot of mixtapes lately, more than usual because I’ve come back to rap to an extent after leaving it alone with the exception of a small few. When I listened heavily to rap, mixtapes represented the best of the rap world. The quality was often up in the air and sometimes songs were obviously unfinished but some of the most vicious raps were found on mixtapes. They were also much more economical, being cheaper than studio albums, but the downside was some mixtapes were hard or impossible to find and you had to be able to get to the mixtape spot, which was often hard if you lived outside of the city and musical tastes that differed from the majority of the buyers in the area.

Having not listened to rap in so long, and definitely not listening to mixtapes, I’d forgotten about the ongoing argument about underground rappers. First, what makes a rapper “underground?” To me, an underground rapper is a rapper with no studio albums who makes music and releases it via mixtape exclusively. Some people would say someone who doesn’t sell well but has a good fan base. Others would say an artist with little or no airplay. Perhaps others would say that underground rappers are those with more mixtapes than studio albums. Of course, artists like Lil Wayne would automatically be considered underground by that definition.

Some rappers have albums that just don’t stand up to their mixtapes. Kanye West is a great example of this to me. His second album is almost un-listenable in my opinion. His last album I never bought because I just didn’t hear anything that made me want to own it. And yet I’m a HUGE Kanye West fan, because I have some great music by him from mixtapes. People sometimes think of grimier rappers as those who use mixtapes, but Kanye is a great example of a rapper who doesn’t fit the mixtape mold. Additionally, his abilities as a producer meant/means that he never had to compromise quality or recycle beats in order to release his mixtapes. The original version of “Home” with John Legend will always be 200% times better than the one with Chris Martin, even though I love Coldplay. And the mixtape version “Hey Mama” sounds so much more polished than the studio version.

Some other “mainstream” rappers with really good mixtape stuff, in my opinion, are Lupe Fiasco, Clipse, and Fabolous. I could actually make a much longer list, and perhaps I will, but I wanted to make sure I added the top three underrated mainstream rappers/groups with great mixtape stuff. Fab is such a great lyricist and when I first heard him on a mixtape I sincerely thought – and said – that he was the next Jay-Z. I’m still shocked he never reached that goal, but his studio stuff has been too pop, when he is a much grittier rapper!

I apologize for this post. I was working on another topic but time flew by and it still wasn’t ready so I had to type up something and I wanted to use this as a segue for a later music post. So stay tuned for that one, I’m going somewhere with this one. It’s also 3:33 am as I type this and I’m exhausted so I need to finish it and schedule it for later today. Remember this mixtape conversation, though (really!). I’m sticking to my guns and writing even in the middle of the night!