The Importance of Mixtapes in Hip Hop/My Must Download Mixtapes for the Summer


The picture above is the first hip hop mixtape I ever downloaded.  I was a junior in high school and wether it was walking to class listening on my (gold) ipod mini or driving to soccer practice in my mom's red mini van Lil Wayne's Da Drought 3 was playing.  To hear Lil Wayne make better songs on beats that had been made popular by other artist was mind blowing to me in high school.  Yes there have been hip hop mixtapes long before Lil Wayne's Drought and Dedication series but these were different.  While music being downloaded on the internet had just come off large legal battles (Napster) Lil Wayne released these tapes and raised the bar.

Today you can get mixtapes from various artists via sites like hotnewhiphop.com or datpiff.com.  These range from artist who you only know because they've been featured once or big artists giving their fans something new to listen to.  While Lil Wayne was dropping crazy metaphors over the most popular beats at the time he shaped the landscape of hip hop for years to come.

When your average company is coming out with a new product or service they will test the market by starting out small/regional or let consumers try this new product out through a study.  Rappers now use mixtapes to "test" new flows or styles to gage the audience.  Or it can be used as a practice.  The successes of a mixtape won't directly relate in financial gain for the artist but it can help then gain fans for future projects and concerts.

Recently I have discovered various artists through mixtape projects and have went on to buy their debut album.  Just to name a few 100s, Rich Homie Quan, the Weeknd, Sicko Mobb and K Camp. Mixtapes have also allowed artist to experiment with their sound with little risk.  Mixtapes are what set hip hop apart from other genres of music.

Below are links to (free) download my favorite recently dropped mixtapes:






Song of the Mixtape: Narcotics 

http://www.datpiff.com/Rich-Homie-Quan-The-Green-Files-mixtape.621121.html




Song of the Mixtape: Fiesta Remix Ft. ASAP Ferg

http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/sicko-mobb-super-saiyan-vol-1-no-dj-new-mixtape.108457.html


Song of the Mixtape: I Go

http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/lil-durk-signed-to-the-streets-2-new-mixtape.114267.html


Song of the Mixtape: Ready Ft. Bobby Raps

http://www.audiomack.com/album/illmixtapescom/spooky-black-leaving


Song of the Mixtape: Turn Up for a Check Ft. Yo Gotti

http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/k-camp-slumlords-new-mixtape.113331.html


Song of the Mixtape: Paranoid

http://www.livemixtapes.com/mixtapes/28061/tim-vocals-timtations.html


Song of the Mixtape: Wus Good Curious 

http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/party-next-door-partynextdoor-mixtape.88534.html


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