The blog world has made it possible for hip-hop fans to expect a constant flow of music without dealing with an empty bank account. With technology changing drastically, people want to receive their information faster. To those fans in the realm of hip-hop, a mixtape release is breaking news.
Mixtapes trump albums because of this high demand for information. The work that goes into an album can take multiple years to finish, whilemixtapes efficiently compile a few tracks for our listening pleasure.We seem to get hyped for thelatter.
Lately some artists have used albums only for monetary purposes, which lead them to sell out toradio hits. An album takes what an artist does and makes it easy for any listener to digest.
When Lupe Fiasco dropped Lasers, it was a huge disappointment to fans because the material wasn't his. The album was actually so corrupted that he even went on the record with Complex Magazine proclaiming: "I hate this album."
Lasers was highly anticipated because it was two years past due, which Fiasco blames on issues with his record label, Atlantic Records. He was forced to swallow his pride and do what the record label thought was right so that people could receive what they wanted. In the end, Lasers didn't receive good reviews.
But the mixtapes leading up to Lasers tell a completely different story. Enemy of the State: A Love Story and Friend of the People: I Fight Evil were both pre-Lasers mixtapes that received gold status, gaining over 100,000 downloads on datpiff.com. The material on those projects had a lot more depth and served as somewhat of a passion project for Lupe Fiasco, which resonated through the lyrics.
I believe there's more to mixtapes than the lack of a cost. The content gives you an idea of who an artist is more than the monitored tracks that have to be discussed in a board meeting. Isn't that why we listen to music? To relate to an artist based off of what they go through in real life?
The only artist I know that consistently releases quality mixtapes and albums is Drake. Take Care was probably the realest piece of work the Canadian emcee has released while keeping his label, radio stations, and listeners happy with "Headlines" and "Make Me Proud."
Take Care was an indicator that Drake's talent is reliable; the numbers for the 2011 project matched his breakout mixtape, So Far Gone. The mixtape, released in time for Valentines Day 2009, received more than 600,000 downloads, numbers unheard of for any compilation of music.
If you listen through Curren$y's or Wiz Khalifa's discographies and pondered what their greatest work was, you'd probably spit out Curren$y's Verde Terrace and Khalifa's Kush & Orange Juice.
The raw sound and lack of expectations for radio play give artists a chance to have fun with their craft, which makes the outcome priceless.
Artists are completely honest about the difference behind the process of making albums and mixtapes.
"The mistake I made on Rolling Papers was thinking it was time to move on from that genre not knowing that it had impacted people so much," Khalifa wrote on his Tumblr. "The album did great numbers, but creatively wasn't my best work."
Fans seem to notice this problem; downloads eclipse first-week sales and artists seem to focus more on dropping mixtapes than albums. If anyone has mastered this formula, it's Curren$y. He's stayed independent the longest, and he did shows on his own time.
It's apparent that mixtapes are starting to outdo albums. Hip-hop fans go crazy over the news of a new mixtape because they seldom get delayed, they're free, and fans are never really disappointed by the quality of music.
The only drawback of any mixtape is a website crashing due to heavy traffic, but that's an easy fix - just go to another website.
Email: duaneowe@buffalo.edu
