video mixtape
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new
hamilton mixtape
video released! | the breakfast club | 101. 3 kgot
views: an adp video mixtape [ vol 2. 2 ] (9 / 11 / 17 )
papyrus makes a mixtape (and... check out my mixtape uploaded by arachnos
watch the video for “immigrants (we get the job done) ” above .
the video starts with a number of somber train passengers, seemingly immigrants, listening to the radio .
urltoken new video mixtape. people often refer to my work as being trippy, so i decided to explore that theme with this mixtape and tour. so this mix loosely moves in and out of that idea of escaping reality - be it drugs, books, video games, tv, holidays, adventures or whatever. enjoy .
lin - manuel miranda debuted the powerful new video for “immigrants (we get the job done), ” a cut off the hamilton mixtape, wednesday on today .
to build upon the mixtape release, dubb has released a video for
save me .
a song about the perils of poverty and trying to overcome harsh conditions, the indica films - directed video starts with dubb getting into an argument with his girlfriend. from there, the video takes a dramatic twist, culminating in the rapper & apos; s arrest for robbery .
july will be an unofficial video mixtape (vmt) month on the pirate bay. fans are mobilizing in the hope they can upload every single mixtape available, to share this remix art form with the world and get a wider audience. but what are they all about ?
on december 10th, viner the vertigo uploaded a video titled
download my mixtape it' s fire ,
in which he makes several barking noises as a preview for his music release (shown below) .
a music video released on wednesday for “immigrants (we get the job done), ” a song off “hamilton mixtape, ” is replete with stark political imagery and not - so subtle messaging targeting president trump’s rhetoric on immigration .
k' naan, snow tha product, riz mc and residente offer an ode to immigrants' sacrifice and resilience in their new music video .
“hamilton” creator lin - manuel miranda on wednesday released a video for the “immigrants” track from the “hamilton mixtape” collection. the six - minute film makes a strong statement about the state of immigration policy in the u. s. and features riz ahmed (aka riz mc), “hamilton” alum daveed diggs and rappers k’naan, residente and snow tha product. the video [ … ]
on november 14th, 2014, youtuber filthy frank uploaded a video titled
bad internet rappers ,
in which he mocks amateur rappers for shamelessly promoting their mixtapes and soundcloud pages (shown below). in three months, the video gained over 940, 000 views and 5, 900 comments .
check out my dank mix tape yo... check out my mixtape uploaded by rkzero10
protip: press' i' to view the image gallery,' v' to view the video gallery, or' r' to view a random entry .
everything is terrible, future schlock 1 & 2, american dream, american nightmare 1 through 3, debris v. 1 and v. 2, and video armageddon
the mixing tape - lyle mcdouc... check out my mixtape uploaded by pobody' s nerfect
” into the clarion call for empowerment that is “immigrants (we get the job done). ” miranda introduced a music video for the song, which appears on “
the styles of mixtape culture have not changed as much as the values. mixtapes have traditionally served as a
just in case you didn’t get the message – the rot mixtapes are not for kids or anyone easily offended. absolutely, categorically nsfw – you have been warned. and don’t forget, july is unofficial video mixtape month on the pirate bay – who knows what it will turn up .
a video for the song has been released and it features groups of immigrants at their various jobs before showing ahmed, known as riz mc, on a crowded new york city subway .
on january 18th, the 8jtv youtuber channel uploaded a montage of comedy sketches titled
check out my mixtape ,
in which a man attempts to force his mixtape on people in a variety of bizarre scenarios (shown below) .
check out my mixtape
and
my mixtape is fire
are expressions typically used by amateur rappers to promote their self - released records on social media platforms. on twitter and in online hip hop communities, both phrases are often said ironically to poke fun at the general overuse of the word “mixtape” by aspiring hip hop artists on the internet .
mixtapes exist in a legal gray area. since they are not produced by the copyright holders of the footage included, they are technically violations of those copyrights and therefore illegal. furthermore, selling a video mixtape is also illegal given that the seller would be profiting from the distribution of copyrighted material. that said, some footage included on mixtapes exists in the public domain or could be considered fair use and, as always, it is the duty of the copyright holder to enforce said rights to their work. this article does not represent an endorsement by urltoken or the author to purchase, download or otherwise obtain a video mixtape .
in addition to the video, miranda announced a prizeo contest to benefit the immigrants: we get the job done coalition, “an alliance of immigration - focused nonprofits throughout the us assembled by the hispanic federation. ”
miranda unveiled the video during an appearance on nbc’s “today. ” the video, directed by tomas whitmore, arrives on the heels of miranda launching the “ham4all” contest that gathered steam via social media on tuesday. the effort encourages fans to donate $ 10 to an immigrants rights coalition assembled by the hispanic federation, and to post internet videos of themselves singing “hamilton” songs for a chance to win tickets to the musical’s los angeles opening on aug. 11 .
“ hamilton ” creator lin - manuel miranda on wednesday released a video for the “immigrants” track from the “ hamilton mixtape” collection. the six - minute film makes a strong statement about the state of immigration policy in the u. s. and features riz ahmed (aka riz mc), “hamilton” alum daveed diggs and rappers k’naan, residente and snow tha product .
anyone googling “ video mixtape ” will be immediately exposed to links and references to the retard - o - tron (rot (nsfw) ) mixtapes – possibly the most controversial and popular mixtapes around. already banned in the us, canada and ireland, we caught up with zxql3000, the creator of the rot mixtapes, to find out why the hell he does it .
the freestyle mixtape wasn’t just a service to the fans, it was a representation of hip - hop’s core. now it' s dead .
inspired by a lyric in the hamilton song “yorktown (the world turned upside down), ” the “immigrants” video focuses on the refugees’ plight – from war - torn situations to ice raids – as well as their indispensable contributions upon immigrating to america .
“hamilton mixtape” is an album of covers sung by mainstream artists including alicia keys and usher, inspired by the broadway musical - turned - cultural phenomenon “hamilton” and released shortly after the presidential election in 2016. the song “immigrants, ” performed by k’naan, snow tha product, riz mc (known to film audiences as riz ahmed) and residente, is the first from the album to spur a music video .
eventually, as the demand for freestyles naturally grew, and the ability for djs, radio hosts and the iconic big tigger to get rappers to spit their hottest lyrics over the most classic of instrumentals, the idea of compiling these scattered moments into one mixtape emerged. instead of the occasional, sporadic freestyle from an artist like fabolous arising from a dj clue - hosted mixtape, why not just have fabolous release an entire mixtape of his own with the same concept ?
on january 7th, 2015, cheezburger [ 3 ] highlighted a hide the pain harold animated gif titled
check out my mixtape
( shown below) .
the freestyle mixtape was a saving grace, a show of talent and, more than anything, an outlet to fame. today, it’s dead and buried .
the video features rappers k’naan, residente, riz mc (a. k. a. the night of actor riz ahmed) and snow tha product – a somali canadian, puerto rican, british pakistani and mexican - american, mashable notes – delivering their respective verses .
a video mixtape is a collection of bootleg clips from movies, tv shows, home grown videos or just about any other source. these tapes grew in popularity along with the advent of home vhs and betamax videos – the masses now had the equipment to make their own shows and compilations. of course, nowadays while they are still called ‘mixtapes’, they are more likely to exist in digital form on the internet or on dvd .
ten years ago, the mixtape industry was on the ropes and facing an uncertain future. now, the game, and the business behind it, has changed again .
projects like rot are the natural progression from purely audio based output to video, with the emphasis on fun. “they’re made for lazy saturday nights after (or before !) going out, for having a drink and having a no - brainer laugh with your buddies, ” says zxql .
“it’s really astonishing that in a country founded by immigrants, ‘immigrant’ has somehow become a bad word, ” the commentator adds, setting the tone for the video. it was directed by tomas whitmore and executive produced by robert rodriguez and lin - manuel miranda, the creator of “hamilton. ”
“say you start your mixtape with one single video clip of bill gates getting a pie thrown in his face, but it needs some music in the background. so you start looking for a song that fits the clip. maybe you just type in “pie” in emule or limewire, or google for lyrics that contain the phrase “in your face”. maybe that song makes for an excellent link to the next clip. you’ll be amazed with where your search can take you. ”
this new found ability for individuals to take control of their own distribution coupled with the availability of cheap and even free audio and video editing packages, gave mixtapes a new lease of life. but p2p wasn’t just used for the distribution of completed projects, it was to became a prime source of raw material .
mixtapes, in their original form, were also something much different. the form of mixtape we know and love today was more than likely started as a result of djs, such as new york’s dj clue, breaking from the traditional norms of the mixtape industry, and creating compilation tapes of new artists looking to break into the scene. as the mixtape became bigger, djs became both gatekeepers and authorities for new music, and as the internet’s rise spawned websites like datpiff, rappers now had a new outlet for their music that didn’t necessarily have to involve a record deal .
network for hip - hop, an alternative to mainstream forms of radio and studio recordings. in the mixtape & apos; s heyday, rappers could move raps and push their brand without having to make
“i think the industry realized the power of the mixtape, and they realized they had to play and be a part of it from a financial standpoint, ” drama says. “now you can barely tell the difference between what someone' s mixtape is and what someone' s album is. you still have to technically go to apple music and spend $ 9. 99, even if it' s not their debut album. ”
seems a little flat. it sounds like a classic mixtape, but mixtapes in 2013 don & apos; t sound like they did in 1990 — they sound like albums. and often, they sound even better .
the internet age, for everything that it did to create the sensation of the freestyle mixtape, is also responsible for its demise. the concept of the freestyle mixtape is one that spawned out of necessity, whether that was a newcomer, a struggling artist stuck in the middle, or a great rapper looking to destroy his peers. however, that necessity all but dissipated with the proliferation of professional and label - sanctioned streaming platforms, the rise of social media, an overabundance of information, and therefore an overabundance of music. the anticipation of a freestyle mixtape from your favorite rapper didn’t seem to matter as much when the competitive stakes weren’t as high .
“these things were called mixtapes, and were a great source for discovering music. getting new and unknown songs from all kinds of obscure sources was only part of the fun — making your own mixtape was even better. ”
this talk relates the creation of frkn wknd, a video game mixtape that' s made up of a collection of autobiographical vignette games. without an explicit narrative, a variety of games and their relative order are used to convey a story. this approach relies upon the principles of montage. for example, the first chapter features slices of life that go from coding to testing a game to checking social media and getting harassed, to finally meditating to come back down. each of these games / levels on their own is a specific kind of experience, but in this order, you begin to see the perspective of the phone' s owner as the player performs as them. overall, alejandro thinks using the game mixtape approach and mobile phone interface allows for some really creative possibilities for level design and flow .
the video features contemporary scenes of immigrants working in sweatshops, as farm laborers and other physically challenging jobs, as well as scenes of federal immigration raids and. the song, which features the refrain “immigrants — we get the job done, ” was inspired by a line from the song “yorktown” in the musical that remains a blockbuster two years after its opening on broadway .
for others, such as chamillionaire and his mixtape messiah series, freestyles were an outlet to maintain relevancy that had begun to dwindle after a hot start. in cham’s case, mixtape messiah was an opportunity to stay connected, and without it, his career would have likely died out several years earlier than it finally did in 2009. with freestyles over everything from “i get money” by 50 cent to “kick, push” by lupe fiasco, chamillionaire’s freestyle mixtapes not only helped him stay relevant by having him try to out - rap the song’s original artists, but by also letting him attach his name to the notoriety of theirs. the freestyle mixtape, for many artists, was communalistic .
the encyclopedia of the video mixtape genre, containing almost every notable clip that exists. complete recaps of individual entries can be found at the 5 minutes to live website and most of the clips come from videos they sell 9. the series has very few instances of extreme footage and is very well edited though most entries lack a theme. footage includes: crispin glover weirdness, tardspasm clips, steve vai’s biggest fan in near entirety, mr. t’s be somebody or be somebody’s fool, bollywood clips, sex - ed videos, and countless others. there is a heavy focus on uncut, rare musical performances and vol 4 is an all - music edition. lost & found best exemplifies the “party tape” aspect of mixtape culture, as it can be watched in segments, contains little post - editing, and is a narrativeless collection of oddities .
dj caesar, urltoken' s first resident dj, releases his newest freestyles mixtape on audiomack. com. in between his time on shade45, dj caesar always finds time to show everyone some love by releasing these free to download hip - hop, reggae, and r & b; mixtapes. this week dj caesar released his newest weekend work freestyles mixtape that features some of today' s hottest artists freestyling over some classic beats on the weekendwork shade45 radio show .
two years prior, in 2005, urltoken officially launched. originally a place for its founders to share underground tapes, the site would eventually grow into the biggest online destination for mixtapes new and old over the following decade, acting as both distributor and digital library. its largest competitor, livemixtapes, debuted the following march, and the internet' s mixtape marketplace exploded. but crucially, these sites offered mixtapes as free downloads, reverting their function from street retail album back to promotional tool. by the time of drama’s arrest in 2007, mixtape distribution was in the final stages of a rapid shift from the streets to the web - - and the economics of the mixtape game shifted along with it .
“it hurt us solely on the fact that it' s caused confusion amongst fans when they see a mixtape is out but it' s not on datpiff, ” reilly says. “and that' s been a hard barrier to break .
now, 10 years after the raid of dj drama’s studio, a decade removed from the “mixtape martyr” monikers and the first death of the tape, another era and another business rose up and is dying down, while mixtape culture again re - imagines its own form and function. so are mixtapes finally dead, co - opted by the larger machine and taken away from the streets where they originated? or has the industry and mechanism driving the art form simply shifted once again ?
on july 7th, 2014, twitter user @ perfectsceness [ 5 ] posted a stock photo of a woman and a young girl sharing a pair of ear buds with the caption
daquan' s mixtape is fire
( shown below) .
in july a group of enthusiasts will start uploading as many video mixtapes as they can to the pirate bay. a couple of the most controversial, shocking, hilarious, absurdly weird and in parts, downright sickening examples come from the retard - o - tron series. torrentfreak caught up with the creator to find out what mixtapes are, where they' re from and where they' re going .
the video, which lasts more than six minutes, morphs to immigrants stitching american flags under the main refrain of the song and snow tha product rapping in front of an american flag. there are shots of workers picking fruit in fields, riz mc rapping his verse on a barely - lit new york city subway car and, eventually, immigrants being dragged away in the dead of night by border patrol agents .
it is hard to pin down exactly chance the rapper’s next move will be, an unpredictability that has become part of the rapper’s charm. whether persuing a new tour, activist project or mixtape, the rapper chance has shown a way to triumph outside the system .
the rise of the “freestyle” was running almost parallel to that of the mixtape. with just a few short keystrokes in a youtube search, you can find myriad classic freestyles from the late & apos; 90s from legends such as big l, tupac, biggie, jay z and more. in one such video, there’s a roundtable of mos def, canibus, big pun and dmx “freestyling” a capella, with clearly pre - written material, as each emcee tries to outmatch the other. despite the lack of true improvisation, the competitive aspect is there, and the end result is just as magical. even if the rappers’ bars weren’t completely new to them in the moment, they were to anyone watching .
between then and thursday night, when the chicago artist’s follow - up – and third mixtape – coloring book, was released, the music industry has mutated again, yet chance has has maintained the same integrity, fuelled both by the hip - hop community and his own artistic vision .
on june 15th, 2014, twitter user @ urbanenglish [ 4 ] tweeted a mock translation of the expression
check out my mixtape
as
ignore me
( shown below). in the first eight months, the tweet received more than 1, 000 retweets and 660 favorites .
. the album is a major throwback to that 90s mixtape sound: simple drum loops, classic flows, and a raw production style
bringing that real feel - good boom - bap shit back to life ,
as busta rhymes says on the opening track — that
unfuckwithable
sound .
when chance the rapper’s acid rap was released in 2013, there were no streaming services battling for exclusive rights to the record. first week sales, not streams, still defined whether a record was a hit or a flop, and the line between a mixtape and studio album was clearly defined .
as internet availability became widespread, mixtapes traded by standard mail pretty much died out, taking the mixtape phenomenon with it. “and then p2p came along, ” said zxql, “and like it did for commercial music and movies, it changed the rules — if you wanted it to or not. ”
tv carnage falls somewhere between the crazy dave tapes and lost & found video night. the entries contain almost exclusively tv footage and have a greater sense of narrative and theme than other collections. there is a stronger emphasis on humor than on shock and tv carnage lends itself to viewing as a party tape and to deeper analysis as well, since the entries focus a great deal on social commentary. the brevity and rarity of the clips make a content recap difficult, but the collection is highly recommended .
three - time grammy winner kelly clarkson has been juggling being a busy mom, working on a new album, and taking on broadway. live on today, she sings “it’s quiet uptown, ” a selection from the newly released “the hamilton mixtape” which features songs from the broadway smash “hamilton” performed by various artists .
to my knowledge, retard - o - tron was the first mixtape to be widely marketed and distributed primarily on the internet via free downloads. others may have come before, but retard - o - tron quickly became the most popular and was many viewers’ first introduction into the mixtape genre and culture. a large number of post - 2007 mixtapes cite retard - o - tron in their credits, proof of its influence. retard - o - tron is one of the more extreme mixtapes apart from those that are explicitly compilations of extreme footage, featuring (un) healthy doses of feces and vomit alongside music videos and cartoons .
of course, porn aside, many of these mixtapes can hardly be considered legal. who knows how many instances of copyright infringement there are in each one – dozens would seem conservative – but since the mixtape scene is still fairly focused and most of the source material so obscure, the creators seem to be largely left alone .
as the star of the hbo show ,
the night of ,
or maybe from his role in
rogue one: a star wars story .
as it turns out, the actor is also a rapper and he lent his talents to the
hamilton mixtape
for the track ,
immigrants (we get the job done) .
our memories of the golden age of freestyles and the freestyle mixtape shouldn’t lie in its originality, but in its value to the struggling rapper as a lifeline to their fans. when clipse decided to release their infamous we got it 4 cheap mixtape series, it was in the midst of an ongoing battle with their label following the release of their hit album lord willin’. the tapes not only offered fans the chance to hear pusha t rap over songs like ghostface killah’s “daytona 500” or common’s “the corner, ” they provided fans the chance to hear pusha t rap... period. if a particular rapper couldn’t push their music through the proper channel, then why not just spend time recording over music that already had ?
aav starts with an intriguing television segment detailing a failed bob crane special in the hawaiian islands. apparently, crane and crew offended the gods by taking pieces of lava and disrespecting idols, and it is posited that crane’s death was the result of a curse. the clips that follow continue this focus on mysticism and incorporate footage from television psychics and haxan. other notable inclusions are a segment from the amazing wally george show, classic horror cartoons from the twenties, and a religious video detailing the sins committed by the eighties’ cartoon she - ra. repeats the same budd dwyer footage found in tv sphincter .
by the time of the raid, mixtapes had grown from homemade mix cassettes sold on street corners and barbershops to an underground, semi - legal marketplace where album - quality releases from high - profile rappers generated between 30 million and 50 million sales each year, according to the riaa, working out to a conservative estimate of $ 150 million to $ 250 million annually by the end of 2006. the music industry generally looked the other way, exchanging lost royalties for the promotion and buzz that artists could build from the streets up with multiple “unauthorized” releases per year. if the raid that day just over 10 years ago wasn’t quite the day the mixtape died, it was the day the mixtape, and the industry around it, changed forever .
there’s a network of things an artist has to have to be viable, so if you got the right position on worldstar, the right position on the mixtape websites, you can gain a fan base, ” says one manager. but, he adds ,
you gotta pay to play, because the game is now is an artist - consumer type of thing. ”
the feeling that coloring book is a mixtape by a hip - hop fan, for hip - hop fans is even further cemented as chance still personally posted the release on reddit’s popular hiphopheads forum late on release night with the simple message “enjoy”. by working outside the system, chance has managed to stay closely in touch with his city, his community and his musical and lyrical inspirations .
in addition to clipse, chamillionaire and crooked i, whose hip - hop weekly freestyle series spanned a whopping 52 weeks in an attempt to gain notoriety after label troubles at death row kept him out of the spotlight for years, the freestyle mixtape was also an important part of lil wayne & apos; s rise to superstardom in the mid & apos; 00s. da drought, dedication and no ceilings were all freestyle mixtape series that allowed weezy to assert his dominance over other rappers. especially on da drought 3, where wayne utterly eviscerated nearly every popular song at the time—from beyoncé’s “upgrade u” to dj unk’s “walk it out”—making it known that he was, in fact, the greatest rapper in the world, and if anyone disagreed with him he would just rap over their beat and prove it .
eventually, with a premium placed on individual songs, surprise albums, and the idea that anyone and everyone can release music to the internet, the freestyle mixtape became nothing more than white noise; a drop in a pond that sits under a perpetual rainstorm of new releases. the competition of rap transformed itself into something else entirely, and that new dna shows almost no traces of the freestyle in it .
compare the traditional freestyle with that of lupe fiasco’s “freestyle” over a “dead presidents” instrumental. the lyrics are clearly written, refined and calculated to fit perfectly over the beat. although it isn’t a freestyle in terms of the original definition, this type of remix would become what rap fans obsessed over for years, with every artist attempting to best their fellow artists over their own songs. with that, came the freestyle mixtape .
“a mixtape, at its core, is rapping over other artists' beats that' s already out and known, ” says styles p, a member of the lox who came up in the 1990s and has released more than a dozen mixtapes in his career, taking the purist’s point of view. “and it' s a free project. you don' t charge for it and it' s not original music. ”
at the time, mainstream hip - hop was nearing the end of the ringtone rap era, when tracks like mims ’ “this is why i’m hot” and soulja boy ’s “crank that (soulja boy) ” spent weeks atop the hot 100. but as the mixtape world was changing, it was rescued, and ultimately re - shaped, by the next crop of rappers on the rise as the decade wore on and turned over .
los angeles & apos; dubb has had a long journey to reach this point in his career. from cyphering in nickerson gardens alongside a young kendrick lamar to being featured on nipsey hussle & apos; s highly buzzed about crenshaw, he has been steadily building up his relevance. yesterday, he released his latest mixtape, never content. included on the 16 - song tape are collaborations with nipsey, rickie jacobs, and iamsu! , among others .
at the same time, labels’ stance on tapes changed once again; having come around to their value in building an artist’s independent brand, labels slowly began re - releasing mixtapes to digital distributors and streaming sites once a signing became publicly official, packaging them as retail mixtapes or eps. that had the effect of turning the promotional product back into the retail product - - and permanently blurring the line between a promotional street mixtape and an official retail album .
“it was like, ‘wow, if drama can get locked up for this, nobody' s safe, ’” drama remembers. “mixunit was the biggest mixtape website; [ the raid ] shifted their whole way of doing business and they stopped selling mixtapes. various djs went on to find other avenues to structure their career and move on. a philly bootlegger who used to make cds told me, just last night, after the raid happened he left the game and did something else. ”
the new generation’s rise bolstered these mixtape sites and transformed them into gatekeepers themselves. offering projects to registered and non - registered users for free, datpiff and livemixtapes independently developed a new business model for the industry, one based off advertising, exclusive partnerships and behind - the - scenes payments to and from artists in exchange for exclusive hosting rights and prime site placement. a business once based on cash transactions and back - door deals moved into the digital age with only the format truly changing .
for artists who already have a fan base, the pay - to - play model is flipped on its head. one artist, when asked how he decides which mixtape site to upload his projects to, responded ,
depends on who wants to pay more ,
putting the amount on offer in the
thousands .
one indie label owner said an artist on his roster with a couple mixtapes under their belt was paid $ 40, 000 for a project by my mixtapez; a tour sponsorship ran an additional $ 15, 000. multiple sources estimated the payment to a powerhouse mixtape artist like lil wayne or future to be around $ 50, 000 for the right to be the tape' s exclusive host, despite the fact that tapes are almost guaranteed to surface on every major site within a matter of hours (or minutes) after a release. reilly said in 2014 that datpiff had exclusive deals with djs like drama, cannon and holiday to host every tape they put out .
over the next several years, artists like j. cole, drake, big sean, meek and kendrick lamar emerged from this digital mixtape circuit to become forces of that new generation and spark major label bidding wars; wiz khalifa has said that datpiff specifically aided his rise to multi - platinum recording artist. their album - quality tapes, distributed for free online, came with mastered audio quality, allowing them to build fan bases while labels stayed behind the scenes and allowed grassroots followings to build organically .
the freestyle mixtape was its own tour de force. it didn’t ascribe to any regulatory notions of what rap should be, and instead, artists decided for themselves how best to compete in an industry run by labels looking to gain an upper hand on their fame before they could. it was its own entity; a culmination of both the rise of dj - hosted street albums and the increasing demand for rappers to out - rap their biggest rivals on their own songs, and it was saving careers .
would not have had as brilliant of a reception — and would not have pushed the man & apos; s career as far — if it had been released for sale. the combination of that core creative freedom — which mixtapes have always afforded — and the new serious artistic effort going into mixtape production (which is only encouraged by the broad availability of high quality studio software like pro tools) is pushing hip - hop music as a whole to the next level. it & apos; s keeping rap fresh .
while the use of mix tapes in hip hop music can be traced back to the mid - 1970s in new york city, when local artists like kool herc and africa bambaataa began recording their live performances on audio cassette tapes, the term “mixtape” in its contemporary sense has been used since as early as the 1990s to describe any full - length hip hop album that is released for free or for promotion of an artist’s upcoming official release, whether it be made of written verses or freestyle set to original composition and remixes of popular tracks .
the raid changed that. before drama and cannon were arrested on rico charges - - shorthand for the racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations act, more commonly associated with mobsters than djs - - the riaa’s focus had been on piracy, particularly digital file sharing, and shutting down small, local record shops that traded in bootlegs and mixtapes. a high - profile target like drama, whose gangsta grillz mixtape series includes installments from lil wayne, gucci mane, meek mill and jeezy and is widely regarded as the most influential ever, sent shock waves through the system .
“i don' t think it' s dead - - it’s definitely evolved - - but it' s also not my place to decide that, ” drama says. “i' ve made my mark. looking back on it 10 years later, from the raid, where it was almost like, ‘wow, the mixtape game is over, ’ it was like a phoenix arose from that. mixtapes are the veins of hip - hop culture and they always have been. and who knows if there' s another young budding superstar on the way? ”
on the afternoon of jan. 16, 2007, just over 10 years ago, dj drama and dj don cannon were arrested on federal racketeering and bootlegging charges related to the alleged sale of mixtapes. authorities, backed by the riaa, confiscated more than 80, 000 cds and thousands of dollars worth of assets and recording equipment from the duo’s atlanta studio during the raid, as drama and cannon were dubbed “mixtape martyrs, ” taking the fall for a scene that had fostered the early rap careers of 50 cent, t. i. and young jeezy, to name a few .
the freestyle mixtape would eventually die out, and there are ample reasons for its death. today, the industry that was once dominated by major labels has transformed into smaller, independent pockets of artists, who maintain more creative control over their music than ever before. it feels as though the industry has split itself into two parts—the artists who strive for quality and the artists who strive for quantity. each has their own distinct version of creative control, and there are now fewer artists stuck in the middle waiting out some label deal, hoping to record anything even if it’s over another rapper’s beat .
to cope, datpiff has been leveraging its relationships with artists and labels to be included in digital - first releases; for dc4, for instance, reilly was able to cut a deal with meek’s label atlantic to stream the project but replace the download option with a “buy” option; reilly says datpiff sent 100, 000 people to the purchase link, resulting in 25, 000 sales. but, he says, it’s been “more of a pain” as labels take these marquee releases out of their original forums and place them in the mainstream eye. it’s caused sites like his to re - assess once again their place in the mixtape ecosystem, as both platform and library .
by january 2014, three top mixtape sites - - datpiff, livemixtapes and audiomack - - were pulling in a combined 7 million unique visitors per month in the u. s. alone, according to comscore data, with datpiff leading the way at 3. 1 million uniques. but soundcloud, which that month boasted 250 million monthly users and raised $ 60 million on a $ 700 million valuation, largely based on its appeal in the dance music space, was becoming attractive. rising mcs like chance the rapper and the migos, whose growing local and blog buzz meant they no longer needed a larger stage to host their projects, gravitated to soundcloud’s open platform, devoid of gatekeepers .
if you look hard enough, you can still find plenty of individual freestyles floating around the internet on a daily basis. the same radio shows will invite rappers on to spit a few bars over the latest beats, and at times, you might even come across something special, lyrically speaking. there’s a component missing, though. one that almost feels indescribable. each freestyle now feels like a puzzle piece separated from its contextual box, and we, the listeners, have no way to discern how one freestyle is better than the next. hip - hop’s competitive nature has always been what’s made its dominance over recent pop culture so fascinating, and the small but important iteration that the freestyle mixtape was to that dominance can never be forgotten .
the raw, diy hustle of the mixtape has had such a profound influence on hip - hop culture that the style and the terminology have persisted even though the mixtapes of today sound and feel nothing like those of the past. mixtapes still serve their original purpose — spreading the word and freeing rappers from the constraints of making marketable music — but now it & apos; s just being done with new layers of effort and polish. free albums now have studio - quality sound, but are governed by none of the traditional studio conventions like poppy hooks or simplistic radio - structures. the result is that many recent mixtapes are miles beyond studio hip - hop in quality, intricacy, and artistic value. the critics have eaten it up — check out any
in 2011, benjy grinberg of rostrum records, which fostered the careers of khalifa and mac miller, said the only difference between mixtapes and albums was “you don' t make any direct money off” tapes; just three years later, even that line had been erased as the practice became widespread. goldlink ’s the god complex became available for sale in the itunes store, for example, months after its initial release. mixtape singles like rich homie quan ’s “type of way” were remastered and began regularly making their way onto the hot 100 chart. drake’s if you’re reading this, it’s too late, was released in february 2015 directly through the itunes store and debuted at no. 1 on the billboard 200, disregarding a free period of any kind in its entirety. datpiff’s traffic, according to comscore data, would never pass 3 million uniques in a month again .
mixtapes are also known for the strange and unusual material they can contain. from weird b - movies to sporting accidents and dramatic news footage, through to unintelligible tv shows and rare pilots from countries far and wide, they contain all types of mind boggling clips that most people never knew existed. the heavy doses of porn and various stomach - churning activities and curiosities turn some of these tapes into controversial items, even on the underground .
“before the internet was available in every household, many people around the world used to trade music with each other by taping stuff from their collections onto audio cassettes, and sending them to each other by snail mail, ” zxql told torrentfreak .
“p2p offers you a nearly unlimited library of digital media: there’s no song obscure enough for you not to find it, ” says zxql enthusiastically. “even better: there is so much stuff out there that still needs to be discovered, the chase is as much fun as the catch. mixtapes help you show what’s out there. ”
finding the source material can be entertaining in itself, zxql explained. “there’s so much about today’s availability of media that makes this so much fun: hunting for that perfect clip to end your sequence, exploring new music by just typing in keywords and seeing what comes up. ”
having laughed, cried, been bemused, shocked and sickened all within the space of a few minutes at retard - o - tron 2 – i can see what zxql meant by “be amazed” at the kind of footage available. while a lot of the footage is suitable for everyone (and some of the b - movies and obscure footage is amazing), overall it is definitely one for the over 18’s. actually, better make that 25, with a very broad mind too .
to be honest i would have preferred fewer sex scenes, as i think i would’ve watched more of it. we understand rot1 is more of an easy ride. “rot3 is in the making, and it will feature less porn, ” zxql reassured me. “or at least easier to view with a group of people, so it won’t be as explicit. rot2 kinda went overboard with the porn, i think so myself, ” he added .
for those wanting rot1 or rot2 on dvd, one is available from the site, but there are other ways to watch. rot1 was already ripped and released by a group specializing in releasing cult and b - movies called pimprippaz. rot2 was ripped by a similar group called videocult who zxql says did a much better job and delivered a high quality, scene - standard compliant rip. he’s happy for people to grab these rips of course, adding ;
“in the end, i just want the ultimate thing i can create. not held back by copyright, censorship, good taste, a commercial drive or other barriers. i wanted a dvd for when my buddies and i chill on the couch with a beer and a bong. i love making my mixtapes, and i love watching them. it’s a hobby, it’s underground and it might even be considered art – but it isn’t about money. ”
i kept this on the under for too long... .. enjoy !
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a video mixtape ( vmt ) is a stock footage movie consisting of clips from movies , television or home videos that are generally circulated as bootleg videos . also called party tapes or video compilations , this phenomenon comes from the days of betamax and vhs , when home editing and duplication became possible for the masses . video mixtapes are distributed on vhs or dvd , or by one of the many distribution methods the internet has to offer . the concept and " feel " of a video mixtape is derived from the audio mixtape phenomenon . 
a video mixtape (vmt) is a stock footage movie consisting of clips from movies, television or home videos that are generally circulated as bootleg videos. also called party tapes or video compilations, this phenomenon comes from the days of betamax and vhs, when home editing and duplication became possible for the masses. video mixtapes are distributed on vhs or dvd, or by one of the many distribution methods the internet has to offer. the concept and " feel " of a video mixtape is derived from the audio mixtape phenomenon.
a video mixtape (vmt) is a stock footage movie consisting of clips from movies, television or home videos that are generally circulated as bootleg videos. also called party tapes or video compilations, this phenomenon comes from the days of betamax and vhs, when home editing and duplication became possible for the masses. video mixtapes are distributed on vhs or dvd, or by one of the many distribution methods the internet has to offer. the concept and " feel " of a video mixtape is derived from the audio mixtape phenomenon.