What’s it about the feeling of someone doing it themselves that feels better, that results in a more satisfying product?
the DIY feeling of mixtapes (as opposed to overly produced albums). Chief Keef ‘Almighty So’, Gucci Mane ‘The Movie’, Giggs ‘Walk in da Park’, K Koke ‘Pure Koke Vol. 1′. Just a few I’ve been on recently. I like the necessity of hosts on mixtapes, on these: DJ Scream, DJ Drama, Michael Millions.
Mixtapes allow artists to be prolific, rapidly creating vast amounts of materials across countless surprise releases; easy to make, easy to release. Three Six Mafia had a whole load of outstanding ones. Then there’s the DJ Screw type ones, more like beat tapes… winding, drowsy journeys inwards and out.
In many of these mixtapes, which invariably come early in an artists career, their real artistry is on show. Often a raw experimentation that shows real individual talent and invariably justifies why they later became the more well-known artist. Outrageous beat choices, badly mixed and mastered, obnoxious stream of conscious lyricism, style in abundance, its real stuff.