Intro
First I want to shoutout to DJ Clue and other DJ’s like the late DJ Kay Slay, DJ Green Lantern, the late DJ Clark Kent, and Cutmaster C for paving the way for mixtapes as a whole.
This piece is so personal to me because mixtapes were my first ever experience with music. I love mixtapes more than real music. I actually hate mainstream music if I’m being honest. And I am starting this off with G-Unit not only for chronology, but because G-Unit mixtapes are so near and dear to my heart.
Outside of the Elmo’s World theme song and commercialized kids music I was force fed through television, 50 Cent was my introduction to music. And I’ve found that many inner city kids born between 1998 and 2001 have this experience. But mine is so unique because my father grew up with these guys. And he was pivotal in the distribution of these mixtapes as he got his start with Sha Money XL and DJ Whoo Kid as a part of G-Unit’s street team. Actually selling these mixtapes out of the trunk of his car and traveling on tour with them for the better half of the first decade of my life. And he graduated from street team to engineering and a few other jobs within that landscape that brought him to the corporate side of G-Unit Records. And that afforded me so much clout as a kid that has me feeling like a Hood Celebrity to this day. And I was front and center for all this shit. My father and I bonded over singing these mixtape cuts together. Dressing me in G-Unit clothing walking around our neighborhood like the little version of him. Feeling untouchable. If my father was a G-Unit soldier I was definitely a member of G-Unit ROTC. A time where if you saw tank tops, bulletproof vests, du rags, and throwback jerseys in Queens you knew what time it was. I always wondered why my dad had Bulletproof vests around, but I never thought he worked for law enforcement.
I still get cheery to this day when I hear my hood get shouted out on G-Unit mixtapes. And I still feel that nostalgia of singing lyrics to songs that I didn’t even know the meaning of at 3 or 4 years old. There’s footage somewhere out there of me acting out the Many Men scene where 50 gets gunned down depicting his notorious assassination attempt. Sagging my pants to show my pamper and a du-rag on my head. These mixtapes literally contributed to putting food on my table and clothes on my back and that has made me a nerd for mixtapes for the rest of my life.
Feed the Streets (Zoo York)
50 Cent & G-Unit
It’s been debated whether or not the Diplomats or G-Unit were the originators of artists putting out their own mixtapes. Originally, mixtapes were the product of DJ’s who recruited the best MC’s to freestyle over popular hit records and other beats they produced. But somewhere around 2000 or 2001 artists began making their own songs out of these freestyles and putting them out themselves. I’m partial to G-Unit being first for obvious reasons, but I never visited Harlem until I was much older so I couldn’t tell you what was going on in the streets there. You’d have to ask an older cat who was around. But what I will say is noone did it like G-Unit. And I appreciate that there was some synergy in the ways each group shouted out all the different hoods in their boroughs and addressed all their controversies. What 50 did so uniquely was that he made full songs out of these freestyles. He was actually redoing the hooks and making them his own. So it wasn’t just a showcase of his rapping abilities like most mixtapes at that time were meant to do, he actually showcased his song making talents by making better songs than the original. With his ability to use melodies and his unique voice to create an entire new song. Something that is completely normal for an artist to do today.
These mixtapes got 50 Cent his deal with Interscope Records through Eminem’s security guard playing his music in the car. And the rest is history. The legendary freestyles and remixed songs were pivotal in the streets of New York getting 50 some major buzz. Songs like Ghetto Qu’ran and How to Rob that led to 50’s street conflicts made his name ring when he was a Columbia Records signee. But after getting shot 9 times and dropped from his deal he had no choice, but to figure it out on his own if he wanted to make it. And mixtapes were his way out. They birthed his career by showing his song making abilities in a creative way on songs like U Should Be Here, and his bars on songs like Killa Tape Intro. This was prime real estate for him to go at Ja Rule on records like Life’s on the Line. And he was able to break G-Unit talents, Lloyd Banks, Young Buck, and Tony Yayo early on to get them individual deals for their own albums. Creating a movement and an empire all from a Queens basement and a few “soldiers” selling mixtapes on Jamaica Avenue. I was born in the midst of all of this as 50’s shooting was on my father’s 23rd birthday while my mother was nearly 6 months pregnant with me. So while it may not be very orthodox for a 2/3 year old to be listening to 50 Cent mixtapes, the larger issue is the reality we were all living in as a community where the content being reflected in the music was so close to me. Something to think about.
Max B & French Montana (Coke Wave)
I wrote a little blog post some time ago about how Jim Jones fumbled the bag with his Byrd Gang movement. Between him, Stack Bundles, and Max B he could have ran New York and reached incredible heights with those talents. I won’t reiterate my sentiment in that piece, because frankly it really isn’t my business and I don’t know what went on behind the scenes. All I know is, if Max didn’t fall out with Jim and go to prison and if Stack didn’t reach an untimely demise they would have been very successful. One positive that came from the fall of Byrd Gang, is the ridiculous mixtape run Max B went on alongside French Montana.
With production from Harlem legend Dame Grease they were killing every freestyle. Borrowing some of that 50 Cent style I mentioned using his melodic voice to remix popular songs and make them his own. I wasn’t super into Max B before his imprisonment because I only had access to my Queens G-Unit bubble. But by the time I was in middle school and able to discover mixtape catalogs on DatPiff via my iPhone 3GS I began to deep dive. The first Max B project I gravitated to was Public Domain: Million Dollar Baby Radio. And I can vividly recall listening to Max B Deez My Streets while riding through Harlem to play AAU basketball games. I loved playing games Uptown because it made me feel like I really was a ball player and I always had a deep appreciation for Harlem by way of Walter Dean Myers. With French Montana by his side Max had a great support system in making classic records and flipping hooks for old soul music. Like this cut, Do For Drugs which is a play on Bobby Caldwell’s What You Won’t Do for Love.
And of course controversy is built into the fabric of Hip Hop, so I have to appreciate the songs like Umma Do Me going at Jim Jones and plenty of others where he details the fallout of what was once his closest comrade.
DatPiff Era (Southern Street Starz)
Now dat’s piff!1 Sorry if you don’t have the ebonics fluency to translate that on your own. But this is essentially where the name of the early pioneer of music streaming derived. Before the Spotify’s and Apple Music we had DatPiff, Live Mixtapes, and Spinrilla. The rest of this segment is dedicated to mixtape catalogs that were most prevalent on these platforms even though they all sold physical discs, in my experience the next three catalogs I am about to name were most legendary for how they performed in a digital space. You can actually find the entire DatPiff archive here via this link. And you do not have to thank me, but if you a real Hip Hop head I know this will be a gem.
Lil Wayne
Weezy has been a Hollygrove representing wordsmith since he was 12 years old. And as the baby star of the Hot Boyz many of their albums paved the way for the southern wave of mixtape styles via their creative artwork and ability to make street anthems that get you that brown paper bag show money way before a record deal. I would go as far as to say, we have the south to thank for the current business landscape of independence through getting a local buzz and being able to monetize that. New York is the city of commerce, so we were always spoiled enough for the record label headquarters to be right up the street. But in a city where there is no music industry, you have to make it make sense for yourself with noone other than your own people.
And aside from his mainstream monstrous success with Tha Carter albums and his experimental Rock and Roll projects Wayne never let anyone forget what his true roots are. That he is Hip Hop in its purest form and he showcased that on all of his legendary mixtapes. Freestyling over all of our favorite records from the mid 2000’s and early 2010’s you might get scared if Wayne chose your song because he would expose you. You might get exposed for not being as nice as you think you are. None other than Hova himself admitted to this after Lil Wayne freestyled over Show Me What You Got and left the whole industry uncomfortable. Some of my personal favorites are his Dedication and Sorry for the Wait mixtape series. And I know we all love the No Ceilings freestyles that had everyone going crazy. I remember waiting for the Q76 bus for what felt like days on end with Get Smoked on repeat. Or being at my Grandma’s house trying to remember every lyric to Rollin. And of course I have DatPiff to thank for bringing these to my front door.
Gucci Mane
One may assume based on my father’s history that he was a super east coast Hip Hop head. And of course growing up in the 80’s and 90’s he knows all the classic old head shit. But he was also my introduction to trap music when that became popular. I remember him playing all the Brick Squad Monopoly cuts way too loud coming to get me from school. Honestly Gucci has too many songs and mixtapes to choose from. But I have to mention how he paved the way for guys like OJ Da Juiceman and Waka Flocka to have success on the mixtape circuit and eventually go mainstream. And putting producers like Zaytoven on the map.
He was able to sustain a career from prison based off of these mixtapes. And he has some of the best mixtape artwork I’ve seen. He didn’t have the most mainstream success like some of the other artists I’ve mentioned, but he created some legendary cult classics from these mixtapes that are platinum on street corners across America. Songs like Shirt Off and First Day Out that your average rap fan may not know, but for a Gucci Mane fan you better know ‘em word for word. Shout out East Atlanta and the whole dirty south.
Curren$y
I’m from the era where hearing “Dramatic!” drop at the beginning of a song meant you were about to hear some of the hardest music ever put out. Hence why Tyler, the Creator appealed to his more hardcore rap fans on Call Me If You Get Lost collaborating with DJ Drama. Curren$y’s Gangsta Grillz project made me realize New Orleans had more talent outside of Weezy than I knew.
I can picture 2011 right now. Atrium used to be the preferred shopping hub in SoHo before the Kith we all know. The Ralph Lauren Rugby store was still alive and well. Air Jordan 3’s, 501 Levi Jeans, Converse Chuck Taylors, and a Curren$y DatPiff exclusive to start your day. Verde Terrace was a masterpiece in my eyes. Because I learned how to interact with women. And Curren$y’s logic made sense to an 11 year old. Of course his “Jets over bitches” model is very flawed. But at the time that was law to me. All jokes aside, his catalog afforded him a full career where he didn’t have to sign not even one document that relinquished his rights to any piece of music with his voice on it. And that is a very unique feat. He is cut from that southern business model of building community via mixtapes and a career off that brown paper bag show money that I mentioned. But the difference is “Spitta” never once transitioned into the mainstream model. And probably has more money than a lot of your favorite rappers. He adapted to music’s new streaming landscape and kept his foot on the gas maximizing that revenue by releasing multiple times a year. And making a nice check from his Jet Life apparel brand. Not to mention, the huge figures he makes from touring every year. And his fans are loyal to a T. They will buy every tour ticket and T-Shirt and he doesn’t need a 7 figure advance or 8 figure marketing budget from a label to get this done.
And he built this all from classics like Return to the Winner’s Circle, Verde Terrace, and How Fly alongside Wiz Khalifa who is from a similar network.
Outro
If you stuck with me til the end, you too cool for school jack. I don’t fancy myself a Hip Hop writer, I like to cover a myriad of things. But I realized I naturally cover the entire landscape of life through a Hip Hop lens because I was born into it. So with this piece I guess I was able to provide a bit of my story. I have a lot of directions I like to go in with my writing, but I do consider being an iteration of 2DopeBoyz, World Star Hip Hop, or Fakeshore Drive with my own personal spin. Check out my mixtape below, because what kind of mixtape writeup would this be without one. This is a G-Unit vs. Diplomats cut because we never got the Verzuz we deserved from them. By the way, look out for part 2 in your inbox because there’s no way I could have covered enough in one piece.
Dat’s Piff - That’s super cool. Piff is a slang term for potent weed.
Million off a Mixtape