Are Hip Hop Mixtapes Losing Their Effectiveness?

Funkworm

Funkworm

Master Beater
Hip hop is saturated with so many mediocre mixtapes that I rarely take the time to check them out anymore. Is it worth it to an up an coming artist anymore to put their time and energy into making one?

I dealt with this topic in more detail on blog.
www.indiehiphop.net
 
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I never understood mixtapes.

I mean for major artists, I get it...because it's a promotional/revenue tool in between albums...so they can make money selling "unnofficial" product, only because they can't release ALBUMS outside of the label.


But for indie artists? Why waste your time putting together a mixtape, when a little more effort will yeild you a complete album?

I mean, why be in the studio writing and creating songs to other people's beats? Get some original beats, and put the same effort into it, and put out an album.
 
Man I dunno what happened. Mixtapes took a turn for the worst in the last few months. I remember the mixtapes had some of the most exciting music for awhile. What happened???
 
it was/is an effective tool. but i do agree that it's lost alot of its weight. before a mixtape was a kinda calling card for artists so they put alot of effort into them to make them as strong as possible. also recording was a kinda mark of your ability. you were showing of your lyrical ability.


today producers can actually make a whole mixtape WAY before they have met face to face with anybody that will buy or create...mostly just for friends. before it was to your local market.


also we can bounce and burn a few cd's on such short notice now. before you had to know people who had the beats, who had the connectins to make it go places. now you dont have to no anybody and just create it yourself.

it's just how people bypass the traditional ways of doing things.
 
j.troup said:
But for indie artists? Why waste your time putting together a mixtape, when a little more effort will yeild you a complete album?
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What's the point of dropping an album if there is no fan base there to buy the album?? w/o mixtapes there is no 50 Cent. Lil Wayne's meteoric rise is due in part to mixtapes.

With that said i do agree that the mixtape game nowadays is heavily oversaturated. I dont really wanna hear a whole mixtape of "MC So & So" rhyming over Swagger Like Us & A Milli with "DJ Joe Smoe" yelling all over every track, lol.

Finding a great mixtape nowadays is like finding a needle in a haystack but they are still out there. Kid Cudi's "A Kid Named Cudi" mixtape & Wale's "Mixtape About Nothing" are perfect examples of what a mixtape should be. Wale's mixtape was mostly original production & had a theme to it that made it feel more like a "Street Album" than a mixtape. Cudi went the other direction & made songs on mostly obscure hip-hop beats or beats from other genres completely & constructed totally new songs out of them. Hell when i 1st heard Cudi's tape besides a few obvious well known tracks I thought it was all original production, lol.
 
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MUSIKFIEND said:
What's the point of dropping an album if there is no fan base there to buy the album?? w/o mixtapes there is no 50 Cent. Lil Wayne meteoric rise is due in part to mixtapes.

With that said i do agree that the mixtape game nowadays is heavily oversaturated. I dont really wanna hear a whole mixtape of "MC So & So" rhyming over Swagger Like Us & A Milli with "DJ Joe Smoe" yelling all over every track, lol.

Finding a great mixtape nowadays is like finding a needle in a haystack but they are still out there. Kid Cudi's "A Kid Named Cudi" mixtape & Wale's "Mixtape About Nothing" are perfect examples of what a mixtape should be. Wale's mixtape was mostly original production & had a theme to it that made it feel more like a "Street Album" than a mixtape. Cudi went the other direction & made songs on mostly obscure hip-hop beats or beats from other genres completely & constructed totally new songs out of them. Hell when i 1st heard Cudi's tape besides a few obvious well known tracks I thought it was all original production, lol.
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This is almost the same exact side of the argument I took with someone over the weekend with regards to mixtapes. Crazy.
 
I think it's a great idea to put out a mixtape before each of your albums drop for the exposure. But I think its retarted when artists now seem like they don't even want to make an album and would rather put out 500 mixtapes. I also hate when I see all these random ass djs putting out over 9000 mixtapes a week on songs that got leaked... Thats the worst part.
 
Exactly. Mixtapes build buzz if it's hot. IE Drake. When dude first dropped people were like "who the **** is this dude?" after people listened to it realizing it was dope they became fans. 3 Mixtapes later he is becoming a superstar. All off of mixtapes.
 
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MUSIKFIEND said:
What's the point of dropping an album if there is no fan base there to buy the album?? w/o mixtapes there is no 50 Cent. Lil Wayne's meteoric rise is due in part to mixtapes.

With that said i do agree that the mixtape game nowadays is heavily oversaturated. I dont really wanna hear a whole mixtape of "MC So & So" rhyming over Swagger Like Us & A Milli with "DJ Joe Smoe" yelling all over every track, lol.

Finding a great mixtape nowadays is like finding a needle in a haystack but they are still out there. Kid Cudi's "A Kid Named Cudi" mixtape & Wale's "Mixtape About Nothing" are perfect examples of what a mixtape should be. Wale's mixtape was mostly original production & had a theme to it that made it feel more like a "Street Album" than a mixtape. Cudi went the other direction & made songs on mostly obscure hip-hop beats or beats from other genres completely & constructed totally new songs out of them. Hell when i 1st heard Cudi's tape besides a few obvious well known tracks I thought it was all original production, lol.
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:cheers:
 
finding a good mixtape is like a one in four chance. i have downloading way to many recently and been disappointed. if they are not in album format with mostly original beats and a decent flow then they are a waste but if done properly they are a good tool for an artist to generate fans.
 
Ok just some random thoughts i wouldn't mind getting feedback on (fits the subject matter i think..lol)

For those who no-namers who make there own 'albums' (in this case original beats, and actual song concepts), how do they distinguish it from 'mixtapes' (Recording Swagger over industry beats)?

and what's a good way of marketing yourself as an artist? (as far as reaching to a niche market) I don't think people even go as far as edging the mouse cursor over a "FREE DOWNLOAD" link..lol

this is a question from someone who's just wanting to put his music out there for people to enjoy....lol, and i'm just refering to the whole internet side of things, as i know the latter (actually getting outside) is the main driver...lols...
 
Wack mixtapes:

One with a DJ shouting his name on every songs.

Un mix songs

Random songs thrown on to fill up the cd, no theme whatsoever
 
Mixtapes is publicity man i know if i never heard a dudes music but peeps was saying he hot i rather cop his mixtape to check his skillz first before i copp the album...what if i think different what if i think hes trash...lol...mixtapes to me if yourr indie is like a audio application....im the boss...and ill determine if your hired or not...plus everybody aint got money to be paying for beats so your buzz if you get one off your mixtape will make you public and will have cats looking for you....if you getting paper off them then thats a start to you being able to pay for beats.....now when the majors do it i think its them just saying yo...im still here im still keeping my pen game up....but it works for some not all....but some my fav mixtpes came from Lupe...and hes freaking kill'em out there...but yeah when djs come out with them and have like the same joints on there as the others yeah thats a pain.....and the Gangsta Grillz series is always hot...especially the Little Brother 1 *Seperate But Equal....WOW
 
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Mixtapes is publicity man i know if i never heard a dudes music but peeps was saying he hot i rather cop his mixtape to check his skillz first before i copp the album...

Tough call. You're saying he already had the buzz if your peeps were saying he was hot. I don't see all the hype for the mixtape...

It's like half a pass for using already-popular tracks...the real test is what you do on your own. Plus a lot of rappers shoot their best lyrics on mixtapes and when the album drops it's not as fresh.

I think a mixtape hosted by a name is still more official...since everyone has a mixtape now...the difference is- if you drop an album with no buzz, it can grow over time and still sound pretty fresh years later..a mixtape built from this summers hits sounds really dated even 1 year later....OMG he's rappin over Lean Back.
 
Greedy, egocentric DJs are one reason the mixtape market is dead. From pay to play with no talent filter, to quantity over quality. I place the blame on the DJ.Of course not all of them are to blame.I also agree with Troup. You might as well invest that time into a street album.This is where the producer/artist relationship comes into play. I say we remove the DJ from the equation and replace them with aspiring producers.
 
Mixtapes are great if they are of good quality. But I see a lot of failed albums come out as mixtapes. Short of actually promoting your work, it is getting quite difficult to find people to even listen to your stuff. You should be putting out quality music, not just everything you do. That is what myspace is for.
 
flipn50 said:
Wack mixtapes:

One with a DJ shouting his name on every songs.

Un mix songs

Random songs thrown on to fill up the cd, no theme whatsoever
Click to expand...

You know, somehow a mixtape has to be dirty mix... some engineers are even asked not to make the mixtape sounding too good... it's not an album..
It's for the streets so it must sound raw...
 
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