subject: The Legend Of Mixtape [print this page] If you are a music fan, you just cannot say that hip hop artist 50cent was wrong when he said nothing is able to sell music better than music itself.
Well, he actually made sense. Specifically talking about hip hop, it can be said that this genre of music is quite different from others. It is basically a culture that celebrates rawness and originality apart from the trendiness and popularity. Hip-hop music has always been known for the energy involved in it. It is proactive as well as reactive.
This genre of music is loved by the streets and in fact it defines street music. It is something which the masses love to love. And if your music is loved by the masses; you should be the accomplished musician on the earth. Once you reach this level where masses love to follow your sound, money and fame would follow.
Now when you have realized the importance of your music reaching the masses, you must know how to reach the masses with your music. Well, you need mixtapes to do that. A mixtape is a collection of assorted music tracks complied together according to a particular theme or mood and at time even includes music from new artists whose music is yet to reach the radio. A mixtape as a collection of music has always given fuel to the hip-hop music industry.
Just like hip-hop, the definition of mixtapes has also evolved tremendously over time and they have only become all the more popular. A mixtape initially served as a mere medium for raw demo of some music and in the initial years, mixtape music was also about DJ mixes.
Mixtapes became so popular that even radio stations began playing them and listeners began pumping it up all. In fact radio stations began witnessing a huge demand for mixtape music due to their original flavor and raw appeal. A mixtape was something that could manage to have its own identity and that too without the support of a big label. It was this feature of a mixtape that it stood out in crowd and saw a fan following that was increasing by the day.
Also, with the growing popularity of hip-hop music, several popular DJs took the genre to another level by coming up with music on mixtapes. And as expected, mixtapes being the medium of masses ensured almost instant success for the DJs and their music.
Mixtapes have the power of exposing people to something hot, much before the world realizes it's hot and happening. A mixtape gives an insight to intense creativity recorded on a cassette or a CD. The music is so hot that you feel liberated and unleashed.
However, mixtape music did not resemble the modern avatar of hip hop music till the early 2000s when rapper 50 Cent redefined what mixtape music was and gave it a totally new dimension. He exposed the contemporary folks to what street music is.
