What Even Is a Mixtape?

Visual by Kristen Cawog

Before becoming one of the undisputed kings of the Atlanta rap scene, Gucci Mane first had to claim the throne. Throughout the 2000s, the rapper released an astronomical 20 or so mixtapes. Every release expanded his discography as well as his audience. In a way, he demonstrated a certain kind of marketing prowess by utilizing mixtapes. After all, this was before an artist could simply upload a song to SoundCloud and watch their monthly listens skyrocket until they found themselves with a record deal. 

Gucci Mane’s legendary ongoing mixtape run is something from a bygone era. With all the new outlets available for artists to release their music, the mixtape grind seems obsolete. Yet, we still see them year after year. 

So, what even is a mixtape nowadays? 

What used to simply be a tool for underground artists to gain exposure has become almost indistinguishable from a full-on album. The line has become blurred, to say the least—no doubt a result of an ever-changing music industry. 

What purpose do mixtapes serve today, and why do big artists still release them? 

With SoundCloud and other avenues now available, artists don’t need to rely on mixtapes to grow their audience. Of course, artists like Kendrick Lamar and Chance the Rapper have used them in the traditional way to great effect and built thriving careers off of acclaimed mixtapes. But, by and large, mixtapes today from mainstream artists have become extremely commercialized and function in a much different way than they once did. 

As one of the biggest artists in the world, Drake has mastered the art of the commercial mixtape and has shown what an artist can do with it. For one, these mixtapes can act as a “warm-up” for bigger upcoming albums. This year’s Dark Lane Demo Tapes was released to build anticipation for Drake’s sixth album, Certified Lover Boy, allowing listeners to get a taste of Drake’s new sound.

Travis Scott’s acclaimed Days Before Rodeo is another example, which had listeners drooling in anticipation for the arrival of Rodeo, his debut album. These mixtapes, like street mixtapes before them, functioned to grow an artist’s fanbase. But, these primarily serve as promotion for an album rather than as promotion for an artist. They allow listeners to dip their toes into new sounds from artists they know and love.

Modern commercial mixtapes also serve to capitalize off of the success of two dominant artists at a given time. In 2015, Drake and Atlanta trap superstar, Future, collaborated on the electric What a Time to Be Alive following their wildly successful solo albums earlier that year. Future did this again in 2018 with the late Juice WRLD on WRLD ON DRUGS. 

Additionally, rising stars Lil Baby and Gunna released Drip Harder that same year. Their joint tape served to establish them as the new frontrunners of the Atlanta trap scene following their success as solo artists. These kinds of tapes represent victory laps more than anything, allowing artists to let their hair down and celebrate their past success with additional success.

There are, of course, mixtapes that simply serve to release music, like Amine’s OnePointFive or Playboi Carti’s self-titled tape. These don’t really have the b-side quality one might expect. In fact, many might as well be albums themselves, which raises the question, why even release them as mixtapes at all? As explained by Amine, I believe this to be a question of critical reception: “They call they albums mixtapes 'cause if [it] flops, it's an EP. Nah, that's like a b-side, bro.” Essentially, he states artists can hide behind the label of “mixtape” and dodge the critical scrutiny that they would have otherwise received if their project was a typical album. By calling it a mixtape, the expectation is lowered because of the connotation of the word. 

To that point, many artists dance around dropping albums for a while. There’s a real hesitance to come right out of the gate and lay it all on the table with an album. Before finally dropping his highly-anticipated debut album last year, Young Thug had released five commercial mixtapes since 2015. Streaming services have lowered people’s attention spans by providing massive quantities of music to us at the push of a button. The stakes are higher when releasing an album because if you don’t get it right, people will quickly move onto the next thing. This happened recently with Chance the Rapper’s debut album, The Big Day. It was a highly anticipated project because of the widely-acclaimed mixtapes he previously released. The album was not received well, and listeners were quick to turn on the rapper.

In a way, mixtapes still serve the same purpose they once did: promotion. Because stakes are higher, mixtapes allow artists to test the waters before a big album, remind listeners that they’re still there, and work as a victory lap after a successful release.