Aaaaahhh, mixtapes. If other genres of music were to adopt this form of promotion, we might not forget about certain artists in the few years between their major album releases. I believe Hip Hop is so popular today because there is a lot of it, and mixtapes certainly help that. Be it remixes, collaborations, diss tracks, hearing your favorite rapper over someone else’s beat etc… , mixtapes have you covered. Actually, some mixtapes are better than some albums, or better than the album that they are there to promote. Since mixtapes are vaguely illegal and primarily for promotion, you end up with some exclusive material that is not overly thought out, with or without hooks, scrapped from albums and even some official album songs. If you can overlook some of the dj’s who scream all over the tracks, you end up with some decent stuff.

I’ve compiled some mixtapes from over the year that are worth a second listen. Some are old, some are new, but overall pretty good. Listen or download.

GREEN LANTERN- ALIVE ON ARRIVAL- Real good.
GHOSTFACE- FISH N CHIPS- Can’t get enough Ghost!
BIG MIKE- SUN STILL RISES IN THE EAST
JAY-Z/B.I.G- BROOKLYN- A lot of random material.
CLIPSE- WE GOT IT FOR CHEAP 2
BIG L- BEST OF- Now you can sound like you know what you’re talking about if you meet up with the Animal crew:)
J-DILLA- LEGACY
MOBB DEEP- WELCOME TO G-UNIT- Some keepers from a somewhat lackluster recent showing (and since signing to g-unit).
DJ MELLO- HURRICANE GAME 3
DJ TRIGGA- HIP HOP IS DEAD- Some of these should have been on Nas’s album.
DJ XXL- 20 GREATEST DISSES Why not? Some history in there.
PAPOOSE- No one Papoose mixtape stands out completely for me, so click the link and compile your own.

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