The Economy of Mixtapes: How Drake, Wiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T. 50 Cent and DJ Whoo Kid are widely credited with shifting the focus from multi-artist compilations to single-artist showpieces, adding new verses to existing production to build buzz in the streets. First rising from the beat and blend tapes of DJs like Kid Capri and Lovebug Starski in the 1980s and early 1990s, the likes of DJ Clue and DJ Doo Wop began using them as curated proving grounds for rising and established MCs with exclusive songs and freestyles as the 1990s wore on. Now, a decade later, the industry that sprang up to fill the void is itself facing an uncertain future, as lines blur, gatekeepers shift and corporations begin to solidify a long-gestating takeover.įor three decades, mixtapes have played an increasingly significant role in the hip-hop world. In the wake of that uncertainty rose a new model and a new era for the underground hip-hop world, one that would take mixtapes global, digital and, for the first time, legitimate. The Evolution of the Mixtape: An Oral History With DJ Drama It was like, ‘Who knows who could be next? Who knows what could happen?’” “A lot of people were scared,” Drama says now, “Because at the time I was the top of the food chain when it came to mixtapes. If the raid that day just over 10 years ago wasn’t quite the day the mixtape died, it was the day the mixtape, and the industry around it, changed forever. The music industry generally looked the other way, exchanging lost royalties for the promotion and buzz that artists could build from the streets up with multiple “unauthorized” releases per year.
By the time of the raid, mixtapes had grown from homemade mix cassettes sold on street corners and barbershops to an underground, semi-legal marketplace where album-quality releases from high-profile rappers generated between 30 million and 50 million sales each year, according to the RIAA, working out to a conservative estimate of $150 million to $250 million annually by the end of 2006.
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