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After ten years as a mix-tape DJ Karina Toliver, known on the streets of New York as DJ Lazy K, names one accomplishment with extra pride: Several years ago, she was offered a track by "this new hot guy" from Queens who was a protege of Run-DMC's Jam Master Jay. The freestyle rap -- a collaboration with another Queens MC, Royal Flush -- didn't seem all that special to Toliver at the time, but the MC was "hungry and humble," so she put the track on her tape anyway. That new guy was 50 Cent. "I was the first one to put him on a mix tape," says Toliver. "I can look back now and be like, 'Wow.' "
50 Cent's mix-tape-to-multiplatinum ascent has brought legitimacy to an underground scene where street credibility is the ultimate barometer of success. Hip-hop mix tapes -- compilation CDs full of exclusive, uncensored tracks sold by street vendors, on the Internet and at mom-and-pop record stores - have been around since the dawn of hip-hop, when rap originators such as Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa and DJ Kool Herc recorded their sets on audiocassette and sold them as "party tapes." Mix-tape fans like the cachet of owning music that casual MTV viewers never hear -- complete with unlicensed samples, no-holds-barred battle raps and even fun parodies such as Beyonc? Knowles' takeoff on "In Da Club."
The sale of these tapes is illegal, but don't expect to hear the labels complain. They've been using mix tapes for years to build street credibility for new acts (Sean "P. Diddy" Combs doled out Notorious B.I.G. cuts to mix-tape DJs for months before releasing his debut album in 1994). In addition to 50, Joe Budden, Fabolous and Beanie Sigel all built their reps on the mix-tape circuit, where new stars are born and new hits are marketed directly to hip-hop's core audience. But what makes mix tapes even more important in the hip-hop world are the tracks that never see commercial release -- dis tracks where big stars such as Jay-Z (who recently put out his own street tape, The S. Carter Collection, to promote his new line of sneakers), Eminem and DMX let loose with vicious insults (see "Prime Beef").
"Back in the day, I used to do my rounds through the record companies and have my ears to the hard rappers on the street," says Lazy K. "Now the record companies call us and say, 'Come to this meeting' or 'Please put this on your tape.' Radio's not breaking records like street DJs are."
The mix-tape game has changed drastically since the days of party tapes. DJs such as Kayslay, Green Lantern and Clue have direct contact with marquee artists, who give them exclusive tracks. The appeal to performers is twofold: For one, mix tapes get onto the streets nearly overnight. They are also distributed far and wide at no cost to the artist, and, because they're underground, artists don't worry about clearing samples or bleeping out curse words.
The way the labels see it, mix tapes work as free market research. If a track generates buzz on the street, chances are it will be a hit on the radio and in record stores. "The kids that buy mix tapes are trend savvy," says Sam Crespo, director of rap promotions for Island Def Jam. "If there is street buzz on an artist, it will start to snowball." In fact, Crespo says a hip-hop artist's only chance for success is to work the mix-tape circuit. "It would be hard for an artist to get credibility without ever having been on a mix tape," he says. "The mix tapes validate the artist."
Consider Joe Budden: His debut album comes on the heels of dozens of mix-tape appearances during the past two years. The single "Pump It Up" has been at the top of the charts for weeks now, and mix-tape DJs say that's a formula that guarantees him big sales. "The only way people will purchase albums is if they know what the music sounds like," says DJ Kayslay, one of the scene's biggest players. "If a new artist is on mix tapes and starts to spread like a disease through the neighborhoods, people will buy the album, because they've already heard the material."
In addition to Budden and 50, mix tapes have broken artists from Jay-Z to Mase. "It's always been a platform for artists to get their start," says New York's DJ Envy. "Anyplace where urban people shop, you'll find somebody selling mix tapes." Consequently, the mixes also bring notoriety for the DJs who make them: Big Mike, Envy, Lazy K, Whoo Kid and Absolut are semi-celebrities in their own right. Though one DJ estimates that a hugely successful mix tape may sell 60,000 copies, those sales do not bring in much money for the DJ. Many sell their discs for between two and six dollars to vendors, who mark it up to anywhere from five to ten dollars and stand to make the biggest profits. "You use it as a tool to build your name," says Envy. "That gets you gigs DJ'ing at parties and shows. I DJ'd for Foxy Brown on tour, and the mix tapes were a steppingstone that got me my Hot 97 [radio] gig." Like Envy, popular mix DJs end up with their own record contracts, radio gigs or jobs producing albums. "The DJ's popularity has elevated to a different level," says Crespo.
"DJ'ing was something we didn't get props for back in the day," says Kayslay, who released his first legitimate album, The Streetsweeper Vol. 1, in May, on Columbia Records. "Back then, there was no artwork, no track list. The tape was just for your personal use."
Toliver started DJ'ing for similar reasons. "I got tired of listening to the radio," she says. "They was always playing all the commercial stuff. Making tapes was a hobby. I loved the freedom in it -- nobody telling you "play this," "don't play the curses." Mix tapes help you keep up with what's going on in the streets -- who hates who, who likes who."
The tracks that make their way to mix tapes are generally more hard-hitting than what you hear in the clubs, primarily because they are the terrain for battle raps like the recent volley between Eminem and Ja Rule that surfaced on Green Lantern's Conspiracy Theory. Over the years, legendary feuds between Biggie and Tupac, Nas and Jay-Z, LL Cool J and Canibus, and many others have played out on these street releases.
"Hip-hop was based on beefs," says Crespo. "And the mix tape has become the arena for the gladiators to get in. You go to the studio tonight and give it to Kayslay tomorrow, and by Saturday it will be on the street. And everybody who's cool on the streets will know."
But as the mainstream music business gets more and more involved with the mix-tape scene, some DJs worry that the format will suffer. "You got these A&Rs or CEOs like, 'I'm gonna give you the DMX record, but I need you to play Joe Blow, as well,' " says Kayslay. "It's all politics, unless you got direct contact with the artists."
"When CDs first came out, I was selling my masters and making my money back by doing a party," says Lazy K, who recently signed a record deal with Murda Mami Entertainment. "You was proud to grab a mix tape and put it in your car and drive around the block like, 'Nobody else got this.' Now the market is flooded. Signed rappers, record companies, clothing stores, sneaker companies: Anyone who wants to get street buzz puts out a mix tape. I never knew mix tapes would turn like this, but I'm not mad. Now I feel like I'm not just a DJ, I'm somebody."
(July 8, 2003)