What’s the purpose of the mixtape? There really is no specific definition for a mixtape in music. It can play the role of unofficial album, street album, promotional tool/accessory to an album, a tribute to the fans, etc. It’s become such a valuable key and resource to many rappers during this modern, cyberspace world that we live in.

Now with the definition(s) given previously, what would be the problem with a mixtape? Well there are some negatives that come with those positives. The mixtape can overshadow and become more successful than the album. The artist makes very little to no money off of this music. There are some great qualities to a mixtape. Many artists like Fabolous, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent etc. use these mixtapes as a way to show love to their fans, make music the exact way they want to do it without any label interference, and mainly promote themselves.

I’m down with that and I’ve played a lot of mixtapes to death. When I heard “No Ceilings” by Wayne, I was like, “Weezy’s back,” when I heard “There is No Competition” by Fab I thought it was better than “Loso’s Way”. Same with “So Far Gone”, “Fan of a Fan”, “Enemy of the State”, and more recently “More About Nothing”. I think it’s great for the fans because we  don’t have to pay for the music and get to listen to that raw talent aspect of the artist that we knew before they blew up, or got a little bit of fame and “sold out”.

Now I put the question up for the artist- what’s the point of putting out an actual LP? To make money obviously, but really what other purpose is there to that aspect of music? If your music’s hot you sell records, and if your music’s not you don’t- so other than that why do artists make music? For the love of the game? Some do like Eminem, some we have to question like Waka Flocka.

I mean the whole purpose of making music is to make money off of your musical talents and what not. Why should we buy your music if the free stuff that these artists give us is better? I’ve heard more than a few people say” So Far Gone” was better than “Thank Me Later”, “There Is No Competition 2” was better than “Loso’s Way”, “No Ceilings” was better than “Rebirth”, “Attention: Defici”t was better than “More About Nothing”, and heck even “The Burrprint” by Gucci was better than his LP that came out last year.

These artists still make some money, but this stuff does make me wonder what’s the future of hip-hop with this now popular scheduled format of releasing music with an EP, a mixtape that get us all excited, and then the album that actually costs money is the one that is complete garbage

Rafael Canton can be reached at [email protected]. To read more from Rafael, visit his website What You Know About That .