The Art of the Hip Hop Mixtape

It's amazing how much hip hop has changed over the years, especially with the popularity of the mixtape--a MC/DJ's way of promoting themselves and helping them to either: be noticed and hopefully sign to a major label, or is used to whet the appetite of the hip hop connoisseur and excite them for their upcoming label backed, full-length release, usually dropping within months of the mixtape.  Here are a few mixtapes that I've enjoyed over the past six months, some released earlier than this and some released more recently:

Lil B I'm Gay (I'm Happy)--This cat has been releasing mixtapes like mad for the past few years, and his new one might be the one in which Lil B is no longer a rap cult figure, and may blow up the mainstream.  This track, "Unchained", is a good 'un.

J Cole Friday Night Lights--I'm pumped for J Cole's full-length to drop, possibly in the Fall of 2011 on Jay-Z's label.   In the meantime, his latest mixtape release was Friday Night Lights, which honestly sounds less than a mixtape and more like a full-length, as it's well put-together.  

Jay Electronica What the F*** is a Jay Electronica?--Love his style, his raps over Dilla beats.  Jay has some great mixtapes out there.  The question is, will he ever drop the full-length in our lifetime?  He's been signed with Jay-Z over a few years now, and his cult following are beginning to get increasingly impatient.  I dig this track, "So What You're Saying", over a bumping Dilla beat.