Mixtapes are often sought after as much as official releases, though many times rappers do not directly profit from their sales. Many unsigned rappers release mixtapes in hopes of gaining attention in the hip hop world and getting a recording contract with a major label.
Mixtapes started appearing in the booths of street vendors in the early 1990's and have found their way to the Internet as the information age has been ushered in. Many rappers use mixtapes to diss -- or insult -- fellow rappers, as part of the heavily competitive nature of hip hop.
Popular Rap Mixtapes
Mixtapes spread through the Internet and underground hip hop scenes as they gain recognition from fans. Many popular mixtapes are downloaded hundreds of thousands of times, sometimes surpassing the numbers of the artists record sales. 50 Cent, a New York based rapper is well known for using mixtapes to gain fame early in his career.
In 2008 50 Cent even released a free mixtape as a direct competitive move against rapper Fat Joe. This mixtape by 50 cent titled Elephant in The Sand was downloaded more times than Fat Joe's album Elephant in the Room, despite having little promotional funding.
Many other popular mixtapes star rappers such as Lil Wayne, Joe Budden, Eminem, Nas and Kanye West.
Mixtapes and Legal Issues
Most popular mixtapes made by rappers utilize beats and instrumentals that are copyrighted by other parties. Because the mixtapes are not usually sold for profit -- rather they are often released as free promotional items, the use of such instrumentals is often protected by the Fair Use portion of American copyright law.
One exception to this is in 2009 when Lil Wayne was sued for the use of a sample from the song "I Feel Like Dying"It was claimed by the copyright holder that the sample increased Lil Wayne's popularity and therefore created profit for the rapper, despite the fact that the song was not directly sold by Lil Wayne's record label -- Cash Money Records.
Sites That Offer Free Rap Mixtapes
Many websites offer free and legal mixtapes for download by the public. Some examples of sites that offer free mixtapes are Hip Hop Thugz, and Mixtape Pass. The songs are usually available for download through the use of a torrent program. Torrents allow websites to link to files without having to host the files on their severs.
Torrents also increase download speeds, as online music hosts are numerous and multiple hosts can be downloaded from at the same time.
Justen Everage - Justen Everage is a technical writer, usually writing about computer repair and networking.
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