BOOTLEG THIS JOURNAL 1 2 WORDS.BEATS.LIFE From Party Tape to MP3 Download: also in this issue: 8A Cultural History of the Mixtape Mixtape Inc. and the Definitive Incorporation by nick schonberger 14 of Dissent Culture By Jared A. Ball, Ph.D Lights, Camera, Social Action!: 16Ten Media Makers You Should Know Scruples by martha diaz 21 By Joe Young Freemix Radio: True Patroits: Senegal’s Voice of 38The Mixtape as Emancipitory Journalism 22 Dissent By. Jarad A. Ball, Ph.D By Yahsmin Mayaan Binti BoBo The Ellis Report: 58Screw Vs. Clue QD3 Interview By Jason Nichols 30By Nick Schonberger Featured Visual Artist: 60Pen And Pixel The Bootleg Interview By Gary Warnett Introduction By Zach Leffers 48 Art Under Pressure: 62Kid Gets Busy,The Untold Story of DJ OSO FRESH Mixtape and Insurgent Economies: By Cory Stowers 54Piracy and the Struggle Against Urban Dispossession Bumrush The Boards 68 By Mazi Mutafa and Lester Walace By Robert Choflet

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BOOTLEG THIS JOURNAL 3 STAFF DIRECTORY

Executive Director- Mazi Muatfa Editor-in-Chief- Jason Nichols Assistant Managing Editor-Nicholas Schonberger Director of Curriculum Development- Karlena Walker Marketing Assistant- Lester “2Tone Jones” Wallace Editor- Jovette Gadson Editor- Yahsmin Mayaan Binti Bobo Editor-at-Large- Jared Ball, Ph.D Copy Editor- Eric Berlin Copy Editor- Luci Murphy Art Director- Cory L. Stowers Graphic Designer- Katrina Paz-Stowers Staff Photographer- Apoxy One Staff Photographer- Terri Memolo Staff Illustrator - Jason Philp

Editor-at-Large- Martha Diaz CONTRIBUTORS Jared Ball is a professor of Communication at Morgan State University and an independent journalist. He is the host of a radio program on 89.3 FM WPFW Washington and the creator of Freemix Radio: The Original Mixtape Radio Show. He recently ran to be nominated for president in the Green Party.

Martha Diaz is a renown hip-hop educator, organizer, and ambassador of the culture, with over ten years of media production experience. She serves as president of the Hip Hop Association and producer of the H2O International Film Festival and the Hip Hop Education Summit.

Bob Choflet is an experienced activist, educator, and scholar. He is currently working towards a Doctorate in American Studies at the University of Maryland, where he also teaches in the African American Studies Department.

Eric Berlin has a BA from Harvard University and an MFA in both Sculpture and Creative Writing. He has edited for EditAvenue.com and The WritingDocs.com, as well as taught within the SUNY system.

Gary Warnett works for Crooked Tongues and writes on contemporary material culture. He currently resides in London

Joe Young is a cartoonist and runs the Hartford Animation Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Hartford. (see article for more information) PATRONS EC Commission on the Arts & Humanities Meyer Foundation DC Children & Youth Investment Trust Corporation Hitachi Foundation Zerodivide Global Fund for Children Scion Executive Office of the Mayor of Washington, DC England Family Foundation Marcus Skelton Mark Lawrence Holly Bass Esther Coleman Patrick Washington

4 WORDS.BEATS.LIFE BOOTLEG THIS JOURNAL 5 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Practitioners of the culture of hip- Martha Diaz, artistic co-editor at We also conducted an informative hop have always found ways to bypass large, also highlights films that fall interview with an admitted and and undermine the accepted means of under the aforementioned resistive unapologetic “bootlegger” who pursuing capital. DJs created mixtapes, framework in “Lights Camera, Social unequivocally disagrees with the very which grew to be amalgamations of Action.” concept of intellectual property. His exclusive songs and freestyles and interview can be juxtaposed with were distributed through hand to True Patriots by Yahsmin Mayaan QD3, an established filmmaker with hand sales and mom & pop stores. Binti Bobo profiles Ben Herson and whom we spoke, who has produced Technology has only assisted efforts his work in Dakar, Senegal. She commercial documentaries and a series to circumvent the record industry’s presents the reader with an alternative, for BET entitled Beef. established infrastructure with the positive view of the result of hip-hop advent of file sharing. In this sense, being globalized, one that greatly The Words Beats & Life Global mixtapes and certainly bootlegging differs from what you may have seen Journal of Hip-Hop Culture has are subversive to a capitalist system. in Hip Hop Colony. In Dakar, hip- always featured some of the strongest To maintain control of the flow of hop is having a major influence over hip-hop related artwork and this issue capital, the recording and film industry electoral politics. Senegalese rappers is no different. Cory Stowers provides has done all within its power to create are patriotic yet see that dissent and a profile of a Washington, D.C. a hegemony surrounding the mixtape, knowledge of the political process are graffiti legend and mixtape pioneer and quell bootlegging and piracy of the strongest expressions of love for DJ Oso Fresh. The photographs that movies. Bootleg This Journal will ones country. accompany this piece tell a story of historicize and contextualize many child with a passion for music and art, aspects of hip-hop’s underground Bob Choflet relates mixtapes and which found hip-hop to be the perfect economy. piracy to the transformation of urban vehicle to carry his expression. spaces in his piece, “Mixtape and Nick Schonberger fills a void in hip- Insurgent Economies”. Focusing The staff of the WBL Journal is proud hop scholarship with “From Party Tape primarily on the fast-changing, of the issue, not only because we have to MP3: A Cultural History of the much maligned community of carried on the tradition of the strong Mixtape.” Schonberger investigates West Baltimore, he shows how as scholarship and artwork, but also primary and secondary documents, communities diversify economically, because we feel that our contributors documentaries, and does interviews they are policed more stringently, and we have broken new ground in with hip-hop’s pioneering DJ. which includes the sale of pirated the intellectual terrain. Never before material. Baltimore’s flea markets has anyone done a more thorough The scholar co-editor at Large for this have seen people lead off in cuffs, while investigation of mixtapes, bootleggin issue, Jared Ball, contributes both an bootlegged merchandise is seized. and piracy, examining the issues from excellent review of the documentary Control over media outlets is essential such diverse angles. A work like this Mixtapes inc. entitled “Mixtape Inc to maintenance of hegemonic control. would be difficult to duplicate, even by and the Definitive Incorporation After reading Ball, Bobo, and Choflet the craftiest bootlegger. of Dissent Culture” and an article in tandem, one can clearly see the explaining the revolutionary potential purpose behind policing underground of the hip-hop mixtape called “Freemix distribution networks, for they can Radio: the Mixtape as Emancipitory spawn powerful political movements. Journalism.” The later piece puts The fact that so many of the pieces African media resistance in historical within this issue are in conversation context and discusses how the hip- and dialogue with one another is one hop mixtape can inform the public and the facets I am most proud of. Bootleg Jason Nichols result in material transformation for This Journal may very well be our Editor-in-Chief oppressed peoples. most consistent issue to date.

66 WORDS.BEATS.LIFE CALL FOR SUBMITTIONS

Many have stated that sex sells with regard to commodities, including hip-hop culture. In recent years, however, the sex and hip-hop industries have forged a symbiotic relationship. Rappers have used strip clubs, for instance, to premier records and circumvent mainstream radio payola.

Conversely, the porn industry has employed rappers to promote their DVDs and websites. The links between the sex industry and hip-hop can result in both exploitation and fiscal empowerment of the labors of both. Traditionally, hip- hop scholarship and commentary has focused on the misogynist and sexist nature of the cultural product. Debates, ranging from the treatment of the video girl to Nelly’s “Tip Drill,” have characterized the way the community most effectively discusses sex.

For the forthcoming issue, “Sex and Hip-Hop Beyond Misogyny,” the Words Beats and Life Global Journal of Hip-Hop invites scholars, students, and practitioners to submit papers related to the above issues and nuanced takes on gender and sexuality within hip-hop culture. Topics may include sex trafficking, sexual education, hip-hop and sex in film and literature, queer hip-hop, boyhood and girlhood, and representations of the body. We hope to push ideas about sex and hip-hop beyond simple investigations of misogyny. Submissions of 3-5,000 words are accepted via email to journalstaff@ wblinc.org or mail to Words Beats Life, 1525 Newton Street NW, Washington, DC 20010. All submissions are accepted on a continuous basis and need not be limited to the themes outlined.

All submissions designated as scholarly require an abstract of 150 words or less and up to five key words to accompany submission.

All scholarly submissions should also follow the APA style guide.

Submission Formats

Research Papers 3,000 Words Essays 1,500 Editorials 1,500 Short Stories 3,500 Lyrics 150-300 words Featured Poet 150-300 words (3 poems, Bio & Photo) Featured Artist PDF or JPEG (5-7 pieces, bio & photo) Scholarly Reviews 2,000 words (albums, books & films) Interviews 1,500 words.

The cover art is an interpretation of the mixtape as currency. In the world of ABOUT THE ART hip-hop the mixtape is product, and for the artist, record companies and the bootleggers product equals money. In that respect the art in this issue of the journal reflects the industries change in format over the last fifteen years of technological advancements.

In the first article From Party Tapes to MP3 we are pleased to show you the work of 45ipodcases.com who reuse cassette tapes and vinyl 45 records and convert them into cases for ipods.

Photographic interpretation of the bootlegging industry is brought to life through the lens of Apoxy One, his photos appear in two articles, as well as the interior front cover.

Terri Memelo a photographer who’s work has been printed in many publications including the critically acclaimed SWINDLE contributes with a candid shot of DJ OSO FRESH perusing the bins at DJ HUT. The interior back cover is a photo from Cory Stowers the journal’ds Art Director.

Correction : The photographs of Amir Sulliman in our previous issue were supplied by Nyimah Byrd

BOOTLEGBOOTLEG THISTHIS JOURNALJOURNAL 77 88 WORDS.BEATS.LIFE he history of Hip-Hop’s recorded sound commonly neglects the important subset of the mixtape.1 These mixtapes2 represent an evolving take on direct-to-consumer product, and they track trends and innovations T at startling speed. In the popular vernacular, a ‘mix tape’ exists most simply as a set of songs selected and compiled for lovers, road trips, or just to pass the time. Hip-Hop focused this effort into a marketable skill and vital component of spreading and sustaining the culture.

As a valuable tool for cultural hip-hop industry (e.g., 50 Cent, Snoop, Mixtape: A Case Study in Emancipatory dissemination, the mixtape’s growth Puff Daddy), Reid effectively assessed Journalism,” compliments Maher’s and development presents a profitable the underlying pulse of mixtape beliefs.5 Ball places the mixtape lens through which to explore the culture. A brief section of the feature in a continuum of self-promoted expansion of hip-hop culture at large. relays the basic history of mixtapes and produced press concerns by Formulating a singular definition for and how they developed from party historically marginalized groups. Like the mixtape has its pitfalls though. A set dubs into a major marketing tool. the newspapers of abolitionists and multitude of options exists for the DJ, While Reid covers the important basics suffragists, the mixtape creates an or host, within this seemingly small of mixtapes, there are only brief nods outlet for discussion and dialogue for genre. One option is the blend tape, to the technological changes and the groups that are seemingly shut out of which features acapellas placed atop underground/over-ground dichotomy the mainstream press. Both Maher and the beat of a different song. Commonly, inherent to hip-hop promotion and Ball champion the ability of mixtapes blends utilize R&B vocals over hip- success. Reid’s work has laid the to circumnavigate mainstream hop beats, but the blend has given way groundwork for academic research media, which, beyond their political to the ‘mash up’, which incorporates a and provides inroads to fertile inquiry assertions, also grants agency to the greater breadth of musical selection. into the marketing, production, and promotion of an individual’s self- Freestyle and “exclusive” mixtapes offer dissemination of a music that has determination. Jason Peterson argues a series of first-run songs and verses. many hands in the final product. against Meher, suggesting that the At heart, the mixtape is a document political potency of Dead Prez’s of hip-hop’s growth and progression As mentioned briefly above, scholarly lyrics remains the same regardless (and digression), as well as the latest attention to the mixtape has been of the production of the material modes and styles. In theory, mixtapes relatively slim. The major tracts of (i.e., whether on a mixtape or major relay the truest articulations of rap the slowly developing hip-hop studies label release).6 In doing so, Peterson music’s value systems, offering the cannon reflect minimally on the uncovers a fundamental quandary in rawest and purest form of the music. mixtape, though a few scholars have the mixtape world: do they actually do This essay functions as a working focused their attentions on the practical what they purport to do? At the most history of the mixtape, taking stock application of mixtapes as counters general level, in generating buzz and of previous scholarship and pointing to the music industry. In two cases, creative capital for artists, mixtapes out the essential trends and figures this focus centers on the politically- assuredly work, but while the mixtape in the mixtape market. Beginning driven duo Dead Prez. In “Brechtian can certainly provide an avenue for with a historiograpical sketch of key Hip-Hop: Didactics and Self-Production the free dissemination of thought and scholarship, the essay builds through in Post-Gangsta Political Mixtapes,” discussion, the effectiveness of such a an account of the evolution of the George Ciccariello Maher argues that venture remains underdeveloped. mixtape from party tape to MP3 they are well-suited for “rap’s organic format, primarily focusing on that intellectuals” wishing to escape the Having briefly situated the mixtape spiritual center of the culture, New constraints of the music industry in prior scholarship, this essay strives York City. and push political and moralistic to better locate the form within a agendas.4 Maher effectively advances historical timeline and as it relates To date, the most valuable resource for the study of rap music beyond simple to technological advances in both scholars investigating the mixtape has aesthetic approaches, working the recording and compiling the end been Shaheem Reid’s feature “Mixtapes: output of Dead Prez through Brecht’s product. Tracing the development of The Other Music Industry” (2003) for theory. The emphasis Maher places the mixtape from the party tapes of MTV.3 Reid focused primarily on the on the usefulness of the mixtape as the 1970s to the MP3 download of mixtape as underground promotion, pedagogical platform falls in line with today introduces the major figures, as both ancillary and substitute for the the most progressive scholarship trends, and developments in this industry at large up until 2003. With on mixtapes. Also completed in most vital component of the culture. interviews from focal members of the 2005, Jared Ball’s dissertation “The Mixtapes question the breakdown

BOOTLEG THIS JOURNAL 99 and function of the culture’s core an ample pair of shoulders.”7 In one fell I was going to Rice High school, 124th elements. Understanding how roles swoop, technology quickly influenced Street in Harlem, and all through my are redefined by the mixtape helps the way hip-hop was consumed and school, tapes was flowing the way albums to contextualize internal debates provided a longstanding symbol of would flow and records would sell within the community (here I am street culture, the boom box. Clearly, today. Tape of Zulu Nation live at the talking about what really constitutes records and turntables remained Bronx, tape of this guy at the Audubon a DJ). The adaptability of the mixtape central (as they still do) to hip-hop Ballroom, tape of Hollywood… One day (following a general definition) to culture. Records continued to fuel this guy’s playing these MCs on the box multiple platforms and technologies how music reached consumers—a fact and… they’re not just rapping—they’re underscores the hip-hop community’s easily recognizable in mixtapes. singing the melodies of hits, over ability to react quickly and ably to Aerosmith, over all my favorite records, changes in recorded sound and avenues With the tools for playback becoming the most incredible thing I ever heard – for dissemination. Intertwined in both increasingly available, party tapes and better than everybody. I had to save up $9 the general and technological history mixes were readily reproduced and so I could buy that tape from the guy who of the mixtape is the varying purpose distributed, beginning in the local was selling it in school. I had to wait in of the product. Mixtapes can, and New York area and spreading the new line for almost a month and a half before often do, circumnavigate the industrial sound of hip-hop across the globe. I got mine, but I paid my $9 for that tape. process of radio and major label Mobile culture played an enormous And I took it home, and it was a tape of dissemination, as eloquently examined role in developing an audience for the the Cold Crush 4 verses the Fantastic 5 at by Ball and Maher. They also offer a early mixtapes, with cab companies Harlem World. I heard Kurtis Blow live venue for the promotion of an artist/ forming a ready vehicle for promoting and Grandmaster Flash live at the Rush rapper, DJ, or even a specific product. a DJ’s material.8 Grandmaster Flash parties. I heard all those tapes of Love Mixtapes generate buzz on several recalls selling both recordings of his Bug Starski and all that. But I never levels and are often an efficient avenue live shows and tapes that had been heard MCs, crews of MCs, not just one for the pseudo-organic linking of customized for clients as early as 1973. and two, but four and five with two DJs artists and corporate entities. As such, Flash credits himself, Kool Herc, and battling it out for supremacy. I was like, the term itself lends to discussion of Africa Bambaataa as the mixtape “Oh my god, what’s going on here?”11 how the vernacular hip-hop language pioneers, and Brucie B similarly plays a role in establishing product deserves strong mention.9 In his recollection, DMC captures identity. Combining the two most the excitement surrounding the commercially exploited elements of During the nascent years of the emergence of new sounds and styles. the culture (i.e., the MC and the DJ), mixtape trade, consumers purchased The patient fervor contained in his analysis of the mixtape uncovers a cassettes directly from the artists brief anecdote expresses the power multi-layered web of associations that themselves and also from record shops. of mixtapes to serve as the pulse focus the complicated relationship Alongside commercially manufactured of hip-hop and the viral messenger between hip-hop’s underground core LPs, party dubs sat happily as another of the culture. Through the early and corporate viability. customer option. Hip-hop certainly was tapes, people across the globe and, as not the first and only genre to benefit DMC demonstrates, even just a few There is no mistaking the central from sharing sounds and extending miles away, could consume (though role of the DJ in the early growth the ephemeral nature of the party secondhand) the changing musical of Bronx-bred hip-hop culture. In or concert. The distribution of party landscape. Through tapes, DMC the early days, turntable pioneers dubs sets a precedent and opens a ready shaped a cognitive framework for employed different approaches, but market for the eventual development understanding what he heard. they certainly did not sift themselves of the true mixtape.10 With networks into minute subcategories. What for sale and an understanding of the Thurston Moore, in his introduction they did do was recognize almost growing hip-hop aesthetic forming, to MixTapes: The Art of Cassette immediately that they had something tapes were set to become the driving Culture, describes Delancey Street as that people wanted and figured out how force for the spread of the culture. At the epicenter of hip-hop sounds and to cater to demand. Serendipitously, first, obviously, the hip-hop mixes and fashions in his version of New York. hip-hop culture blossomed alongside mixtapes showcased the manipulation He writes, “Hip-hop mix tapes, sold a major boon to home audio, the of break beats and records of pre- on cardboard tables, began to head a cassette tape. As music journalist existing musical genres. Gradually, as value system dictated by whomever Mark Coleman writes, “The handheld hip-hop’s musical form, Rap, developed, compiled the tracks. To me, the most transistor radio of the sixties was the scope of the mixtape became more interesting ones were the tapes made replaced in the seventies by the boom focused, fusing the efforts of the DJ by rappers who recorded directly box, or ghetto blaster, named in honor and the MC. to cassette and then duped copies of its marketplace. These hulking to sell.”12 Moore’s understanding rectangular compacts— including Darryl McDonald, better known as of hip-hop not withstanding, the radio, cassette player, and a pair of DMC of the seminal rap group Run importance of this observation lies in speakers in one machine—could be DMC, reflects on the buzz created his recollection of the name-driven carried like a suitcase or hoisted onto when a new tape became available: nature of the mixtape market. While

1010 WORDS.BEATS.LIFE Herc, Bambaataa and Flash made incomparable DJ skills, DJ Clue contemporary, Tony Touch, was their reputations rocking parties and introduced the standard by which especially successful in securing selling tapes as an auxiliary, DJs would mixtape DJs bridge the underground exclusives, upping the ante with his soon gain notoriety in simply putting and the mainstream. Clue’s stylistic 50 MCs compilations. All in all, the together a tape.13 innovation moved the mixtape away abilities of these respective men to from actually mixing and changed forge connections with artists and the Among the first to realize the full the definition of DJ. His mixtapes industry placed the upper echelon of potential of generating a reputation privileged and pushed exclusive mixtape DJs in a powerful position through mixing was Bronx-born material over turntable wizardry. within the rap world—tastemakers, David Anthony Love. As DJ Kid Oliver Wang astutely notes that and ultimately, also the key guides Capri, Love fostered a large following Clue’s style and his penchant for in many artists’ development. They by selling party mixes from his night showcasing brand new songs themselves recognize their work gig at Manhattan’s Studio 54. In this “profoundly transformed the role of as akin to the outdated mode of the venture, he did not deviate far from the DJs from archivists to oracles.”17 A&R. hip-hop pioneers, but his innovations as Perhaps “oracle” is too strong a word, a turntablist, coupled with the breadth but undoubtedly the influence of Aside from the New York-influenced and scope of where this took him. Capri Clue brought DJs away from picking mixtapes, regional variations have was the first DJ tapped by the industry and choosing their favorite songs to flourished and made a significant to transfer his skills to a major release. becoming the industry’s preferred mark on hip-hop’s aural development. In 1991, The Tape highlighted Capri’s avenue for debuting new material. Oozing from the streets of Houston, studio proficiency and ability to string Along with this new pedestal, Clue Screw (also known as chopped and together an eclectic array of sounds.14 followed Capri’s mic technique, building slowed) music, popularized by DJ As Bobbitto Garcia recalls, Capri was his voice to ensure that all listeners Screw, was made national by the the genre’s first star. were aware of who was responsible surge of Houston MCs that reached for the mix. The shouts and phrases mainstream fame in 2005. Slowing Kid Capri, similar to Rock Steady, didn’t emanating from the DJs serve as aural the pitch of the record, DJ Screw invent the art form, but took it to another watermarks on exclusive material. DJ re-imagined the songs of prominent level. He was the first dude that blew Clue was the first mixtape architect national and local artists alike, infusing up nationwide, and internationally for to transfer his works completely from the tracks with a syrupy slow pace mixtapes. I heard that he would tape his cassette to CD.18 matching the city’s climate.19 Like the sets and sell them right there in the club. taxi cabs of New York decades before, When people talk about the greatest DJs Murray Foreman discusses the Houston’s car culture played a vital role of all time, I always think of Capri dilemma faced within both hip-hop in spreading Screw’s sound around the first. The reason I say that is because culture and the recording industry city and making it the primary mode Capri had everything. He could blend, he in his The ’Hood Comes First. He of mixtape in the region. Mobile had records, he had the whole mic thing, focused attention on the slow but sure culture helped propel an underground that is a thing that other DJs emulate. acculturation to the CD by consumers, sound, an example of mixtape as To this day, I’ll hear mixtapes and think mentioning that CDs begin to factor radio alternative in action, not only that dude sounds like Capri. The whole into hip-hop releases by 1988 and building recognition for Screw, but an vocal style and tone. He was the first big that, by 1991, the industry had almost entire generation of Houston rappers. mixtape phenomenon, the first to get a entirely jumped format. Unlike the Screw found himself in demand, and record deal off the popularity of his cassette tape, which did not threaten his story is an odd amalgam of the mixtapes.15 the manufacture of the LP per se, the trajectory of New York mixtape DJs. CD did drive a fear among hip-hop Following the trend paved by New Capri’s style and success set the stage denizens that the article traditionally York mixtape DJs, Screw followed his for a new breed of mix stars in by driving the market would perish, and homemade tapes with a minor series the middle of the 1990s. DJ Clue, with it, the traditional sense of the DJ. of officially released mixes on CD. Funkmaster Flex and Tony Touch What is not discussed is how DJs like The 3 ‘N the Mornin’ series (part one have become household names in the Clue manipulated the new format to was released in 1995, with part two hip-hop universe.16 These figures increase range and stature. This is ripe coming the following year) featured help to firmly establish a regional for further inquiry, but at this point, it one disc of nationally known and mixtape hierarchy and continue to is worth mentioning that while there classic songs given the chopped and expand the power of the mix to were negative opinions of the CD in screwed treatment and a second disc spread new names and sounds from hip-hop circles, the potential to gain focusing on Texas rappers. Screw put New York’s individual neighborhoods from a new format was also perceived out a third CD, titled All Work, No to the constantly expanding base of and seized. Play, showcasing his Screwed up Click listeners worldwide. in 1999.20 Clue influenced a wave of trend- If Capri set a lasting standard for spotting DJs that followed his general incorporating an infallible ear with model of exclusives, including Kay Slay, Whoo Kid and DJ Envy. His

BOOTLEG THIS JOURNAL 1111 Unlike Clue in New York, Screw’s In the years immediately following the The critical point of Envy’s statement compositions utilized turntable launch of the mixtape awards, the hip- revolves around transferring the technology, manipulating records to hop press followed suit in recognizing mixtape from showcase to business. reach his desired intent. In traditional the contributions and accomplishments Early pioneers, from Brucie B to Capri, terms, he is more aptly described of the mixtape DJ. Stress Magazine profited from mixtape culture, but the as a DJ (in the hip-hop sense) than lead the way, releasing an issue in true potential of mixtapes to fuel and Clue, and the contrast between both 1998 simply lauding the “Rebirth of complement the growing financial men points directly to the tensions the DJ.”25 With Funkmaster Flex as viability of hip-hop was not fully inherent in the definition of a real the cover boy, the issue also focused apparent until the late 1990s. As the DJ. It seems prudent to mention that attention on P.F. Cuttin’ and Tony potential for corporate involvement most academic attention granted Touch. As a historical source, the grew, the idea of the rebirth of the DJ to DJs has focused on the subset included interviews are relatively thin not only meant a returned centrality in popularly known as turntabilists. but do hone in on the fact that, moving hip-hop culture but a completely new Attempts to legitimize the turntable toward the millennium, the skills and role as well, that of conduit between as an instrument, through both the status of the DJ found a place in other commercial product and cultural display of virtuoso performance and financial beneficial activities. authenticity. the development of musical notation Says Flex, for scratches, make this segment of Gradually, mixtapes have been hip-hop music particularly interesting I think that there’s a few more levels for incorporated as a corporate branding fodder for musicologists.21 This focus me to go as a DJ, which is what I always device. Liquor, clothing, gaming, on the more intellectualized DJ diverts wanted to do and I’m glad. Something and video companies have utilized attention from other subsets of DJs, that always pushed me, I guess, was being mixtapes to bring a youthful and notably the mixtape jock. Scholars in a group with rappers and stuff and exciting verve to their products. This recognize that while scratching I didn’t like the way the role of the DJ is the flip side to what Ball and Maher developed out of the Bronx, the full was kind of small. It’s not their fault. argue mixtapes allow. On the one realization of its possibilities rose Maybe I didn’t have a lot to offer then or hand, mixtapes are tied to corporate in the West. This may play a role in I wasn’t offered ideas. So what I wanted structure as a low-cost and brand- why, until very recently, mixtapes to do as a DJ… I didn’t look at myself building strategy, even though they were not considered very useful by as a DJ. I looked at myself as Flex who are also utilized to undercut corporate West coast artists. Additionally, the happens to be a DJ. I want to be at the avenues of distribution. From Scion academic attention and validation forefront of what I’m doing. So I took to Reebok, major companies use of DJs as musicians has complicated the DJ to another level. You know, I mixtapes to integrate their brand into what defines the DJ in hip-hop culture, always talked to other artists who had the assumed and “authentic” lifestyle spurring internal debate. MCs that talked about making albums. of a core demographic. DJ Sik-a-more So I said I’m going to make a mixed has been particularly adept at securing Perhaps in response to the “return tape. I’m going with what I know and sponsorship for his mixtapes, taking of the DJ,” and most definitely as a with what I’m good at doing and call it the level of corporate backing from method of celebrating the behind-the- a night.26 commissioned mixtapes to sponsorship scenes work of many taste-making of key practitioners.28 disc jockey’s, the Mixtape Awards were Despite the precedent set by Kid Capri, founded in 1996. Spearheaded by Justo it was not until that next generation Corporate interests were also integral Faison, the awards honor the best of of DJs that the power of the mix to transferring the mixtape to broader the mixtape genre and acknowledge yielded more than simply respect media platforms. In 1999, Philadelphia- the power of DJs to break artists and behind the decks. The nature, as seen based basketball company And1 set the tone for street-level trends.22 through Clue, of the mixtape DJ released the first of its series of The growth of the awards have come was changing, and that too brought mixtapes. The project transferred the hand in hand with the growth of tension. DJ Envy reflects on the shifts traditional mixtape to film, showing mixtapes beyond the confines of New in mixtape culture, street basketball highlights set to a York, and recipients of a Mixtape mix of increasingly exclusive tracks. Award are validated not just for their I think the climate has changed over This merger of music, film and culture contributions, but also in spirit, by the the last five years. Me, Clue, Craig G, has been one of the most successful birthplace of the art.23 DJ Envy Ron G, S&S, Grandmaster Vic, Tony branding efforts to incorporate the concisely voices his opinion of the Touch; there was a love for it, we made mixtape theme.29 Like mixtapes, the award’s importance, it a business. Nowadays, everyone is just And1 videos have moved to a disc grabbing two tape decks and CD players platform, DVD, and, as such, set in It was a great thing, he acknowledged the and making a CD, that’s not djing. motion a series of street DVD releases DJs when nobody really was. With me We really DJ, we really worked our ass modeled after both mixtapes and being a recipient of a couple awards, it’s off to make it happen. There’s a lot of magazines. Technological innovations definitely helped me out a lot, people are dudes out there that don’t even know have recently allowed for the advent of recognizing the DJ and I’m appreciative how to DJ. They couldn’t spin a record, video mixtapes with DJs manipulating of that.24 couldn’t throw a party.27 music videos into seamless mixes as

1212 WORDS.BEATS.LIFE they have done with music tracks.30 has been a primary launching pad for product. Growing exponentially since new artists, and if not technically their the Drama bust, mixtapes released As the scope and breadth of mixtapes first foray into the limelight, mixtapes direct to MP3 format increase the (musically and technologically) are now the key pieces to the career spread of new music, and also push widened, the record industry still clung puzzle. DJ Drama contextualizes 50’s the notion of straight to consumer to cassettes as a method of street- role in changing the nature of how product. Whereas bootleggers once level promotions. Throughout the mixtapes are utilized. profited off the “Promotional Only” 1990s, snippet tapes advertised future mixtape, now the whole process of releases and gave the public glimpses 50 Cent and what he did with the artist to DJ to fan is without economic of the sounds that would soon become mixtape basically killed the demo tape in middleman. In the summer of 2007, commercially available. The tapes hip-hop. 50 Cent was pretty much putting Washington DC’s Wale even set a firm were either condensed versions of out his own music on mixtapes and release date for the digital download of the album, featuring a few singles and creating his own buzz off the streets. 50 his “100 Miles and Running” mixtape, a blips of album cuts, or compilations of Cent crushed it because he basically precedent that other artists are sure to tracks from the record label at large. created a whole movement for himself Essentially, these snippet tapes had a based on the mixtapes. He didn’t go to follow. Despite now being the farthest mixtape feel about them, but forged any record label and say, here listen to removed from physicality that they ahead with the promotion of a single my demo. He made his music, gave it to have ever been, these informal releases artist. This foreshadows an eventual the streets, and the streets made him a are still referred to as ‘mixtapes’, development in the mixtape market— superstar. 31 reflecting a powerful continuity in hip- the eventual move towards utilizing hop language, and to some degree, a the informal release for explicit self- Drama’s hugely popular “Gangsta desire to connect back to origins amid promotion. Grillz,” effectively transports the New York-bred system of a rapidly changing landscape. The meteoric rise of Curtis “50 Cent mixtape development to the South, “Jackson to mainstream stardom amalgamating the DJ Clue exclusive In some respects, the transition to MP3 owes much to his manipulation and style with 50’s unrelenting individual format has done the expected. The viral redefinition of the mixtape market. promotion.32 Working on tapes for nature of hip-hop’s culture and sound While earlier, New York MCs built artists like T.I., Young Jeezy and Lil’ has only increased, and stars emerge reputations by spitting 16-bar Wayne, Drama more or less surpasses and collapse with equal rapidity. Some freestyles or proffering exclusive Clue (and his New York cohorts) as rap’s tracks on the prominent mixtapes of a premier tastemaker. Drama’s story has acts, however, have solidified legend DJ Clue, Tony Touch or Envy, 50 took reinvigorated queries related to the amidst the fickle throwaway nature of matters further into his own hands. legality of underground releases.33 digital files. In a recent review of Lil’ Beginning in 2001, after recovering In 2003, Boston-based Clinton Sparks Wayne’s performance in Newark, New from his much-publicized shooting, was working with record companies Jersey, New York Times writer Keelefa Jackson took to the studio, recording to formalize the mixtape process and Sanneh sums up the current power of at a furious rate. His output, released create approval documents for song as independent mixtapes (mostly usage.34 As Drama’s arrest suggests, the MP3-based mixtape, Lil’ Wayne, compiled by Whoo Kid), reignited Sparks’ attempts have yielded no clear 25, has been a hip-hop star since his his career and helped build enormous legal route for the mixtape DJ, and the early teens, but his recent emergence momentum for the eventual release connection between label and mixtape as a virtuoso still caught some of his “debut” Get Rich or Die Trying maestro remains ambiguous. listeners by surprise. “Dedication” and (2003). “Dedication 2,” a couple of mixtapes The rise of Drama as current he made with DJ Drama, kick-started Jackson’s notable innovation on the mixtape king correlates to yet another his recent run. And despite a string mixtape circuit was the reinterpretation important shift in music technology— of guest appearances, his success is of popular songs. Rather than simply the rise of the MP3 and peer-to-peer measured in (illegal) downloads, not offering a verse over current radio file sharing. A more plausible threat radio spins. He can pack the 2,800-seat favorites, Jackson and his G-Unit to record sales than tape dubbing Newark Symphony Hall, but he still cohorts wrote full songs, completely and home CD reproduction, the MP3 has never had a Top 10 hit of his own. reframing and reforming the tracks. format allows for the faster-than- (His biggest solo single, “Go D.J.,” Stylistically, this approach follows and ever-imagined spread of localized peaked at No. 14 on Billboard’s Hot builds on the Clue model. Most of the sounds, instantly connecting artists 100 chart in 2004.) Over and over songs are technically exclusive, and to a theoretically infinite audience. again on Friday night, fans rapped and the major mark of Jackson’s mixtape Rather than fight the change, Drama sang along to things that had never career comes in the wide influence of has embraced it, becoming the self- been officially released.35 his compiling of mixtapes as more of proclaimed iPod king. an underground album than a loosely In this context, the MP3 is the associated set of songs. From 2003 to Digital mixtapes are the newest easiest of all the technological the present, the single artist mixtape form of hip-hop’s most transferable (Continued on pg. 70 )

BOOTLEG THIS JOURNAL 1313 All in all, considering the paucity of elsewhere, have everything to do with material on the subject, Walter Bell’s management of populations in need Mixtape Inc. (2006) is a strong and of control by limiting or regulating important documentation of the the distribution and content of their history and contemporary issues cultural expression. For example, the surrounding the hip-hop mixtape. absolute lies told on camera (another The modern mixtape DJs are all major contribution of this film) by interviewed and discussed – Kay- RIAA lawyer Erwin Chemerinsky, Slay, Ron G, Kid Capri, Lazy K, Envy, whose recitation of mythologies of Green Lantern and Clue. We get needing to protect artists’ copyrights all the G-Unit, 50 Cent history and is meant to: a) disguise the fact that hear from Lloyd Banks himself about few artists own their own copyright that crew’s meteoric rise, which was and fewer engage in the production of facilitated – and caused – by the mass art for money, which has never been medium of the mixtape. We even hear a primary impetus for individuals from some of the legends like Bruce becoming artistic; b) disguise that B, whose recording and distribution ownership of copyrights are mostly of his “roof-top” mixtapes is credited held by those the RIAA was formed to with initiating the phenomenon. protect, namely, the major labels and Perhaps more of the history about the not the artists themselves; c) disguise transformation of the mixtape from case of Alan Berry, a white Indiana- that copyright laws or the larger body underground to commercial enterprise based record store owner and mixtape of intellectual property laws remain is offered by the 2005 The Mixtape vendor. Berry’s business suffered an essential to managing who becomes Documentary from the late mixtape RIAA raid, which eventually led to his popular and to whom the bulk of the pioneer Just-O, but Bell’s documentary being charged with multiple counts of financial benefits go; and d) disguise is an important extension if not a copyright infringement, which carried that this is essential to the maintenance replacement. Its importance, that of an with it a potential 13-year prison of power and that limiting the ability extension, is primarily made through sentence. Confusion over an industry of oppressed communities to engage Bell’s coverage of the suppression of or law enforcement focus on mixtape in unsanctioned communication is mixtapes and the nebulous position vending led to the raising of several a paramount concern of those in they hold as both illegal contraband important (if not properly answered) power. All of this is summarized in and industry promotional tool and questions. One interviewee could not the interviewee statement that “some emcee/producer proving ground. believe that Berry would be arrested cats sell dope, and some cats sell cds.” for “just selling hip-hop music.” In each case, the contraband (whether Bell’s attempt to deal with these dope or music) is leaked or supplied to issues is this documentary’s greatest Others were confused over the those by the very agencies that will contribution. In describing (if not fully repression of a mixtape distribution later repress or lock them up. It is more detailing) the suppression of mixtapes network that was itself supported, about the oppressed communities’ by the Recording Industry Association albeit quietly, by the industry as a instability and precarious relationship of America (RIAA), the most relevant major source of free promotion of to power than anything particular to concerns – concerns far outpacing their artists. One of Berry’s mixtape hip-hop. anything specific to mixtapes – are vending compatriots was even moved raised. Even if implicitly so, these to inquire on camera, “why go to The mixtape has gone the way of any deeper issues (i.e., those involving Indiana to set an example? Why form of expression of the colonized the control and dissemination of not NYC” (where most mixtapes are and is described, implicitly perhaps, potentially threatening communication bought and sold)? in Mixtape Inc. Mixtapes, originating and methods of distribution) are as DJ “party tapes” and which were prevalent throughout. The film The reasons for this repression, the original mass medium of hip- begins almost immediately with the which are more fully developed (Continued on pg. 70 )

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