A Mixtape Special

The mixtape. To a new listener of any given artists, it's never easy to tell when it's official, or whether it's just a bootleg that some DJ has put together.

(It's obvious, but the one key difference is quality. You know it's official when the mixtape has less of those irritating DJ shout-outs all over the tracks.)

Onto the content: Beginning with the classic mixtape tracks using other people's instrumentals. Listening to someone rap/sing over a beat that someone else released never fails to hook a listener, not least to see how they can do on a (usually) popular beat and how they fare against the original.

It offers a perfect chance for an artist to show how versatile they are and how creative they can be with someone else's beat. A fair proportion of mixtape rappers can suffer from an arrogance that they are better than mainstream guys, and for some this proves to be a way to show that they really mean it.

Of course, there is also the meat of the mixtapes, that being the original tracks. Normally, this is a proving ground for all aspiring artists using the medium of mixtape to reach audiences, and rarely will a rapper be accepted or lauded without having a solid mixtape fanbase. Although the tracks/freestyles they do over other people's beats are important, the existence of good original material is obviously the crucial step between mixtape rapper and radio play. The ability to stamp your own identity on a song is only ever going to have a total impact if the song is your own. The list of rappers to have come to the fore having built a solid mixtape fanbase is endless.

For this reason, I've been getting involved the mixtape arena for the last 8/9 months, and find myself anticipating certain mixtapes as much as albums. Not least because 95% of the time, they are legally free to download.

Therefore, from now on, I'll be posting my favourite mixtapes of recent weeks, and will post links to download them, providing they are already made available for free. These may not necessarily be new mixtapes, and could be old ones that either I hadn't heard before or simply chose to revisit.

Mixtape of the Week:

Drake-So Far Gone: http://octobersveryown.blogspot.com/2009/02/drake-so-far-gone.html

Drake is a rapper who has been heralded as the new 'Fresh Prince'. The comparison stems mainly from the fact that he has made his name on television, and is trying his hand at rapping.

That's probably where the similarity ends-Drake has a style that encompasses a wide range of other styles, from Lil' Wayne to Kid Cudi. In honesty, I feel he lies somewhere between the two.

Download the latest (and greatest IMO) mixtape from Drake at his blog (link above) and see how you feel about his potential-I expect him to do really well for himself, and haven't enjoyed a mixtape this much since A Kid Named Cudi. Expect to hear more of Drake.