The mixtape has run parallel to hip-hop in going from DIY demonstration to impress your mates with to dollar signed-addition to an artist’s arsenal. It’s a culture probably not taking into consideration the discipline of taping your favourite songs off the Top 40 countdown on a Sunday afternoon, to be presented to the object of your affection in the playground the next day. But it has become indispensible for prepping new material or taking a few pot shots at adversaries over familiar or random sounds. Or even better, over the beat owned by the target you’re running your mouth at – insert your own battle/foolhardy emcee here.
Regardless of falling physical sales and digital this that and the other, Paul White, someone who knows a thing or two about beats and hook-ups, thinks the mixtape is still essential currency when it comes to creating a buzz, whether it be that instant explosion of an unknown suddenly ripping a mic on their own terms over the latest hot or time-honoured instrumental, chopping up styles in unorthodox fashion so it becomes under the counter, off the cuff golddust, or simply keeping your name out there by dusting down a few gems you’ve been holding back on. Not forgetting the chance to prat about with skits, concepts and creative license that a full length LP doesn’t always afford. “I think it’s the perfect way for someone to get their own completely individual kind of approach out there, to express themselves, where they can really show their own creativity and let their personality shine through it.”
Podcasts may be overtaking the flagging DJ mix concept, although White thinks mixtapes benefit from an ambivalent, similar-but-not relationship. “A mixtape is different…mixtapes came from back when people were doing it in their bedrooms. I think it’s just really individual. I mean podcasts are an extension of that I suppose nowadays, ways of people getting their own mixes and showing what they can do, getting it out there. Back in the day from when we used dub tapes, nowadays people can just download it, sending it around to everybody, so it’s kind of an extension yet kind of the same thing.”
White names Kankick as a personal favourite ‘tape tailor, while admitting that he “never had the patience to hoard tapes – I don’t have a load”, and enthusiastically talks about his own mixtape introduction. “A Tony Touch mixtape a friend gave me, a dude who came back from the States once and gave me this amazing tape…ridiculous, stuff like Group Home and Cypress Hill. There’s still some stuff on it where I don’t know what it is. Amazing.”
While mixtapes have settled in the role of album precursor – an adaptable street-served aperitif before the stricter LP sitting – the divide and definition between the two should always be clearly marked. “They should be different. The way I started was to try to make an album in a beat tape format anyway really, but now that I’ve gone on it’s nice to have a separation. I think it’s nice to treat your beat tapes and mixtapes in one way and an album in another, It’s another chance to show something else and create maybe a more definite or clear journey or the expression of a certain something. It’s just a good chance for you to try different things, in as many expressive ways as possible. Yeah, treat ‘em different I say.” To its credit the do-it-yourself ethic has been upheld by any aspiring rhymer having access to a CD burner and a photocopier (essential items in grime’s look-at-me portfolio), though a danger has materialised of mixtapes being too much of an easy way in, a quick rep-builder without the proper ground work being done. “I hope people don’t get lazy with them, it’s a definite art and it should be treated as seriously as an album I’d say. Everything you do and put out there should be 100% from your heart. They’re just as important.”
Mixtape culture has also created a quandary that has befallen the greatest of hypes and hopefuls; where those that are absolutely hot over other people’s beats suffer from a mental block when it comes to fitting into an album formula, winning the battle yet losing the war. “If you do one you should be able to do the other” White says not unreasonably. “I think you should explore it all, go into putting mixtapes together with all your own stuff, then put an album together. I’m not sure why some can’t convert; maybe it’s just confidence, maybe they get stuck, perhaps people get bored of the thought of a big album, going around but never getting to finish something that you get caught up in because it’s such a massive thing. Don’t get too precious about it, or anything you do; if you’re into your music, just trust in yourself. If you can do a mixtape you can do a pretty decent album”.
When White’s not steadily building up his own back catalogue or getting the likes of Guilty Simpson to orchestrate transatlantic dope, he’s a beat tape fiend pledging allegiance to the Jay Dilla/Madlib school of short sharp sonic shocks. “To me with beat tapes…that’s my favourite thing to do personally. Getting really creative, where I can make little mini albums exactly how I want them, really put every bit of influence in there.” He still buys into the divide that keeps albums at arm’s length, and cannot emphasise enough how a mixtape is a window of opportunity, for both recorder and recipient. “You can do anything, there are no rules – you can put little clips of records you like, really experiment, put your wild stuff in there that you’ve been trying…It’s that chance for up and coming different projects becoming an exciting thing for the listener who gets a little glance into a few things that you’re trying at that moment. Sneak previews give the chance to really show what you can do.”
So two artforms, requiring two different set of skills. Mixtapes may act as a form of social networking, artists making guest appearances over instant messenger when accapellas won’t do, but White enjoys the physical aspect of sharing his sounds around, “making stuff just for your friends, where you give it to a few people and they give it to a few of their friends and so on and so on. It all helps.” Modern listening preferences may escalate while traditional methods dissipate, but White is sure the mixtape is here to stay. “I think there’ll always be people who find it individual and personal to them, as something they can knock up quick while potentially creating hook ups with other artists. With podcasts alongside, it’ll probably rise up and take on slightly different forms and help people, but I think it’ll continue for sure.”
Finally Mr White, were you the kind of person who would make mixtapes for friends, girlfriends or your own personal use? “Just for myself! I wasn’t confident enough back in the day to share them; I’ve still got old stuff from back in the day hidden away of mine that no-one’s heard.”
Words by Matt Oliver
