You can't go looking for mixtapes like you do albums. You're gonna have to do random listening to figure out what you like. You listen to a mixtape because a) you like the rappers on it, or b) you trust the DJ who put it together.
Popular mixtape rappers:
- Saigon
- Papoose
- The Diplomats
- etc.
Popular DJs:
- Whoo Kid
- Kay Slay
- Drama
- Clue
- Big Mike
- Green Lantern
- Envy
- Smallz
- etc.
My two favorite mixtapes this year are JR Writer's (of the Diplomats)
Writer's Block, Volume 2 and Young Money's
Lil Wayne Presents Young Money: The Mixtape, Volume 1 (which you can download for free at
http://www.youngmoneyent.com/)
How did I know to pick these up? The Diplomats have consistently put out hot shit on mixtapes, and JR Writer's one of the sharpest cats in the group. When I heard he had new shit, I scooped it up. I heard Lil' Wayne (my favorite mixtape rapper - check the SQAD mixtapes,
10,000 Bars, both
Droughts, and
The Prefix) was doing a mixtape with DJ Drama, but it was taking too long so Lil' Wayne and his new group took the material they'd recorded and released it for free - so I knew to get the Young Money joint (Drama and Wayne did end up releasing a mixtape together, I haven't heard it).
Once you listen to a few mixtapes - I'm assuming you're going to pick the ones you start out with based on this thread - you'll figure out which DJs you can trust, and which rappers you think perform well on mixtapes (you really have to listen to mixtapes to figure this out - Cassidy, Fabolous, and Jadakiss aren't really giving you their best on what you seen on 106 & Park). When you hear about new mixtapes, you'll evaluate them based on who's on them and who's putting them together.
A good way to get your head up on the latest mixtapes is by going to where you can find bootlegs. If you live in the city, this could be a corner store, or a specific street where cats sell their shit, or the (black) barbershop. I generally consider buying mixtapes on the Internet a bad idea - they usually go for around $7 a pop, whereas a decent bootlegger will give you 3 mixtapes for $10. Or just download them - you don't have to worry about robbing your favorite makers of hip-hop of their money, because the mixtape game doesn't really work the same way direct album sales do.
