I am the owner of Arismixtapes.com. I am also a certified expert in hip-hop music & lifestyle.
Welcome! I am Ari, the owner of Arismixtapes.com. I have been a huge fan of Hip-Hop and R&B for well over 20 years now. I have listened to pretty much every big hip-hop release there has been, from No Limit to The Hot Boys, from Cypress Hill and Public Enemy and House Of Pain to Gucci Mane, Young Jeezy, Slim Thug, Chamillionaire and Ace Hood. I constantly read Internet reviews of mixtapes by people who have no idea what they are talking about, and I wonder if they even actually heard the mixtape. Many times they paid someone else to write the blog posts, and so it is spammy and manufactured. I wanted to write some real posts, real reviews, and hear people’s comments on them. I love talking to people about hip-hop: that’s why I do what I do and why I am in the business that I am in.
Mixtapes have been around since the days of early New York hip-hop. Back when Eric B and Rakim were new, as well as LL Cool J and Doo Wop, mixtapes were made on actual cassette tapes and sold at live shows. NY hustlers would many times throw the DJ $500 or so to have their name “dropped”(or shouted out) on the mixtape, which gave them instant hood notoriety. These early mixtapes featured mostly unheard music and were instrumental in helping hip-hop really get started.
More than ten years later, DJ Clue was the first DJ to release a mixtape in a compact disc format, and he single-handedly revolutionized the game. Once that happened, DJ’s started to release all mixtapes in the CD format. Over the coming years, huge careers would be built by DJ’s who used mixtapes to build their legacy. DJ’s like DJ Drama, DJ Green Lantern, DJ Smallz, DJ 007 and DJ Big Mike have become world-known from their talented mixtape skills.
Mixtapes are not only for the DJ. They are the strongest tool available for breaking out a new artist to the public. 50 Cent is a great example of this. He paired up with DJ Whoo Kid to create his original G-Unit mixtape series, and those mixtapes created such an insane buzz that when his debut album dropped he went platinum in a matter of days. Artists you would have probably never heard from without mixtapes include Young Jeezy, Gucci Mane, T.I., Yo Gotti, Shawty Lo, Joe Budden, Saigon, Nicki Minaj, Drake and many more.
I have always been a huge fan of mixtapes because they bring you the rawest form of the artist. While a studio album has things that the artist must do (such as club tracks and tracks for the ladies), mixtapes just let the artist be them. The rawest, most uncut and pure tracks are always found on mixtapes. This is not to say that albums are not important. Between albums and mixtapes, you really get a great feel for who your favorite artists really are.
Please take the time to read my reviews, leave comments, drop me a line, whatever. As I said, I always enjoy conversing with people about our mutual love of all things hip-hop. Be sure to visit me at Arismixtapes.com, the number one source for the hottest official hip-hop and R&B mixtapes on the Web! Whether it is new or classic mixtapes you are looking for, we got you covered. Enjoy the blog…and keep it 100, always….
