Listen to the album, cuz it's bangin'

May 30, 2009 9:28 AM

Where can I get ahold of hip hop mixtapes?

I'm a reasonably knowledgeable hip hop fan, but every time I read about a new album, the reviewers say something to the effect of "this album is a lot better/worse than the mix tape they put out 6 months ago." How/where do I find these mix tapes? Where do I need to look?

posted by orville sash to media & arts (4 comments total)

DatPiff is a good place to start. I've picked up some great ones there.

Problem is, a lot of the time it's stuff that's just released randomly on blogs, in forums, and the like. But one good resource is, as always, del.icio.us. Example: del.icio.us/popular/mixtape - found some great stuff (and some crap). Kanye West's blog has some interesting leads from time to time but has a low signal to noise ratio.

I suspect there are also Twitter accounts that would be good to follow but have no immediate suggestions and look forward to seeing some here.. :)
posted by wackybrit at 9:41 AM on May 30

Just found HipHopDX too. Looks interesting although I can't find a way to download them - but there are some mixtapes on there nonetheless.
posted by wackybrit at 9:43 AM on May 30

Search the name of the mixtape in google with various site specific searches directed at file hosting sites, like "we got it for cheap" site:mediafire.com or site:z-share.net, etc. This is bootlegging, obviously, but hip hop mixtapes were basically made to be bootlegged, so...
posted by milarepa at 10:03 AM on May 30

If you want to buy physical copies (they're usually CD-Rs in slim cases), and you don't want to go the bodega or the swapmeet or the local indie (as in independent, not as in indie rock) record store, places like Turntable Lab, Sandbox Automatic and The Giant Peach are a good place to start.

And to build on what milarepa said, mixtape torrents are available both at the larger, more general trackers and at, hey, mixtapetorrent.com.
posted by box at 10:11 AM on May 30 [1 favorite]