Visuals

An unfinished Dilla and D'Angelo session from twenty years ago, completed and released on Dillagence II in 2026. The tribute lineage MICK started with a mixtape in 2007 is still being written.

Collector Spotlight · Issue #04 — September 15, 2026

MICK: Rebrands Are Important

The hit that came right after this tape. DJ Scream hosted Shawty Lo's introduction as a solo voice on I'm Da Man; "Dey Know" is what turned him into a household name.

Archive · Atlanta Hip-Hop — September 11, 2026

DJ Scream Presents Shawty Lo: I'm Da Man

One of the singles off Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. RZA on the boards, Ghostface and Method Man trading verses alongside Raekwon. From the 1995 debut, now on purple vinyl in the archive.

Archive · September 10, 2026

Four Debuts That Built Four Different Corners of Hip-Hop

RANE sits with DJ Skee on why he never built a career on standard club sets. From a 4 a.m. radio slot in Minneapolis to being the first to play Kendrick, Gaga, and Post Malone, the whole path was doing what the standard wasn't.

Collector Spotlight · Issue #03 — September 8, 2026

DJ Skee: Nostalgia Is the Most Powerful Drug in the World

Lupe Fiasco, in his own words, breaking down the Fahrenheit 1/15 series and the mixtape run that came before anyone outside Chicago knew his name.

Archive · Chicago — September 7, 2026

Fahrenheit 1/15, Part I: The Truth Is Among Us

The Low End Theory closer. Spike Lee, De La Soul, Brand Nubian, and Redman turn up in the video, and Busta Rhymes walks out of it a star.

Archive · Queens — September 3, 2026

How Queensbridge and Linden Boulevard Rewrote the Rules

Her own cuts, pressed. "Culture Cypher," from Albizu's Revenge, straight from her own feed.

Collector Spotlight · Issue #02 — September 1, 2026

DJ Perly: Leave It All on the Stage

The 1991 original. The record this entire mixtape series was built to honor, one more time, every summer.

Archive · Soul & R&B — August 24, 2026

Summertime, Vol. 1

The Game and DJ Skee sit down on SKEE LIVE to talk through "300 Bars & Runnin'," the rest of their mixtape run together, and what the G-Unit beef actually looked like from the inside.

Archive · The Game — August 21, 2026

You Know What It Is, Vol. 3

The farewell tour recap, straight from the Clan's own channel. Wu-Tang Forever: The Final Chamber ran through the UK, Europe, Dubai, and Australia, with a city-specific Black Samson picture disc sold at nearly every stop.

Culture · Wu-Tang Clan — August 17, 2026

Wu-Tang Just Said Goodbye

Director Kenneth Wynn's documentary on Proud2Pay, Nipsey's campaign to sell 1,000 physical copies of Crenshaw for $100 each. He sold out in a day, then gave the tape away free anyway.

Archive · Nipsey Hussle — August 3, 2026

Crenshaw

The song most people point to first from Blue Chips 2. Party Supplies flipping a sample most rappers wouldn't touch, Bronson and Big Body Bes rapping like they had nothing to prove.

Archive · Action Bronson — July 31, 2026

Blue Chips 2

Directed by Coodie & Chike, released as part of The College Dropout Video Anthology in 2005. The song started life as a snippet on I'm Good..., Kanye's 2003 producer's-audition mixtape, before becoming a finished album track.

Archive · Kanye West — July 29, 2026

I'm Good...

Conway didn't announce this one, he posted a freestyle and let the internet do the rest. Fifteen tracks, hosted start to finish by DJ Whoo Kid, out through Laylo instead of streaming.

Culture · Conway The Machine — July 27, 2026

The Tape You Can't Stream: Conway The Machine, DJ Whoo Kid, and Griselda's Bigger Moment

De La Soul's Tiny Desk Concert, released March 3, 2026 on De La Soul Day. Posdnuos and Maseo perform Cabin in the Sky material alongside Stakes Is High, Breakadawn, and Me Myself and I, with Dave's vocals woven through the set.

Archive · De La Soul — July 17, 2026

Killing the Daisy: How De La Soul Refused to Be Anyone's Hippies

The single the whole tribute measures twenty years against. Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad both appear in the 1989 video, the same Native Tongues thread that runs through Phife Dawg's verse on Le Da Soul two decades later.

Archive · De La Soul — July 17, 2026

Le Da Soul (20 Years of De La Soul)

Rob Markman was in the building all three nights. His night one recap, the first of the series, is part of how those of us watching from outside pieced the weekend together.

Culture · Jay-Z — July 14, 2026

The Whole City Was There: Three Nights of Jay-Z at Yankee Stadium

The record the whole story runs through. Havoc built it in a Queensbridge bedroom, Prodigy delivered it cold, and thirty years later nothing else sounds like it.

Archive · Mobb Deep — July 13, 2026

From Shook Ones to Infinite: The Mobb Deep Story

Scarface tells the Rap-A-Lot story in his own words. The Geto Boys, Def Jam South, and a Houston career built on independence, the same independence that runs through The Diary.

Archive · Scarface — July 6, 2026

Houston's Griot: How Scarface Made The Diary

The emotional center of The Diary. Scarface narrates a man's death and the moment after it, one of the most profound meditations on mortality rap has produced. The 40th anniversary 2xLP is in the shop now.

Archive · Scarface — July 6, 2026

Houston's Griot: How Scarface Made The Diary

The most-streamed record on Dreamchasers 3, Meek Mill's 2013 Gangsta Grillz blockbuster hosted by DJ Drama. Directed by Will Ngo. Stream all 16 tracks in the archive.

Archive · Meek Mill — July 2, 2026

Dreamchasers 3 (Hosted by DJ Drama)

The lead single from Hell Hath No Fury in 2006, the album Jive finally released after We Got It 4 Cheap Vol. 2 made the case for it. Pharrell on the hook, the same chemistry that built the tape in his guest rooms.

Archive · Clipse — June 25, 2026

We Got It 4 Cheap, Vol. 2

The record that turned local Memphis buzz into a national look, later anchored on King of Memphis. No label, no machine, just Dolph telling the story his way.

Archive · Young Dolph — June 24, 2026

Paper Route: How Dolph Built His Own Empire

DJ Drama breaks down how three Philly kids in Atlanta turned the hosted mixtape into Gangsta Grillz, and how the format built careers for Lil Wayne, Jeezy, and Meek Mill before the labels caught up.

Culture · June 22, 2026

DJ Drama Built the Blueprint

Queens rapper Barretta drops the official music video for not related. The Prty EP, featuring fryday, is out now on Spotify. We caught up with him for a full written interview.

Eli's Rotation · June 4, 2026

Barretta Is Not in a Race With Anybody

DJ Premier and Royce Da 5'9" put fifteen years of collaboration on one record. U Looz was on the anonymous Bad Meets Premo tape before PRhyme ever had a release date — December 2014, nine tracks, HipHopDX Album of the Year.

Archive · DJ Premier — May 26, 2026

Who Put Together Bad Meets Premo?

French Montana and Max B flip Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock on "Go Ladies" — a Bronx-to-Bronx handshake across four decades of hip-hop history. Wave Gods 2: Cosmos Brothers is out now.

Hip-Hop · French Montana — May 22, 2026

French Montana and Max B Are Keeping the Streets Alive, and They're Calling It a Mixtape

The opening statement from ICEMAN. Drake drops three albums at midnight on May 15, 2026 — forty-three songs across ICEMAN, Habibti, and Maid of Honour. Ran To Atlanta sets the tone from track one.

Archive · Drake — May 15, 2026

ICEMAN: From the Crate to the Ice

Drake sits down with MTV News in Spring 2009 coming off So Far Gone — the tape that ended the run Room for Improvement started. Three years from a free download to the biggest bidding war in the game.

Archive · Drake — May 11, 2026

Before the Ice: Drake's First Mixtape and the DJ Who Said Yes

DJ Enuff, DJ Camilo, DJ Kast One, and Lboogs go back to the beginning — Kast One on the Bronx fire escape, the LIU dorm room, the Hofstra party, and the night at Gleason's that changed his life.

Podcast · DJ Culture — May 11, 2026

They Met in College on Long Island. Now They're on Hot 97.

DJ Lonnie B brings his daughter Aliyah the DJ into the room. DJ Camilo on the international blueprint. Legacy, culture, and what this crew built — Episode 2 of the Heavy Hitter DJs Podcast.

Podcast · DJ Culture — May 5, 2026

The Heavy Hitter DJs Are Passing the Torch

DJ Enuff, DJ Camilo, DJ Kast One, and Lboogs sit down for the origin story. How the crew got its name, the night that launched DJ Kast One, and two decades of building the standard for New York DJ culture.

Podcast · DJ Culture — April 27, 2026

The Heavy Hitter DJs Finally Have a Podcast. And the Origin Story Is Everything.

Cam'ron covers the full Dipset and Roc-A-Fella era on Drink Champs — the mixtape run, the beef, Duke Da God, and how Harlem built one of the most influential crews in New York hip-hop history.

Archive · Dipset — April 20, 2026

Dipset Ran the Streets Before the Industry Knew What Hit Them

DJ Drama breaks down the Gangsta Grillz legacy, from the Aphilliates origin story to Dedication 2 and the tapes that made Lil Wayne undeniable.

Archive · April 13, 2026

Wayne Said He Was the Best Rapper Alive. Dedication 2 Was the Proof.

DJ Whoo Kid and Tony Yayo sit down with Paul Rosenberg to break down the G-Unit era from the inside. The tapes, the hustle, and the run that changed hip-hop.

Archive · April 7, 2026

Before the Album Dropped, the Tape Was Already in the Streets

Kast One, Megan Ryte, and Drewski on what it really means to live the DJ life. Straight from the Hot 97 crew — no filter.

Collector Spotlight #01 · March 24, 2026

DJ Kast One: The Crate Doesn't Lie

Christopher Wallace at 17 on the corner of Bedford Ave. Before Bad Boy, before Ready to Die, before any of it, he was already the best in the room.

Notorious B.I.G. · March 9, 2026

March 9, 1997: The Culture Never Let Him Go

The official visual for Chase B's debut mixtape. Genre-less and DJ-first, it captures the mood of a project eight years in the making.

Chase B · March 2, 2026

Chase B Just Dropped His Debut Mixtape and It's Worth Your Time

Ten MCs, one room, no filler. OTR puts the next generation of rap on camera and lets the bars do the talking.

OTR · Feb 27, 2026

OTR Just Put 10 MCs in a Room and the Culture Was Already Watching

Ghost pulls up unscripted. No hooks, no edits, just raw New York bars from one of the sharpest pens the streets ever produced.

Styles P · Feb 20, 2026

Freestyling the Streets: Styles P Reminds Us Why Mixtapes Built Hip-Hop

The video that introduced Drake to the world in 2009. Shot with a lighthearted concept, it rode the wave of So Far Gone straight into the mainstream.

Drake · Feb 13, 2026

Before Iceman: How Drake's 'So Far Gone' Proved Mixtapes Could Change Everything

A surprise drop from J. Cole timed to his birthday. Focused bars over a minimal beat, no frills, no features.

J. Cole · Feb 6, 2026

J. Cole & DJ Clue: The Mixtape Before The Fall-Off