Mixtapes have always been a way for artists in the hip-hop game to get noticed. Before modern technology these mixtapes where actually “tapes” and were really only available to those with hardcopies.

Nowadays, with music and the internet going hand in hand it is possible to download a plethora of mixtapes from artists as popular as Lil Wayne and as underground as Evidence. Websites like Datpiff.com and Livemixtapes.com, and hypem.com offer free, limited downloads that listeners search in vain for on iTunes and YouTube making it easy to tune into upcoming artists before the rest of the public eye.

 Granted, most of these tracks may not be up to the audio quality of an album release, they give artists a chance to show fans their true colors, something corporate music producers can’t touch. Although, some mixtapes sound really good and are sponsored or produced by successful DJ’s who have been featured on a list of successful artists.

Creativity has no limits on a mixtape that can have the background beats from another artist or group with original lyrics from another performer. Instead of waiting for the newest CD to drop it is convenient to go onto the Internet and find tracks that can change your view of an artist or reinforce why you enjoyed listening to them from the start.

While the music industry becomes more competitive and artists need a popular producer like Kanye or Weezey to make it big it is refreshing to hear homemade tracks from underground lyricists. Typically these artists music has more of a flow and heart, seeing as they are in it for the joy of creating a good song rather than having a song overplayed on the radio and poorly sung by adolescents.