{"id":731862,"date":"2025-11-24T17:53:38","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T14:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=731862"},"modified":"2025-11-24T17:53:38","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T14:53:38","slug":"mixtapification-why-is-everything-a-mixtape-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=731862","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Mixtapification\u2019: Why is everything a mixtape now?"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"main-article standard \">\n<div class=\"article-main-content article-wrapper has-media-but-its-an-image\" data-status=\"loaded\" data-primary-article=\"true\" data-url=\"\/music\/article\/69115\/1\/mixtapification-why-is-everything-a-mixtape-now-doechii-drake-ceebo\" data-article-id=\"69115\">\n<header class=\"article-header has-landscape-image no-media\">\n<div class=\"wrapper dg-max-width\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<figure class=\"main-img no-figcaption\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.78\" data-template=\"Standard Article\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Untitled design (2)\" class=\"img\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1431211-1.jpg\" width=\"1600\" title=\"1431211-1\"><\/span><\/span><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"meta\">\n<div class=\"inner\"><span class=\"month\">November<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"24\">24,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2025<\/span><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"titles\">\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical - music\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\">Music<\/a><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/feature\">Feature<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h1 class=\"title\"><span>\u2018Mixtapification\u2019: Why is everything a <span class=\"nowrap\">mixtape now?<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<div class=\"standfirst\">\n<h2>Mixtapes are no longer just rough drafts \u2013 they\u2019re topping end-of-year lists, winning Grammys and redefining what it means to make music <span class=\"nowrap\">in 2025<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"month\">November<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"24\">24,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2025<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical - music\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\">Music<\/a><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/feature\">Feature<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"providers\">\n<div class=\"contributors\"><span class=\"contributor\" data-contributor-role=\"Text\"><span class=\"contributor-role\">Text<\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/solomonpacemccarrick\">Solomon Pace-McCarrick<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article-body-container\">\n<aside class=\"primary\">\n<div class=\"sticky bottom\">\n<div class=\"read-more\"><span class=\"read-more-header\">Read More<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more-items\">\n<div class=\"read-more-item vertical-film-tv\">\n<div class=\"read-more-item-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\/article\/69133\/1\/the-ice-tower-marion-cotillard-lucile-hadzihalilovic-director-interview\" class=\"article-list-item-image\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"LaTourDeGlace_Photogramme_0018\" class=\"img\" src=\"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1431364-2.jpg\" title=\"1431364-2\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more-item-content\"><a class=\"category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\">Film &amp; TV<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\/article\/69133\/1\/the-ice-tower-marion-cotillard-lucile-hadzihalilovic-director-interview\"><span class=\"title\">The Ice Tower, a dark fairytale about the dangers of obsession<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"read-more-item vertical-art-photography\">\n<div class=\"read-more-item-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/66275\/1\/31-days-in-japan-tokyo-bondage-love-hotels-sofiya-loriashvili-photographs\" class=\"article-list-item-image\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Sofiya Loriashvili, 31 days in Japan (2025)\" class=\"img\" src=\"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1404004.jpg\" title=\"1404004\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more-item-content\"><a class=\"category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\">Art &amp; Photography<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/66275\/1\/31-days-in-japan-tokyo-bondage-love-hotels-sofiya-loriashvili-photographs\"><span class=\"title\">In pictures: Sex, surrender and shibari in Tokyo\u2019s love hotels<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"read-more-item vertical-beauty\">\n<div class=\"read-more-item-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/beauty\/article\/69054\/1\/so-you-want-to-smell-like-a-cyborg\" class=\"article-list-item-image\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cyborg metallic perfumes\" class=\"img\" src=\"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1430561-20.jpg\" title=\"1430561-20\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more-item-content\"><a class=\"category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/beauty\">Beauty<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/beauty\/article\/69054\/1\/so-you-want-to-smell-like-a-cyborg\"><span class=\"title\">So you want to smell like a cyborg?<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>At the start of this year, Doechii\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Alligator Bites Never<\/span><\/em><em><span>Heal <\/span><\/em><span>won the Grammy for Best Rap Album of 2024. Later in 2025, Jim Legxacy\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Black British Music <\/span><\/em><span>was released to universal acclaim, and PinkPantheress\u2019 <em>Fancy That <\/em>was nominated for the 2025 Grammy\u2019s Best Dance\/Pop Album. All are great albums, right? Well, strictly speaking, they aren\u2019t \u2013 they\u2019re mixtapes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Add <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/68253\/1\/jianbo-in-uk-rap-so-he-made-his-own-south-london-everything-for-the-family\">Jianbo\u2019s heartfelt ode to his late childhood friend<\/a>, <\/span><em><span>Everything for the Family<\/span><\/em><span>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/68946\/1\/grime-mc-jayahadadream-bell-hooks-changed-my-life\">JayaHadADream\u2019s indictment of intersectional prejudice in modern Britain<\/a>, <\/span><em><span>Happiness from Agony<\/span><\/em><span>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ceebosweezy\/\">Ceebo\u2019s<\/a> Gen Z rap manifesto, <\/span><em><span>Blair Babies<\/span><\/em><span>, to the mix and a picture begins to form: in 2025, mixtapes have gotten more polished than ever. This is a far cry from the rough and ready mixtapes of years gone by. So, where has this recent \u201cmixtapification\u201d come from? Why is <em data-start=\"1011\" data-end=\"1023\">everything<\/em> a mixtape now?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Once upon a time, mixtapes were actual tapes: compact cassettes made of rewritable magnetic tape. <\/span><span>These were quickly adopted by hip hop\u2019s Bronx forefathers in the early 70s, who used them to distribute live recordings of some of the culture\u2019s first DJ mixes, giving rise to the name mixtape. Back then, the difference between a mixtape and an album was abundantly clear: the sound quality of a live recording could never compete with that of a studio LP.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"GI8pSX-JYrE\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"422\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GI8pSX-JYrE\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"750\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Over time, the distinction between mixtapes and albums became increasingly blurred. Through the 90s and 00s \u2013 and the shift from physical to digital media \u2013 mixtapes moved away from their cassette origins and came to represent a looser, more experimental collection of tracks. During this era, Texas\u2019s DJ Screw used mixtapes to bypass copyright restrictions and pioneer his signature chopped \u2018n\u2019 screwed style, reworking other artists\u2019 songs into woozy, slowed-down remixes. Meanwhile, Lil Wayne launched his legendary mixtape run in the early 00s, often rapping over existing beats to create some of his most recognisable hits.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Eventually, a kind of singularity was reached with Drake\u2019s 2015 release <em data-start=\"365\" data-end=\"403\">If You\u2019re Reading This It\u2019s Too Late<\/em>, which was the first mixtape to receive a Grammy nomination. Spiritually rooted in the online DatPiff-era mixtape culture \u2013 where artists dropped free, often unofficial projects directly to fans, bypassing traditional release structures \u2013 it shared that same sense of spontaneity and directness, despite being backed by a major label and composed entirely of original material. In reality, the project functioned as a full studio album, but Drake called it a mixtape partly to fulfil his contract with Cash Money without handing over what he considered a major \u201calbum\u201d release (making it an album in all but name). To quote Drizzy himself: mixtapes really started from the bottom, now they\u2019re here.<\/p>\n<p>Today, as music consumption is centralised on platforms like Spotify \u2013 which notably doesn\u2019t recognise \u2018mixtape\u2019 as a formal release format \u2013 those earlier definitions no longer apply. \u201cMixtapes used to be when people would get on songs that don\u2019t belong to them, you\u2019re selling something you don\u2019t quite have the copyright to,\u201d says 23-year-old Lambeth rapper Ceebo, who released his second mixtape, <em data-start=\"1146\" data-end=\"1160\">Blair Babies<\/em>, earlier this month. \u201cStreaming stopped all of that. If you do that today, your song is coming down within 24 hours. The original idea of a mixtape no longer exists in the streaming era.\u201d\u00a0Which begs the question: if mixtapes, as we once knew them, are dead \u2013 why do artists still insist on calling their projects that?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"HrqP-T4yNgA\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>For smaller, independent artists, the mixtape label appears to exist as a quiet acknowledgement that, while their music now sits alongside high-budget major label releases on streaming platforms, their projects were made with a fraction of the resources. \u201cThis is a mixtape, not an album. If them folks gave me album budget I PROMISE [sic] I wouldn\u2019t be rapping about how I want to pack myself,\u201d Ceebo joked on his Instagram story following the release of <em data-start=\"570\" data-end=\"584\">Blair Babies<\/em> this week. Given the (increasingly) abysmal royalties paid out by streaming platforms, Ceebo certainly isn\u2019t making much revenue from streams alone. For artists navigating limited budgets and constant creative turnover, the mixtape becomes a practical solution, like a looser frame for serious work.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>There can be an expectation attached to a \u2018debut studio album\u2019, so calling something a mixtape can alleviate that pressure for the artist<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>While accessible production software has helped democratise music-making, it doesn\u2019t guarantee that independent artists have the time or financial support to refine their work. Music trends now move quickly these days, but albums are still expected to feel timeless, and it\u2019s not hard to see how this pressure can produce some anxiety for artists. As Twelfth House publicist Tom Ohene-Yeboah puts it: \u201cThere can be an expectation attached to a \u2018debut studio album\u2019, so calling something a mixtape can alleviate that pressure for the artist.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Camberwell rapper Jianbo sees mixtapes as a vital space for experimentation, especially for emerging artists. \u201c<em>Everything for the Family<\/em> is a collection of rap songs that took as much effort as an album, but I just felt like it was too early in my story to release my debut album,\u201d he tells Dazed. \u201cIt\u2019s probably better to start with mixtapes so that we can get round to album time further down the line. I guess it also removes some of the pressure in what is already a stressful enough game!\u201d JayaHadADream agrees: \u201cI see <em>Happiness From Agony<\/em> as a mixtape because it\u2019s experimental and a pure expression of creative freedom. I took risks, played around, and let the music guide me \u2013 that\u2019s what makes it a mixtape rather than an album for me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-tiktok\" data-id=\"7435385940463373610\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Creative freedom seems to be a key motivator behind mixtape releases from signed artists like Doechii and PinkPantheress, too. \u201cBluntly, I called [<\/span><em><span>Alligator Bites Never Heal<\/span><\/em><span>] a mixtape because no one [at the label] was paying attention to it,\u201d Doechii <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jml_NyEN3Rk\">told Dissect Podcast last year<\/a>. \u201cThey were like, \u2018Go and release your little mixtape!\u2019 [&#8230;] I don\u2019t mind if people call it an album now.\u201d Aligning with previous comments made by Charli xcx about her experimental 2017 mixtape <em data-start=\"830\" data-end=\"846\">Number 1 Angel<\/em>, Doechii positions the mixtape label as a way to take risks while still within the confines of a record deal \u2013 where calling something an album might invite pressure to follow trends, chase chart placements, and recoup label spending.<\/span><span> It\u2019s a strange dichotomy: smaller artists feel limited by a lack of resources, while more established ones feel constrained by the expectations that come with them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Regardless, at the most basic level, each of these artists acknowledges that the distinction between a mixtape and an album is essentially arbitrary \u2013 it\u2019s simply about how they want others to perceive their work. But, on a deeper level, the recent mixtapification trend strikes at the heart of music-making in 2025. If both mainstream and underground artists alike are feeling pressured to perform in the fast-paced streaming era, then the ability to take risks and experiment emerges as an increasingly rare and valuable commodity.<strong data-start=\"1926\" data-end=\"2051\">\u00a0<\/strong>Ultimately, over the last 50 years, mixtapes have always reflected what artists want to get out of them \u2013 and today, it seems that artists are craving freedom above all else.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<footer class=\"article-footer\">\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<div class=\"article-series\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">More on these topics<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-series\"><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\">Music<\/a><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/feature\">Feature<\/a><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/doechii\">Doechii<\/a><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/rap\">rap<\/a><a 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