But the bigger they got, they became every bit as threatening to the major labels that owned the masters in the music business. And while copyright law was created to give artists a financial incentive to create, it actually stifles hip-hop producers who rely on sampling and recontextualizing.įrom its inception in this country, Black expression and the means used to create and disseminate it have been suppressed, criminalized, even banned: Let's not forget, slave masters even outlawed the drum out of fear that enslaved Africans used it as a tool of covert communication.Īt their height, mixtapes were hip-hop's talking drum: bought and sold on the black market, dictated by the streets and bankrolled by the industry. Louder Than A Riot The Day The Mixtape Died: DJ Dramaīut early mixtapes, like sampling, used copyrighted material without permission. This borrowing is a natural element of hip-hop because it's a natural element of Black music. That's what the concept of 'jackin' for beats' comes from."Īnd jackin' for beats ain't just a hip-hop thing quoting riffs is essential to jazz, just like passing the riddim is in reggae and dancehall. The beauty of mixtapes, Drama says, is that "you didn't have to cross your T's and dot your I's - you didn't have to worry about clearances and splits and royalties. Long before rap got any radio love, mixtapes were the main form of distribution, the currency that kept everything in rotation as the culture evolved. This was the golden era, when DJs were still the cornerstone of hip-hop you couldn't even call yourself a rapper until you found a DJ to team up with - and it was the DJ who got top billing. Philly was a serious hip-hop city even back then, but it was still second-fiddle to the birthplace New York in every category but one: Philly was known for having the illest DJs in the country. So he convinced his mom to buy him a turntable and a mixer, and started saving up his lunch money to purchase vinyl records downtown. "I just never forget looking on the screen and being like, 'Man, that's what I want to do," he says. He remembers seeing a subplot of the movie Juice, about a character trying to make it as a DJ. In 1992, Drama was still just Tyree Simmons, a high school freshman in his hometown of Philadelphia. After a raid by federal agents on his studio, Drama wound up targeted, arrested and jailed – a martyr for mixtape culture. Thirteen years ago, at the height of his fame as a mixtape king, he had everything taken away. Everybody who's anybody has been to Means Street.īut Drama's on his second life now. Studio in Atlanta today, his wall of fame contains snapshots of artists who have passed through: Snoop Dogg, Cardi B, 2 Chainz, Megan Thee Stallion, Pharrell, Ice Cube, Big Boi, Nipsey Hussle - and that ain't even the half. and Jeezy and put an entirely new sound on the map. The players who turned this underground currency into legit capital became criminals in the eyes of the law.įor a good stretch in the early 2000s, DJ Drama had one of the most important voices in hip-hop, with mixtapes that launched the careers of artists like T.I. And just as hip-hop was on the brink of becoming the most-consumed genre in the country, if not the world, mixtapes - a product essential to hip-hop's survival - became a scapegoat for the music industry's collapse. ![]() I can sure as hell tell you that that's a crime."īut the difference between art and crime depends on who you ask. In it, NYPD detective Bernie Jacobs stands in front of a graffiti-covered subway train and asks:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |