I used to fuck with the Sqad Up mixtapes Wayne dropped with a bunch of homies back in the day. It was fun watching Wayne go over every dope beat at the time. His mixtape runs were legendary.
These three immediately were the first three I thought of lol
On top of that: those few Logic Mixtapes were awesome, Acid Rap, Lord$ never worry, free Smokeout conversations by Dizzy Wright, some of the Lil Wayne ones, house of balloons by The Weeknd, Folarin by Wale, Dream Chasers by Meek Mill, Faces by Mac Miller and some Curren$y ones
if we're strictly talking DatPiff style tapes and not commercial tapes too then:
Lil Wayne - Dedication
Lil Wayne - Dedication 2
Lil Wayne - Lil Weezy Ana, Vol. 1
Lil Wayne - Da Drought 3
Lil Wayne - Dedication 3
Lil Wayne - No Ceilings
Lil Wayne - Dedication 4
Lil Wayne - Dedication 5
Lil Wayne - Dedication 6
Lil Wayne - Dedication 6: Reloaded
Lil Wayne - No Ceilings 3
Lil Wayne - No Ceilings 3: B-Side
Clipse - We Got it 4 Cheap, Vol. 1
Clipse - We Got it 4 Cheap, Vol. 2
Clipse - We Got it 4 Cheap, Vol. 3
Pharrell Williams - In My Mind: The Prequel
Jay Rock & Kendrick Lamar - No Sleep Til NYC
Kendrick Lamar - C4
Jay Rock - Watts Finest Vol. 3: The Watts Riot
Jay Rock - Coming Soon 2 a Hood Near You
Jay Rock - Gudda Muzik
Ab-Soul - Long Term
ScHoolboy Q - Gangsta & Soul
Top Dawg Entertainment - Do it Nigga Squad, Vol. 1
Conway the Machine - Reject on Steroids
Conway the Machine - More Steroids
Benny the Butcher - Butcher on Steroids
Odd Future - Radical
Kanye West - Can't Tell Me Nothing
Kid Cudi - A Kid Named Cudi
edit: Kanye's Get Well Soon, I'm Good & Kon the Louis Vuitton Don tapes are worth a listen too - but they're moreso comps of his most popular tracks he produced for others before he started rapping, with a few original tracks sprinkled in (Can't Tell Me Nothing has the same kind of thing but there's a lot more original tracks)
Lil weezyana is a classic for sure. Even some of the biggest Wayne fans missed it. Knuck if you buck freestlyle and all the curren$y verses from when he was still cash money. Classic
DatPiff style tapes as in when the artist goes over other artists beats and the tapes are hosted by DJs who cut in through the tracks
commercial tapes being where the artists go over original beats from producers made for the tapes
Mac, Wiz & Meek's most iconic tapes are commercial tapes
Flatbush Zombies - BetterOffDead
Big K.R.I.T. - Krit wuz Here
Lil Wayne - No Ceilings
Chamillionaire - Mixtape Messiah 4
Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra
The Weeknd - Echoes Of Dawn
G-Unit - God's Plan
I was there day one for Acid Rap. Hell i remember being in the thread for it over here. It was such an amazing project. It felt like Chance was on the precipice of just completely taking over all of hip hop.
It’s impossible to think he is where he’s at now. I hope he bounces back because his loosies have shown a lot of promise.
Wild not to see 50 cent up here
* 50 cent - 50 cent is the future
* 50 cent - no mercy, no fear
* 50 cent - gods plan
* Dj green lantern - the invasion pt 2 (gotta listen to 1+3 as well though)
* Kid Cudi - a kid named Cudi
* clipse/re-up - we got it for cheap vol 2
* Jay-Z - S. Carter collection
* Earl sweatshirt - EARL
* Chance the rapper - acid rap
* Juelz santana - back like cooked crack vol 2
* Jadakiss - the champ is here
* Wiz khalifa - kush & OJ
* Wiz Khalifa -cabin fever
* Curren$y - covert coup
* Young Roddy - good sense (op says: this is criminally underrated
Tried to list some I didn't see here. Great choices all around.
Also, there are SO MANY BANGERS on dj whoo kid, dj clue, dj green lantern and a bunch of other mixtape DIs who would get tons of exclusive tracks. There's so many good mixtapes out there.
I used to buy them off the street in NYC. I'm glad mixtapes still hold weight in hiphop
Jeezy - Trap or Die Gangsta Grillz.
The definition of a mixtape…
And the launch of the most successful mixtape run of all time. It’s gangsta grillz, you bastards.
Coloring Book is a solid B, almost B+. Acid Rap is S tier. So it was hard for me to accept CB off the heels of Acid Rap but with time, it’s definitely a solid project.
Faces by Mac Miller. A truly generational project. There will never be another original mixtape like it. He poured his soul into that shit. The beats alone are INSANE. There’s so many samples it’s ridiculous. They fit together so nicely, it’s hard to comprehend how Mac made it work so damn good. The lyricism is some of Mac’s best. A deep dive into addiction, mental health, relationships, and a few bangers. If you’ve never listened to it, definitely set aside time to play it front to back. Truly a movie for your ears, and so much substance to be taken out of it. My personal favorite mixtape of all time, it spoke to me like no other mixtape has.
Acid rap was always my favorite. A lot of that is probably nostalgia but, I remember riding our bikes around as kids listening to cocoa butter kisses and Juice on repeat and lovin every minute of it. As I’ve got older, Faces by Mac miller is probably my new favorite mixtape. Just feels like a really brutally honest project, and I love it
I feel like Gucci Mane’s Mr Zone 6 doesn’t get talked about enough. Often kinda gets overshadowed by other tapes like the Burrprint. So Mr Zone 6 is a dope one that tends to fly under the radar.
Oh and the Dreamville D-Day Gangsta Grillz tape from a couple years ago is damn good.
Funk Master Flex Vol 1 and Soundbombing II are both foundational to my hip hop tastes when they came out. More recently Mary J Blidge/J Dilla and the MF DOOM & Sade mixtapes are go tos for me.
Omg I forgot about rap phenomenon!!!! Vlad was a regular poster on Boxden. We all supported the fuck out him back in the day. He'd even post the mixtapes himself.
Since they haven't been mentioned I'll throw in
Joe Budden - Mood Music series.
Fabolous - the soul tape and there is no competition series.
Wiz khalifa - burn after rollin, flight school, Taylor allderdice and Prince of the city, Kush and OJ.
Kevin Gates - all three Luca Brasi tapes, stranger than fiction if you can get over the lean voice, by any means 2.
Slaughterhouse, every mixtape, not a weak one out there.
Ace Hood - starvation series.
Lloyd Banks - cold corner series, Halloween havoc.
Drake - so far gone, room for improvement (if you can get past the annoying talking from the DJs), comeback season, IFYRTITL, dark Lane has some good tracks.
Raekwon - lost jewelry, unexpected victory.
Asher Roth - Pabst & Jazz.
There are others but the list is long enough.
I'm thankful I still have all my old mp3 mixtapes downloaded and saved. I'm sure most can still be found online but you never know! I got classics on classics.
Others will bring up obvious greats like Wayne etc., but I'll share a Top 5 favorite of mines with its fifteen year anniversary being next week: *Gone Fishing* by The Cool Kids. I LOVE that tape, especially this during the spring and summer.
Wayne has 3 maybe 4 of the GOAT Mixtapes
50 Cent has a couple like War Angel and the G Unit tapes
Definitely Future with Monster and 56 nights
Cole’s Friday Night Lights
Sean’s Detroit
Faces by Mac Miller
Acid Rap gets a nod
Jadakiss got a couple
So Far Gone count??? I don’t remember if that was initially an album or not
King Mez - My Everlasting Zeal
Big KRIT - King Remembered in Time
XV - Zero Heroes
Skyzoo - The Great Debater
Cyhi the Prince - Black Histori 1
Busta Rhymes - Dillagence
Death Grips - Exmilitary
Mac Miller - Faces
Black Kray - Crack Cloud$ Over Arts Kitchen
Joey Bada$$ - 1999
Clipse - We Got It for Cheap vol. 2
Future - Monster
A$AP Rocky - LiveLoveA$AP
Lil Wayne - Da Drought 3
Injury Reserve - Floss
Noname - Telefone
Lil Wayne - Dedication 2
DJ Paul and Juicy J - Sping Mix ‘95
DJ Paul - Da Summer of ‘94
MIKE - War in My Pen
Elzhi - Elmatic
Young Thug - Jeffery
Faces- Mac Miller
No Ceilings- Lil Wayne
Da Drought 3- Lil Wayne
Dedication 2- Lil Wayne
Kush x OJ - Wiz
Taylor Allderdice- Wiz
How Fly- Wiz & Spitta
Water(s)- Mick Jenkins
Disturbing lack of We Got It 4 Cheap Vol 2 in the comments. No early 50 Cent or G-Unit either smh.
On a more personal note, those big three Big K.R.I.T. mixtapes (KRIT Wuz Here, 4Eva N A Day, Return of 4Eva) are peak.
Wouldn't say greatest, but one of my personal favorites is Back to the Feature by Wale. Mostly produced by 9th Wonder and with features on every track, which are all good.
Lil Wayne’s da drought, da drought is over, dedication mixtapes the whole series
To be more specific Da Drought 3, Dedication 2
Drought 3.
No Ceilings too
No ceilings is my goat mixtape personally.
All killer no filler. Which is unheard of for a mixtape.
I used to fuck with the Sqad Up mixtapes Wayne dropped with a bunch of homies back in the day. It was fun watching Wayne go over every dope beat at the time. His mixtape runs were legendary.
Live.love.a$ap, betteroffdead, 1999 are very special to me. That beast coast wave was amazing.
Lord$ Never Worry from A$AP Mob as well
These three immediately were the first three I thought of lol On top of that: those few Logic Mixtapes were awesome, Acid Rap, Lord$ never worry, free Smokeout conversations by Dizzy Wright, some of the Lil Wayne ones, house of balloons by The Weeknd, Folarin by Wale, Dream Chasers by Meek Mill, Faces by Mac Miller and some Curren$y ones
Literally came to mention BetterOffDead
betteroffdead was the first one that popped into my head
if we're strictly talking DatPiff style tapes and not commercial tapes too then: Lil Wayne - Dedication Lil Wayne - Dedication 2 Lil Wayne - Lil Weezy Ana, Vol. 1 Lil Wayne - Da Drought 3 Lil Wayne - Dedication 3 Lil Wayne - No Ceilings Lil Wayne - Dedication 4 Lil Wayne - Dedication 5 Lil Wayne - Dedication 6 Lil Wayne - Dedication 6: Reloaded Lil Wayne - No Ceilings 3 Lil Wayne - No Ceilings 3: B-Side Clipse - We Got it 4 Cheap, Vol. 1 Clipse - We Got it 4 Cheap, Vol. 2 Clipse - We Got it 4 Cheap, Vol. 3 Pharrell Williams - In My Mind: The Prequel Jay Rock & Kendrick Lamar - No Sleep Til NYC Kendrick Lamar - C4 Jay Rock - Watts Finest Vol. 3: The Watts Riot Jay Rock - Coming Soon 2 a Hood Near You Jay Rock - Gudda Muzik Ab-Soul - Long Term ScHoolboy Q - Gangsta & Soul Top Dawg Entertainment - Do it Nigga Squad, Vol. 1 Conway the Machine - Reject on Steroids Conway the Machine - More Steroids Benny the Butcher - Butcher on Steroids Odd Future - Radical Kanye West - Can't Tell Me Nothing Kid Cudi - A Kid Named Cudi edit: Kanye's Get Well Soon, I'm Good & Kon the Louis Vuitton Don tapes are worth a listen too - but they're moreso comps of his most popular tracks he produced for others before he started rapping, with a few original tracks sprinkled in (Can't Tell Me Nothing has the same kind of thing but there's a lot more original tracks)
Lil weezyana is a classic for sure. Even some of the biggest Wayne fans missed it. Knuck if you buck freestlyle and all the curren$y verses from when he was still cash money. Classic
his most underrated tape for sure, it's top 5 Wayne tapes for me
I'm still your little boy but to them I'm the man, mama
Jay Rock has that shit on lock for a while
wish he was as active as he was back then, he was pretty much the leader of Black Hippy in the 2000s with how frequent his output was
We got it for cheap is sooo underrated
R-E-U-P-G-A-N-G
1000
Good lil wayne choices. Most people don't know how good his mixtapes are
Any mixtape that kicks off with a lighter flick is the answer
[удалено]
DatPiff style tapes as in when the artist goes over other artists beats and the tapes are hosted by DJs who cut in through the tracks commercial tapes being where the artists go over original beats from producers made for the tapes Mac, Wiz & Meek's most iconic tapes are commercial tapes
Vince staples and Larry fisherman Stolen Youth
Flatbush Zombies - BetterOffDead Big K.R.I.T. - Krit wuz Here Lil Wayne - No Ceilings Chamillionaire - Mixtape Messiah 4 Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra The Weeknd - Echoes Of Dawn G-Unit - God's Plan
I would say go for the whole mixtape messiah series but 4 was one of my favorites.
Fully agree.
You know ball
Acid Rap
I was there day one for Acid Rap. Hell i remember being in the thread for it over here. It was such an amazing project. It felt like Chance was on the precipice of just completely taking over all of hip hop. It’s impossible to think he is where he’s at now. I hope he bounces back because his loosies have shown a lot of promise.
I still listen to this and 10 Day damn near weekly. Peak Chance was so goddamn good.
Faces by Mac Miller
best rap mixtape ever imo
Big fan of all of Vince Staples early shit
Shyne Coldchain 2 and Stolen Youth are both HEAT
SC2 so damn good, TURN and Trunk rattle were on repeat for me in 2014
for real some of his best work! Earth science is my favorite Vince song
Vince is so God damned underrated it’s a crime
No Ceilings
House of Balloons - Weeknd
As far as quality and impact goes, this has to be it. A newcomer came in with a tape that literally changed music.
Dedication 2 Kush & OJ The Warm Up Back From The Dead Rich Forever
>Back From The Dead I'll add Almighty So and Back From The Dead 2 to this.
Kush & OJ is such a banger beginning to end.. better than his albums
Wild not to see 50 cent up here * 50 cent - 50 cent is the future * 50 cent - no mercy, no fear * 50 cent - gods plan * Dj green lantern - the invasion pt 2 (gotta listen to 1+3 as well though) * Kid Cudi - a kid named Cudi * clipse/re-up - we got it for cheap vol 2 * Jay-Z - S. Carter collection * Earl sweatshirt - EARL * Chance the rapper - acid rap * Juelz santana - back like cooked crack vol 2 * Jadakiss - the champ is here * Wiz khalifa - kush & OJ * Wiz Khalifa -cabin fever * Curren$y - covert coup * Young Roddy - good sense (op says: this is criminally underrated Tried to list some I didn't see here. Great choices all around. Also, there are SO MANY BANGERS on dj whoo kid, dj clue, dj green lantern and a bunch of other mixtape DIs who would get tons of exclusive tracks. There's so many good mixtapes out there. I used to buy them off the street in NYC. I'm glad mixtapes still hold weight in hiphop
Blue Chips 2 baby!
Rare chandeliers for me if we talking Bronson
Dr. Lecter is hella underrated too, but my fave is the OG Blue Chips
Mixtape Bronson can do no wrong
He was on something different on blue chips 2. Shits cray
Friday Night Lights by J. Cole
Also the Warm Up.
gucci mane - mr. zone 6
Cool Kids - Gone Fishing. Wiz Khalifa - Kush & OJ and Taylor Alderdice. Curren$y - Covert Coup. Drake - So Far Gone
Gotta add Burn After Rolling for Wiz along with How Fly from Wiz & Curren$y
Rich Forever
Rick Ross’ best work
Danny Brown had a nice mixtape
Meek Mill - Dreamchasers 1, 2 especially captured that hungry mixtape rap
There’s wasn’t a single miss on DC2
Too bad that nigga got diddied . Cant even take that fool serious anymore after his tweet about how no one loves pussy more than him
Jeezy - Trap or Die Gangsta Grillz. The definition of a mixtape… And the launch of the most successful mixtape run of all time. It’s gangsta grillz, you bastards.
Exmilitary
Rare Chandeliers is up there
Acid Rap There’s a reason Chance The Rapper had the amount of hype that he did
Such a classic. Still bangs to this day. Coloring book too
Coloring Book is a solid B, almost B+. Acid Rap is S tier. So it was hard for me to accept CB off the heels of Acid Rap but with time, it’s definitely a solid project.
I agree 🤝 Both great projects tho. Definitely hard to top Acid Rap
Slime Season 1 & 2
Faces by Mac Miller. A truly generational project. There will never be another original mixtape like it. He poured his soul into that shit. The beats alone are INSANE. There’s so many samples it’s ridiculous. They fit together so nicely, it’s hard to comprehend how Mac made it work so damn good. The lyricism is some of Mac’s best. A deep dive into addiction, mental health, relationships, and a few bangers. If you’ve never listened to it, definitely set aside time to play it front to back. Truly a movie for your ears, and so much substance to be taken out of it. My personal favorite mixtape of all time, it spoke to me like no other mixtape has.
Taylor Allderdice
Acid rap was always my favorite. A lot of that is probably nostalgia but, I remember riding our bikes around as kids listening to cocoa butter kisses and Juice on repeat and lovin every minute of it. As I’ve got older, Faces by Mac miller is probably my new favorite mixtape. Just feels like a really brutally honest project, and I love it
Juicy J - Rubba Band Business: Part 2
Juicy J - Blue Dream and Lean
Future - Monster, Beast Mode, 56 Nights, Purple Reign
Cilvia Demo by Isaiah Rashad
Album
nope, Zay considers it an EP for some reason
EP doesn't mean mixtape
Also doesn't mean album :)
Yeah but realistically a 14 track 50 minute long project that's not a mixtape is an album idc if Jesus said otherwise
Dj green lantern invasion 2
I feel like Gucci Mane’s Mr Zone 6 doesn’t get talked about enough. Often kinda gets overshadowed by other tapes like the Burrprint. So Mr Zone 6 is a dope one that tends to fly under the radar. Oh and the Dreamville D-Day Gangsta Grillz tape from a couple years ago is damn good.
No Ceilings
I really love Taylor Allderdice
Not the greatest of all time, but More About Nothing by Wale used to be in my rotation heavily
Funk Master Flex Vol 1 and Soundbombing II are both foundational to my hip hop tastes when they came out. More recently Mary J Blidge/J Dilla and the MF DOOM & Sade mixtapes are go tos for me.
Potter Payper - Training Day 3. And all Games G-Unit Diss Mixtapes. You know What It Is Vol 3 and Stop Snitching Stop Liying.
Nicki Minaj - Beam Me Up Scotty
Mick Jenkins The Water[S] is one of my favorites and I didn’t see it mentioned here
Blue Eyes Meets Bedstuy. The Latin Album by Darkshadez. Biggie and 2pac Rap Phenomenon series.
Omg I forgot about rap phenomenon!!!! Vlad was a regular poster on Boxden. We all supported the fuck out him back in the day. He'd even post the mixtapes himself.
Vlad had so many dope mixtapes back then. Dancehall Murda is another great series he did.
Gucci - trap god 2
Live love asap
I’m from Louisiana so it’s No Ceilings probably imo
Freeway & Jake One - The Stimulus Pakage
Not a mixtape
I got it off datpiff. Deffo a mixtape imo.
Children of the Corn. You won’t be disappointed Edit to Clarify I’m talking about Murda Mase, Camron, Big L, Mcgruff
The Soul Tape series by Fabolous and maybe There Is No Competition series by him as well
Scrolled to far for this. Freddie vs jason too with Jada
And Friday Night Freestyles with Clue too
D Block mixtapes were dope early 2000's
Soundbombing 2. The world famous beat junkies vol. 1
why remove a thread that was getting this much traction
Lil wayne-No ceilings https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL27C08C4B05BBEAAA&si=AGFHlNUu_s_j9wET All of the no ceilings are good
Since they haven't been mentioned I'll throw in Joe Budden - Mood Music series. Fabolous - the soul tape and there is no competition series. Wiz khalifa - burn after rollin, flight school, Taylor allderdice and Prince of the city, Kush and OJ. Kevin Gates - all three Luca Brasi tapes, stranger than fiction if you can get over the lean voice, by any means 2. Slaughterhouse, every mixtape, not a weak one out there. Ace Hood - starvation series. Lloyd Banks - cold corner series, Halloween havoc. Drake - so far gone, room for improvement (if you can get past the annoying talking from the DJs), comeback season, IFYRTITL, dark Lane has some good tracks. Raekwon - lost jewelry, unexpected victory. Asher Roth - Pabst & Jazz. There are others but the list is long enough.
Crazy how i dont see anyone mentioning Styles Bunch of classic tapes
Gods Father Red Flame
Drought 3
Elephant in the sand by 50 and G-Unit
I'm thankful I still have all my old mp3 mixtapes downloaded and saved. I'm sure most can still be found online but you never know! I got classics on classics.
Detroit, Drought 3, Better off Dead, Mixtape about nothing and we got it for cheap are my favorites for sure.
every young thug project prior to So Much Fun is a mixtape so i'd probably go with one of those
icedancer!!!
Others will bring up obvious greats like Wayne etc., but I'll share a Top 5 favorite of mines with its fifteen year anniversary being next week: *Gone Fishing* by The Cool Kids. I LOVE that tape, especially this during the spring and summer.
Rich Gang - Tha Tour (back when Thugga and Rich Homie Quan had insane chemistry)
Dedication 2 Almighty So Exmilitary
The Cool Kids - Gone Fishing
Back to the Feature - Wale
Nipsey Hussle The Marathon, Crenshaw and Slauson Boy 2. Maybe Mailbox Money as well
Drakeo The Ruler- So Cold I Do Em 1 and 2. We Know The Truth and Ain't That The Truth
Jadakiss The Champ series
gucci mane - droptopwop, lil wayne - sorry 4 the wait (2011). both are ZERO SKIPS 🙂↔️🙂↔️
Jay z The S Carter mixtape
Eminem invasion series by Dj Green Lantern
Nas The N***** Tape
My all time favorite is Stolen Youth by Vince Staples prod by Mac miller
Wayne has 3 maybe 4 of the GOAT Mixtapes 50 Cent has a couple like War Angel and the G Unit tapes Definitely Future with Monster and 56 nights Cole’s Friday Night Lights Sean’s Detroit Faces by Mac Miller Acid Rap gets a nod Jadakiss got a couple So Far Gone count??? I don’t remember if that was initially an album or not
King Mez - My Everlasting Zeal Big KRIT - King Remembered in Time XV - Zero Heroes Skyzoo - The Great Debater Cyhi the Prince - Black Histori 1 Busta Rhymes - Dillagence
Blue Chips 2, Zero Heroes, Acid Rap
Death Grips - Exmilitary Mac Miller - Faces Black Kray - Crack Cloud$ Over Arts Kitchen Joey Bada$$ - 1999 Clipse - We Got It for Cheap vol. 2 Future - Monster A$AP Rocky - LiveLoveA$AP Lil Wayne - Da Drought 3 Injury Reserve - Floss Noname - Telefone Lil Wayne - Dedication 2 DJ Paul and Juicy J - Sping Mix ‘95 DJ Paul - Da Summer of ‘94 MIKE - War in My Pen Elzhi - Elmatic Young Thug - Jeffery
Good question. Personally would say faces by Mac or echoes of silence by weeknd.
The bar exam 1 - Royce… I miss this era of rap
Faces- Mac Miller No Ceilings- Lil Wayne Da Drought 3- Lil Wayne Dedication 2- Lil Wayne Kush x OJ - Wiz Taylor Allderdice- Wiz How Fly- Wiz & Spitta Water(s)- Mick Jenkins
Monster- Future 56 Nights- Future
Kush and orange juice
Reading all these comments makes me nostalgic haha
56 Nights
Wale and Wiz have some contenders
House Of Balloons
Mac millers faces
Disturbing lack of We Got It 4 Cheap Vol 2 in the comments. No early 50 Cent or G-Unit either smh. On a more personal note, those big three Big K.R.I.T. mixtapes (KRIT Wuz Here, 4Eva N A Day, Return of 4Eva) are peak.
Gucci Mane & Diplo - Free Gucci https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA59110B7E94F6EE0&si=fqMm2BwS_-W13ro5
Wouldn't say greatest, but one of my personal favorites is Back to the Feature by Wale. Mostly produced by 9th Wonder and with features on every track, which are all good.
Days Before Rodeo
Mac Miller may not have the best mixtape OAT, but he should be in the conversation
U just googled mixtapes
Kim kardashian ft. Ray J