All Up In The Mix
August 19, 2005
Hip hop mixtapes began as documents of street parties in 1970’s New York. Over time, they evolved, making use of unreleased music, sometimes leaked by the music industry itself, to keep fans ahead of the mainstream and build street buzz for new songs and new artists. But as a result mixtapes occupy a shadowy realm very close to the industry - approved piracy – and present an uneasy contradiction for a business on a high horse about music theft. Brooke speaks with journalist Oliver Wang about mixtape culture.
