And the balancing act continues. As much as certain labels are using the tape as their A&R guide for new talent, they are also advising their artists not to put out tapes for the fear of a decrease in album sales. While certain labels are attempting to prohibit artists from talking to the streets through a mixtape, artists are blatantly refusing to oblige, eager to not only give the fans and the streets what they’re looking for, but also to stay relevant and stay fit in the competitive world of rhyming (50 Cent released three mixtapes in the past several months despite advice against it).

Another area where the balancing act plays a role in the mixtape miscellanies is within the demand market. Whereas maybe ten years ago there may have been a general consensus on what constitutes a “good” tape, today, the demand is so diverse that quality does not often boil down to any one particular requirement, but rather, to the command of the particular listener, from a particular region, with a particular taste. “What’s great to me is trash to the next man. The average person today wants to hear that new T-Pain or Plies record while I’m checking for rappers like Grafh, Nino Bless [click to read] and Saigon,” says Lennox, stating that there is no single definition to a great tape, as it stands today. And lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the balancing act of the tape itself stands among the deejay and the artist, both much needed to create a quality tape, yet both competing for a similar shine on the same record. “Back then it was about your favorite deejay's mixtape. Now it’s more about your favorite artist’s mixtape,” says Ali Vegas, who is not a stranger to neither the mixtape nor the mixtape beef (check feuds with DJ Clue and Fabolous).

Keeping on Top of Things

As technology advances and changes the way we’re used to pushing, promoting and purchasing music, it also changes the flow of the mixtape circuit. The positive and negative changes associated with the tape balance each other out, giving the street fiends that raw Hip Hop which they long for, while at the same time, forcing labels and corporate owners to work with the tape, as opposed to against it. The tape’s global availability and world-wide appeal remains unchallenged as its exclusivity and economic way for promotion sets it apart from album releases which take time, money and board approvals to make it out onto the shelves. With a tape, the fans want the technique minus the industry’s involvement or interpretation of. And although there have been interferences which compromise the quality of the craft (labels, sponsors), the tape still exists as the main avenue on which artists can depend on to be heard, challenged and recognized. And there’s no time like the present.