Beats, Sneaks and Chic: Beats: My 2009 Soundtrack: Mixtapes Honors

Here is a list of my favorite mixtapes that I listened to in 2009.

One thing you may notice is that the majority of the following mixtapes are by Young Money artist: the Young Money label is a marketing genius that built hype for their artists via the investment of free mixtapes that transcend into record sales profit in the future. Best example of the following is the mass sales of the Carter III post multiple wildly acclaimed mixtapes that pushed Lil' Wayne into superstar level.

Mixtapes allow artist to remain ever present and relevant on the music scene in between industry releases building hype, record sales for future industry releases. One the reasons I love mixtapes are because they gives artists the ability to control their career and continuously give fan that great music they love. The greatest value of mixtapes is that they allow music fans to tell the industry the music they like rather than the industry dictating what the consumer mass will listen to. Therefore mixtapes shakes up the hierarchy of power within the music industry and give the power back to the people who should rightfully have it the artists and fans rather than the suits behind the desk. I believe this was best said by Wu Tang in "Protect Ya Neck":

"First of all, who's your A&R
A mountain climber who plays an electric guitar
But he don't know the meaning of dope"

12 Play: Fourth Quarter - R. Kelly