Szung Szongs: Online mixtapes

Oh, so remember that time Radiohead did that thing where they let you name your price for “In Rainbows”? Forward thinking of them, right? Not really. (Besides, I downloaded “In Rainbows” illegally even after it was offered for free). If you’ve been paying attention, Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, the unabashedly irreverent hip-hop collective has exploded on the internet by riding on the wave of a litany of free mixtapes. Tyler the Creator, the central figure in the group, released his second full length solo album last week but, get this, he was asking for money for it. Scroll down for a list of some of my favorite free mixtapes (really, albums) that are critically acclaimed (sometimes) but totally and legally free (you’ll notice that next weekend’s Green Key guest Big K.R.I.T.’s new and critically acclaimed album is among them).

Hip-hop and rap have long benefited from the influence of free music on the internet, opting, I presume, for concert ticket sales rather than album download revenues from the few suckers who still pay for music (oops, that’s me, sometimes). It is a model that, many argue, holds the future of the music industry, or at least the future of business models for independent music — smaller acts inevitably make more money off of touring than record sales (especially if someone else is taking a hefty cut) so it makes more sense to get a bunch of people listening to the new album (even if for free) in the hopes that they will come out to a show they wouldn’t have otherwise gone to if discouraged from listening by cost.

Sure, there are tracks on blogs like Hype Machine, but I’m more of an album guy and hate it when my iTunes gets cluttered by stranded tracks. So here are a few solid mixtapes that have circulated the web in the past decade or so. I’ll follow up with a second post tomorrow to help you start your Green Key Saturday off right.

Big K.R.I.T. – Return of 4eva http://returnof4eva.com/music.php

 

K.R.I.T. certainly has the production side of things down on this 2011 album filled with southern flavor. Picks: “R4 Theme Song,” “Country Shit,” “American Rapstar”

DJ Benzi – Sky High http://www.djbenzi.com/index.php/feature/kanye

 

If you cannot make it to see K.R.I.T. at the Green Key concert on Saturday, you can at least check out DJ Benzi at Gammapalooza at Chi Gam Friday night. This mixtape has some really fresh remixes of Kanye West’s classics. Picks: “Barry Bonds (Eli Escobar Remix)” and “Homecoming (Discotech Remix)”

The Weeknd – House of Balloons http://the-weeknd.com/

 

This atmospheric 2011 release is worth it if nothing else than for the crazy take on Beach House’s track “Gila” that features on The Weeknd’s track “Loft Music.” Picks: “Loft Music” and “High for This”

Frank Ocean - Nostalgia/ultra http://www.datpiff.com/Frank-Ocean-Nostalgia-Ultra-mixtape.210282.html

 

Frank Ocean, who has, oddly enough, written songs for Justin Bieber, is one of the older members of the Odd Future collective. His ability to craft pop tracks in this sample-laden debut is certainly of a mature caliber. Picks: “songs for women” and “there will be tears”

E-603 – Torn Up https://www.tornup.net/TORNUP

 

Ethan Ward is New Hampshire’s answer to Greg Gillis. His second mashup release, Torn Up, is a really tightly woven amalgam of songs that can rival Girl Talk at its best. Picks: “Push ‘Em Up” and “Still Riding”

Note: a lot of these guys have some wack stuff going on in their lyrics, inappropriate stuff or whatever. Im not vouching for any of it, but at the same time there is a lot of cutting edge stuff happening in these mixtapes that is worth recognizing.