Before I had my daughter I actually wanted to do something that I could put out for free, like a mixtape, but it wasn't going to really be a mixtape, it was just going to be songs that I wrote and release for free.
I listen to him [Chief Keef] the most. I like his older mixtapes a little better though, because old Chief Keef scared me - I thought he was about to pop up out of nowhere with a hoodie on and shoot me.
The way I perceive an album to sound and the way I put out mixtapes are two different energies. There's a different focus; there's a different sound.
In my opinion, one of the biggest drawbacks about Sergio Leone films are the scores composed by Ennio Morricone. If [Leone] were as talented as I am, he would have made mixtapes for his movies instead of letting some schmuck write the soundtracks for him. But then if he were as talented as I am, he'd be Zach Braff. And have his own Grammy.
Even though I'm out there as an artist, I continue droppin' mixtapes, I continue doin' this and continue showin' DJs love personally. That's why I continue doin' a lot of things other artists don't do.
If I could never put out an album in my life, I could just put out mixtapes. The music got to be out there somehow.
Expect to get more than you expected [from Crash Landing project]. Expect more than a mixtape.
Mixtapes, it's for everyone and you throw them in the trash quickly. While an album is an object that only your real fans take the trouble to buy and know you have prepared something special.
"Snapped" happened maybe like two months after I released the mixtape. I just like took a break from recording and that was the first song I wrote and recorded after the mixtape.
I think you can see the evolution of me as an artist, and just becoming confident and coming into my own and becoming my own person throughout each mixtape. One thing I could learn from looking back at my old mixtapes, what I could learn from my old self, is just to keep that hunger and that drive and that feeling of an underdog and also the feeling of being a fan, still lookin up to people - you just want to impress them.
With each project, whether it's an album or a mixtape, I try to learn more in the process.
Mixtapes are extremely important, especially for New York or North East artists. They allow you to be creative, to get feedback and criticism, but most of all, it gets your name out there. I would say about 90-100% of my success was down to the mixtapes.
I think mixtapes have been really important for keeping my buzz strong.
I am international. When I put out my second mixtape, we did four tours and a tour overseas.
The Black Power Mixtape is a documentary, first of all. It brings us closer to the voices we heard at that particular point in time.
Mixtapes are very personal, and they describe who you are better than an album sometimes.
In The Black Power Mixtape , you hear the voice of Angela Davis - not someone playing Angela Davis.
