Top 63 Mixtapes Quotes & Sayings

I never really liked the idea of doing mixtapes but at the same time it was a big thing a lot of people were doing it and it almost got to the point where if you didn't touch the mixtape circuit it was like you didn't care.

I've had mixtapes that have been better than albums I've heard from other artists. I take my time; I put my heart into it.

I felt like my mixtapes were me flirting with my fans.

Around the time that I was in high school, a lot of rappers were coming out with mixtapes of them rapping over other people's instrumentals, specifically Young Money.

That's one of the luxuries of being able to do mixtapes, it's that you can do something different or you can do anything you want to do, how you're feeling at the time.

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.

When we started making mixtapes, we were just ripping stuff off YouTube and DVDs, naively thinking that because we were putting it up for free, it was gonna be fine.

Mixtapes were the soundtrack, back in my day, of peoples' lives.

There are still songs that I'm writing. I like to write. I like to take a long time to do my songs, not even the actual writing process, but conceptualizing, getting into the songs. That's why I stopped doing mixtapes.

I usually sing a lot on my mixtapes. I sing a lot on songs that just really aren't singles. Even my first single, 'My Last,' which I feel like is more pop than anything - I was originally singing the chorus on there. I'm used to that. I've always had fresh melodies.

There's a lot of variety in our gigs, our records, our mixtapes, and our videos.

The mixtapes be having more like the street feel.

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.

I put out this record on Ninja Tune called 'Florida' when I was about 22. And at the same time, I was DJ'ing and beginning to mix stuff up and promote shows in Philadelphia and New York and my own parties and make mixtapes, put out bootleg white labels.

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.

I think mixtapes have been really important for keeping my buzz strong.

I study my competition for at least an hour a day. I get on the Internet, I look at what they doing, and then I look at ways to defeat them. I know their mixtapes track-by-track. I know some of their lyrics.

Big Rube was on my first album and some of my mixtapes. His words are so powerful. I want to speak every word he says into existence. I wanna be a part of that! I wanna be a part of greatness. His wordplay is great to me.

When Nicki was putting out mixtapes, she was the only female rapper that had any kind of buzz. And not to mention that she was on the track with the guys, you know? So you had the girls playing it, and you had the hood guys playing it, too, so you couldn't run away from Nicki.

Mixtapes are very personal, and they describe who you are better than an album sometimes.

When you do mixtapes, a lot of times your fanbase can say, 'We've been getting this for free for so many years, his new album is about to drop, we've listened to it, and we're not going to buy it. We'll download it for free.'

Most companies that are successful listen to people and see what they want and they make that. So when I used to make songs, I'd make mixtapes. The public would tell me what they like and then I would make songs based on what they like. That's how I knew 'Ridin' Dirty' was going to be big - they told me they liked this kind of music.

I'm not really rocking with mixtapes no more. EPs and albums - that's it.

When I approach my mixtapes I'm very calculated.

56 Nights' one of the best mixtapes ever.

When I went to AI New England in Boston, I used to do my mixtapes, and honestly, if you look back at any of my mixtapes, every single mixtape tells a story.

People put mixtapes out every few months, every year. They come often. Not 'Mood Muzik.' It's a totally different type of monster. And when you hear it, you should be able to understand why.

Mixtapes have always been a guerrilla-style means of moving music.

Labels don't want artists to put out mixtapes because they don't monetize it.

Everybody who know Rick Ross know that, for one, I love creating music, and one of the biggest impacts we have on the game was the fact that when we came into the game, artists was waiting two to three years to put out albums. I was one of the few that put out an album every year along with two or three mixtapes.

I think right now a lot of albums that are out there, they sound like mixtapes.

The mixtapes, and a lot of our music, it comes from a place of fandom and appreciation and of respect and of nodding toward stuff that we feel really affectionate towards.

Swishahouse, it started off as just a crew making mixtapes and that's when I got down with it back in like 1998. It wasn't a record label at first. It was all just for promotion, for fun, and we just had a crew representin' for our hood.

Mixtapes are always small scale to me - they never get taken seriously, and they're always short-lived.

On my mixtapes, I just rap. I just lay out a lot of situations.

Lil Wayne is somebody who I used to ride to school listening to in my car. You know from Tha Carter to Tha Carter II, to Dedication 1 & 2, to Da Drought, his mixtapes. You know you got that for him as him being a rap legend, somebody who you look up to.

People really don't know the extent of what I actually do. I'm not one of those rappers... "Hey! Make a hit. Throw it on an album! Sit at home and make more music." I put 4 or 5 mixtapes out and do shows all year long.

I put a lot in my mixtapes, but I definitely put a lot into my albums as well.

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.

There's only so much you can do on a physical level trying to tour or pass out mixtapes. Although that matters, I realized that you can reach more people putting your music on Soundcloud and networking with blogs to write about you. It really comes back to the music and what you release.

I put a lot of work into my mixtapes, and I want everybody to understand I am doing this genuinely. I don't even want to be paid for this; I just want you all to hear my music and appreciate it. I think it brings me closer to my fans because they know I'm doing this for them and not just to get the bucks.

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.

When I decided to collaborate with people, I wanted to collaborate more with the underdogs, the street people, messing with the people like Jae Millz and Papoose. When I went to New York, they were all over the mixtapes, so I wanted to get down with those guys instead of trying to go safe with all the super-big names.

The plan is to make money, and we know the fans are going to ask for mixtapes, and those mixtapes are going to hit. So when we put a tape out, we have more money coming in, that's why we work hard at it.

I used to go and cop stacks of blanks CDs and sit there and burn copies of my mixtapes and print up my own mixtape covers and post up in downtown Oakland and Telegraph in Berkeley and literally was selling my mixtapes for five bucks, hand-to-hand.

This is a public statement: I'm in favor of mixtapes.

I do my stuff, my "mixtapes," as you say. We just need time to capture. After that, I do not know what he thinks, but for me, it is time to get things together.

That's why I make mixtapes. That's why I work with Don Cannon; that's why i work with Big Sean. Even though I don't rap, I got love and acceptance in that community, and that's something that I really take seriously and hold close to my heart.

I have done whole projects with Scoop Deville, I like to basically work with a single producer. I always just worked on a bunch of songs, and then put them together, whether it was an EP or another project. None of them were mixtapes where I was rapping over other peoples beats.

I don't want to be stuck in the same spot, just dropping mixtapes for no reason.

I have people who want to pull me into specific projects in the community based on my music and on the mixtapes. It's like, it's the truth but I'm not trying to preach to you. Because who am I to say what's really right or wrong, or whether what I say is going to change anything? I don't take it too seriously; it's really whimsical.

The Re-Up Gang mixtapes are going down in history, man. I still listen to them in my car, and the 'Hell Hath No Fury' album. I tell people all the time that I'll never make another album like that one again. Never!

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.

I keep growing my fan base. My last project 'Heartless' sold more mixtapes than some big artists on major label albums.

You don't get any mixtapes, you know, 'cause I don't like my voice in there. I want to be that, but that's just not me, you know. And I'm very impatient; if I don't do it right, I'll be like, well, 'Ok that's the best I'm gonna do it.' Because I feel like if you take too much time on something, you lose the motivation for it.

Favorite rap album? Damn. Lil Wayne's mixtapes... He got a lot of good mixtapes like 'Da Drought 3.'

I don't think mixtapes will ever go out of style.

I lost a boyfriend over Elmore James. You know that moment when you send mixtapes at fifteen? He sent me pop hits, and I sent him Elmore James, and I never heard from him again.

We've been having a great time writing for other artists in and amongst making our Bastille albums and mixtapes.

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.