One of the first majorly confusing ones was Curren$y and Wiz Khalifa's How Fly in 2008, which wasn't super low quality or covered in DJ drops like Gucci Mane's Wilt Chamberlain series, I mean it wasn't CD quality audio but it was clearly an original product.

But even further back you could argue Little Brother and Mac Lethal called albums 'mixtapes' in 2003. Same with Talib in 2004 and Fort Minor in 2005.

But I trace the internet side of it back to 06 when Drake had Room for Improvement, Killer Mike had The Killer, Wiz Khalifa had Prince of the City and Yo Gotti had I Told U So (if I'm misremembering and this wasn't all original beats I'm sorry, it's been years).



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"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
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