This is part one of My Top 10 Mixtapes of 2009. Part two will be up tomorrow.
I think we can all say this was the year that mixtapes outperformed albums. There’s proof everywhere you look, from the success of Young Money’s Drake & Nicki Minaj to Gucci Mane to J. Cole, their mixtapes are providing the foundation to their young careers. Once again, this is *my* top 10 mixtapes of 2009, so if you see something you don’t agree with, you know exactly where to leave your opinion.
10.
Nicki Minaj (DJ Holiday & The Trap-A-Holics)
Beam Me Up Scotty
This is definitely a respect pick. I’ll tell you all day & tomorrow, I don’t listen to Nicki’s music like that (but I did love this picture). Prior to this year, the sound of her voice was an automatic skip for me. I remember going to the I Am Music Tour stop in Hampton earlier this year and being surprised at the crowd when Nicki performed her verse from Drought 3’s “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop” freestyle. I was surprised because, well, every girl in there knew her verse word for word. It was pretty obvious that she was on to something. That “something” grew into something bigger when her tape Beam Me Up Scotty dropped.
