From “Mixtape” to “Leak”: 5 Rap Terms That Need to Die

(Sorry Ike Hu$tle, but when I do a Google Image Search for "Highly Anticipated" this is one of the top results, and I have no idea who you are, so.....)

As a writer I pay very close attention to words, and if the digital era of hip-hop has done anything it's rendered essentially meaningless a whole host of terms that people none the less insist on using. But as Ghandi said, "be the change you wish to see in the world," so I'm being pro-active and launching a "5 Rap Terms That Need to Die" campaign. Feel free to throw in some of your own in the comments below. Let's go.

Mixtape: Might as well start with the big one. Despite the fact that no one's listened to music on a "tape" in a decade, and almost no projects are actually mixed by a DJ anymore, the term "mixtape" remains ubiquitous. Calling it a mixtape no longer makes the slightest amount of sense, but its use is a bit of a Catch 22. The term "mixtape" has two primary associations: free and of lower quality. An "album", on the other hand, means you have to pay to listen to it and it's of higher quality.

I've had 100 conversations with artists about this and there's no easy solution. Mixtapes are for the most part as high quality as albums, but if they call their project an album most people will assume they have to pay for it and not check it out. But if they call it a mixtape more people will check it out, but they'll also assume its of lower quality.

Frankly the only solution is to create a brand new term for a project that's free but high quality, and then have that term catch on to the extent that mixtape has. We're still waiting for someone to come up with that term - suggestion welcome.

The Non-Exclusive Exclusive: This one's a personal pet peeve. Not a day goes by without an "Exclusive New Track" email popping up in my inbox. The word "exclusive," by its very definition, means limited to one person or a small group. If you're blasting out an "exclusive" track to everyone on your contact list, it's actually the exact fucking opposite of an exclusive.

I know a lot of you rightfully don't really care about the travails of a rap blogger, so let me put this in terms everyone can understand. The exclusive email blast is the equivalent of your girl telling you "Baby, I swear I've been faithful to you, you're the only one....expect for that one time the entire Carolina Panthers offensive line ran a train on me."

Leak: A leak is an un-authorized release of a track, against the wishes of the artist and the label (aka the leak of J. Cole's "Lost Ones"). If you record a song, sit down with your marketing team, create artwork, then blast it out to all the blogs, that's not a leak. Sorry, I know calling it a "leak" is more exciting, but that's just a regular ass release.

"Officer, it was horrible, this guy broke into my house and stole my TV. Well, actually I called him up, invited him over, opened the door, handed him the TV and then paid for his cab home, but still!!!"

"Produced By/Featuring": Hey rappers, here's an easy rule to follow. Does the producer have any fucking idea who you are? If not, then they probably didn't produce your song, you just sampled their shit, or more likely stole it outright. And the same goes for features. If you drop a freestyle over "Ni**as in Paris" but leave Kanye's verse in, don't send me an email with the subject line "New Song ft. Kanye West!" Yeah, he was a feature, on someone else's album. You're just a guy with Pro Tools.

"Highly Anticipated": One of the most overused terms in the game. Oh really? Your new "highly anticipated" mixtape "Money Click Squad Presents: Getting Money While in the Click Squad Vol. 7" is finally here? That's funny, because I literally don't know a single person who knows the project existed, let alone was anticipating it, let alone was anticipating it highly.

Look, I get that "moderately anticipated" or "not at all" anticipated" doesn't exactly sound cool, so instead of lying how about you just drop the term entirely. Thanks.