I miss mixtapes. They gave us a completely different perspective on our favorite artists.

I never need to be the guy who says, “hip-hop was better back in the day.” When I turned 30, I promised myself I would never be that. But music culture is made for the young, and the music culture of your youth will all the time be closest to your heart. The older you get, the more effort it takes to welcome recent developments in music culture into your heart. You must be conscious and diligent to not say, “back in my day, it was better.” But you possibly can say, back in my day, it was different. And you possibly can say I miss among the things that were common years ago.

A number of years ago, within the 90s and 00s, there was a strong mixtape culture. I really miss mixtapes. I know that word gets thrown around here and there, but I’m telling you, mixtapes was a thing.And a whole book about mixtapes was released last 12 months titled “Do Remember!: The Golden Era of New York Hip-Hop Mixtapes.”

You needed to know where to go to search out them—there was normally a vendor on Flatbush Avenue or one hundred and twenty fifth Street or wherever; you could not normally get them in stores. And they were fleeting. You had to purchase recent ones quickly, or they might be gone endlessly.

Mixtapes featured a big selection of artists—some well-known, some underground. Sometimes a star would rhyme in another way than usual or say crazy things they wouldn’t say of their mainstream work. Sometimes someone out of nowhere would outdo established professionals and make a name for themselves.

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Mixtape culture was underground. These were songs made specifically for die-hard fans. Artists knew that only die-hard fans would put in the hassle to exit and find these unadvertised mixtapes, so the rhymes they spat out and the styles they tried were intended for music snobs.

Mixtapes flourished within the pre-internet era because that was when you possibly can have a true underground scene. A giant star like Nas or Raekwon could jump on a mixtape and know that his rhymes weren’t going to succeed in everyone’s ears. They were appealing to their most hardcore fans, so that they could push themselves further than they were willing to go on their albums. Today, you possibly can’t have a truly underground scene—one where stars mix with hopefuls—since the whole point of the underground is that artists are free to explore the more radical areas of the genre. On today’s web, anything a star says that’s truly radical or avant-garde would quickly turn into web fodder, and also you’d be judged by the masses, for higher or worse. With the stakes so high, it’s too dangerous for a star to play with an underground instrument just like the mixtape.

Also, back then, before the web, it was hard for smaller artists to get the eye of the culture, so smaller artists used mixtapes as a approach to get the eye of essentially the most serious hip-hop fans. But to do this, that they had to be cool, or they would not get noticed. 50 Cent made a big splash by releasing a few albums of fabric as free mixtapes before his debut. Mainstream hip-hop fans discovered who he was when he dropped “In Da Club,” however the more dedicated fans—the mixtape fans—already knew all about him. It was a really clever approach to introduce yourself to the culture.

Speaking of which, I miss the sketches. I loved a good sketch. It was one other way for rappers to speak who they were and what the vibe of the album was. Snoop’s sketches on “The Chronic,” De La Soul’s sketches on “De La Soul Is Dead,” and Wu-Tang’s sketches on a lot of their albums were essential to understanding who they were. It was one other way for them to be creative and make their albums greater than just music. Good sketches by some means made it feel like a cultural experience.

I’m not likely a “things were better back in my day” type of person, I love a lot of recent hip-hop and revel in the culture’s continued progression, but I’d wish to see a few of the most effective parts of the past come back.