Growing up in the 2010s was always interesting because you were kind of in the middle point of,

you know, the streaming era, but also the blog and the mixtape era, where, you know,

you had artists like Loein, you had J. Cole, you had people like even Drake releasing these

mixtapes to be able to garner steam that would then later lead up to maybe a grand studio album.

And there's still artists that do it to this day.

So, for example, Future in 2024 decided to release mixtape Pluto.

It's considered a mixtape.

It's on DSPs, though, so it is getting monetized.

But back then, it was really like, this is free music.

This is for you guys to enjoy.

Either we can't clear it because of sample clearances or, well, it doesn't

necessarily have that studio album feel. But with that being said, I want to say this. Just because

something doesn't have a studio album feel, it doesn't mean it's any less than a studio album. Because

looking at something like a 1999, which we're going to get into today, or even something like

a live- love ASAP,

you can make arguments that these are the best projects within those discography. So Lulek,

going through mixtapes, what do you look for as far as quality goes? And we're going to be

selecting the best and worst songs off these mixtapes. What was the criteria going into this?

Yeah, I mean, in terms of choosing the best and worst song, I just think it's the songs that have aged the best over the course of time because a lot of

these projects have been out for 10 plus years and, you know, just seeing which songs really

feel the most complete. And I do, I definitely do miss this era just because there was a certain

freedom that came about making a mixtape where you didn't have to worry about

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