Mixtape · 1992

The Year In Rap

hip-hop mixtape year in rap laze 1992

Tracklist

1Laze - The Year in Rap 1992 - Side A46:18
2Laze - The Year in Rap 1992 - Side B46:28

About

Back in 1992, I was 17-years-old, filled with love for hip-hop at a time that most of my peers were moving onto other genres. A friend and I were making (admittedly pretty awful) music and I was armed with a good quality dual-cassette deck. Beginning in 1992 and going through 1995 I compiled the best hip-hop singles and soundtrack appearances into a 90-minute collection and sold them to friends and online. It was a great time. Here is the first of the four editions of The Year in Rap . This one isn’t mixed or blended, as I didn’t own a 4-track or mixer, so it’s a pretty straightforward compilation. Just using a tape deck didn’t stop me from trying to make it sound like I was using vinyl, though, even faking the sound of a record stopping and doing a “remix” of Tung Twista’s “Mr. Tung Twista” by using the pause-tape method of switching between the acapella and vocal versions of the track. In this era where pretty much every great mixtape has found its way online, this one certainly isn’t one of the best or most sought-after, but it does hold some treats. For a few of the tracks, I opted to use versions I’d heard on the radio, so you’ll hear DJ Jay-Ski and DJ Kam unknowingly participating on my mixtape (the version of “Dwyck” is especially dope). And while there aren’t any seriously rare joints here, it probably is one of the few “year in review” mixes that includes Raheem and Insane Poetry alongside Naughty By Nature and Roxanne Shante. This is the least interesting (and least technically proficient) of the four tapes in the series, but after listening to it today for the first time in probably ten years, I can say it’s still a good listen. The j-card (remember those?) is handmade, printed from my old Apple II compatible onto a dot-matrix printer. The shout-outs are embarrassing and the references to a SASE, Dolby B, and HX Pro are quaint. Enjoy.

Source ID: TheYearInRap1992