Greatest Mixtape Ever Made

I am on a music kick today, and I found out our audio player is working again (kick ass.) So on that note, I bring you the GREATEST MIXTAPE EVER MADE!

What exactly is the GREATEST MIXTAPE EVER MADE you ask? Why it would be Bad Boy Volume 3, Mixed by Stretch Armstrong and hosted by Puff Daddy releaseed circa 1995

Cover art for the mixtape

Check out the tracklisting:

Side A:

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1. The Lox & The Notorious B.I.G. – You’ll See
2. Nas, Kamikaze & Cormega – On The Real
3. Das EFX & Mobb Deep – Microphone Master (Remix)
4. M.O.P. – Raise Hell
5. The Fugees – Fu-Gee-La
6. Redman – Funkorama
7. Blahzay Blah – Danger Part II
8. Jay-Z – Dead Presidents
9. AZ – Freestyle
10. Jay-Z – Freestyle
11. Foxy Brown – Freestyle
12. The Fab 5 (OGC & Heltah Skeltah) – Lefleur Leflah Eskoshka
13. Big Noyd & Prodigy – Recognize & Realize
14. LL Cool J – Doin It

Side B:

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1. Puff Daddy – Intro
2. Total – Someone Like You
3. D’Angelo & AZ – Lady (DJ Premier Remix)
4. The Lost Boyz – Renee (Remix)
5. R. Kelly & The Notorious B.I.G. – Be Happy
6. Total, Foxy Brown, Lil Kim & Da Brat – No One Else (Remix)
7. Redman – Freestyle
8. Busta Rhymes – Freestyle
9. Busta Rhymes – Woo Hah
10. Wu Tang Clan – Winter Warz
11. Mobb Deep – Still Shinin
12. Ghostface – Motherless Child
13. Erick Sermon – Maintain
14. OC – Love & Affection

Look at that line up and tell me it gets much more classic than that. It’s an amazing mix of NYC superstars at various stages of their career, but all are arguably either in or heading into their prime. It’s got underground classics that you just cannot find anywhere (”You’ll See,” “Raise Hell,” the “Microphone Master” remix, “Love and Affection.”) It’s got Puffy making a prophetic statement about Lauryn Hill (”Honey right there is hot!” – remember “Fu-Gee-La” was the single BEFORE “Killing Me Softly” made The Score sell a billion records or whatever the final total was.)

It’s just an amazing mixtape, free from the constraints of the modern mixtape that requires 20 tracks of “freestyles” from terrible one-hit-wonder-at-best emcees dissing some no count. There are exceptions to the rule: 50 Cent’s I’m Rising to the Top is the shit, the Little Brother and Clipse mixtapes might as well be albums, and Rhymefest’s Man in the Mirror is a masterpiece. But for the most part, the term “modern mixtape” is synonymous with “garbage.”

Bad Boy Volume 3 brings back many, many, many fond memories, so enjoy. Shouts to http://djsoulnyc.blogspot.com/. I must have downloaded this from them back in the day, as it’s credited in the meta data on the mp3. I wish I could take credit for the rip, but I popped my tape a loooooong time ago.