Kehlani's 'While We Wait' Mixtape Is A Movement

Oakland, California artist Kehlani, feted for her throwback R&B vibes, has dropped 2019's first 'event' mixtape in While We Wait – which entered the US Albums chart Top 10. She even arranged for a one-day pop-up merch store in various cities – Sydney included – to coincide with its release. But maybe the greater revelation is that the supposedly ephemeral mixtape format has survived into the digital age. 

The mixtape is a staple of pop culture, curiously inspiring Netflix's upcoming television series, Mixtape – a "romantic musical drama". Pressing rewind, the mixtape originated in New York's hip hop scene and was linked to the DJ. It was never a mere compilation. At the outset, mixtapes were bootlegs of DJs' live sets. DJs soon assembled bespoke studio tapes, demonstrating their skills with beatmatching and occasionally scratching. Meanwhile, punters played the programmer, making personalised tapes. DJs relied on US Fair Use exemptions to avoid copyright legalities with tracks, and sample clearances, in distribution. But, with listeners feverishly collecting and exchanging mixtapes, DJs inevitably commodified them. Mixtapes were sold on the streets and through indie record shops. It was all very DIY.

Mixtapes were consistently innovative. The DJ Ron G pioneered blends – notably layering R&B a cappellas over hip hop beats. And the mixtape world generated its own stars. The wider music industry recognised the mixtape's A&R and marketing value, tacitly supporting it. These street albums provided an alternative to radio in exposing artists and amplifying buzz. The mixtape's unauthorised status added to the appeal for consumers. The Bronx rapper-cum-DJ Kid Capri was among the first to release a 'retail mixtape' on a major label, with 1991's The Tape dispersed through Warner. Mid-decade, Funkmaster Flex, the influential Hot 97 host, signed to Steve Rifkind's Loud Records, launching a bestselling mixtape brand. His The Mix Tape Vol 1: 60 Minutes Of Funk boasted freestyles by the likes of Lauryn Hill and the Fugees. Starting in 1990, Queens' DJ Clue? capitalised on his street clout to score exclusives – and leaks. Joining JAY-Z's Roc-A-Fella, Clue? took the retail mixtape concept further in 1998 with The Professional, using unreleased records. Tony Touch, another '90s mixtape stalwart, secured an Eminem (and D12) joint for his 2000 The Piece Maker on Tommy Boy – the lyrics depressingly homophobic.

In 2019, the Philadelphia-bred DJ Drama is known as the boss of the Generation Now imprint – its flagship act the disgruntled Lil Uzi Vert. But, beginning in the late '90s, he was a mixtape super-DJ. Drama's overground Gangsta Grillz series fuelled the Southern hip hop explosion. He also hosted mixtapes, like Lil Wayne's 2005 The Dedication. Bizarrely, despite his informal liaisons with labels, Drama's Atlanta HQ (alongside Don Cannon) was raided in a watershed piracy operation in 2007 – on the eve of his inaugural legit mixtape, Gangsta Grillz: The Album, for TI's Grand Hustle/Atlantic. Ironically, the major exploited the furore to plug him.

Though the mixtape was once associated with the cassette tape (now experiencing a revival), it retained its name even as the medium changed from CD to MP3. The mixtape spawned the 'producer' album (and DJ Khaled!). However, gradually, the format itself pivoted to the MCs – who would rap over others' beats or remix their tracks. Indeed, the artists wanted in on the kudos and the profits. Here, the Queens, NY gangsta rapper 50 Cent was a gamechanger. 50 was primed to drop his debut, Power Of The Dollar, on Columbia in 2000 when he was notoriously shot nine times. The label abandoned him, shelving his album. An undeterred 50 unleashed 2002's mixtape, Guess Who's Back?, drawing on his vault. It sufficiently impressed Eminem to pick him up for Shady Records. Fif simultaneously circulated more street mixtapes under the G-Unit banner, the first 50 Cent Is The Future. Working with DJ Whoo Kid, he flipped material by his heroes and peers, actually devising fresh hooks.

Today, the mixtape remains both a strategic promotional and creative vehicle, adapting to the rise of the blog, social media and streaming. The mixtape allows new talents to cultivate fanbases, while the established can sustain their profiles and sate audiences ever clamouring for product. Mixtapes might be as expensive to fulfil as LPs. Nonetheless, artists tour behind them, recouping on any outlay. The mixtape escalated hip hop's trend for collaboration. And it standardised curation as an art practice. The mixtape was the precursor, too, for new media such as the 'stealth' album and the "playlist" – as Drake designated 2017's eclectic, guest-laden More Life. ("I'm off, like, mixtapes," he stated. "I want to do a playlist. I want to give you a collection of songs that become the soundtrack to your life… All original music.")

Currently, Drake is still hip hop's biggest mixtape star. The Canadian broke through with 2009's So Far Gone – available for free, then commercially. To mark the project's 10th anniversary last month, Drake finally supplied it to streaming platforms (beef aside, Kanye West apparently approved the sample of his Say You Will for Say What's Real). In 2015 the artwork of Drake's If You're Reading This It's Too Lateprompted memes. Drake's copious Atlantan pal Future has had 20 mixtapes, several collaborative. In 2015 Drizzy teamed with Future Hendrix for What A Time To Be Alive.

Mixtapes serve other purposes. They afford an act credibility. Cardi B transitioned from social media personality and reality star to rap phenom with her Gangsta Bitch Music issues. Plus artists have utilised the mixtape to stay independent. Unsigned, Chance The Rapper's third mixtape, 2016's gospelised Coloring Book, became the first stream-exclusive album to win a Grammy (for 'Best Rap Album'). His bona fide "owbum" is expected this July… Like Chano, Young Thug is yet to offer an album, only mixtapes, regardless of his teasing. The Southern trailblazer, on Atlantic, went viral in 2016 with JEFFERY, initially because of the distinctive artwork depicting him in women's couture (the track titles pay homage to his "idols", one Harambe. Ostensibly, Thugger presented 2017's trap 'n' country Beautiful Thugger Girls, supervised by Drake, as his official debut. But, confusingly, it's been retroactively reclassified as a mixtape. In fact, so amorphous is the mixtape that the same release can be described as an album or EP.

The mixtape has been integral to avant 'n' B. In 2011, Frank Ocean, then a member of Odd Future, introduced himself with the cult nostalgia, ULTRA. Ocean's liberal, albeit subversive, use of samples caused drama – the Eagles objecting to him reformulating their Americana anthem Hotel California as American Wedding (mind, Al B Sure! had already transformed it into an R&B ballad back in 1990). Alas, although nostalgia, ULTRA dominated 'Best Of The Year' lists, Def Jam was unable to release it formally due to legalities. That same year, Toronto's mysterious The Weeknd aired the first of three mixtapes, House Of Balloons, sampling everyone from Siouxsie And The Banshees to Beach House to Aaliyah (whose Rock The Boat was the sole track Universal subsequently failed to clear for the Trilogy repackage). In 2013, Kelela signalled her arrival as an R&B futurist with Cut 4 Me, a free download on SoundCloud. In some ways, the R&B mixtape is now an aesthetic – Solange's recent When I Get Home less an 'album' than a mixtape traversing space and time. 

Because of the mixtape, artists like Drake have become selectors themselves, hosting digital radio shows. Last year alone, there were mixtapes from such diverse figures as UK rapper Stefflon Don (SECURE), Bhad Bhabie (15), and Jaden Smith (The Sunset Tapes: A Cool Tape Story). The London post-drill auteur Octavian topped the BBC Music Sound Of 2019 poll behind September's SPACEMAN. Closer to home, Sampa The Great won 2018's Australian Music Prize with her second mixtape, Birds And The BEE9. 

But back to Kehlani. The 23-year-old found early fame with the group POPLYFE, competing on America's Got Talent. Yet, as a solo artist, she acquired cachet through mixtapes, sharing Cloud 19 in 2014. Next, she dropped You Should Be Here – Chance The Rapper blessing the single The Way. This led to a deal with Atlantic. As crucial, You Should Be Here was nominated for a Grammy in the 'Best Urban Contemporary Album' field. Kehlani debuted officially with 2017's SweetSexySavage, praised for its clever modernising of '90s R&B. (She toured Australia later that year.)

Kehlani's quiet storm may not be the urban-pop sound favoured by commercial radio – with CRZY, conspicuously trappy, her signature chart single. Still, she's consolidated her profile with collabs like Zayn's wRoNg, Eminem's Nowhere Fast and Cardi B's Ring. Kehlani has also cut tracks for movies, lately contributing to A Wrinkle In Time. The singer, who identifies as pansexual, has emerged, too, as an LGBTQIA icon. A tastemaker, and a personality, she has a Beats 1 podcast, Sunday Gems, with Reyna Biddy (the poet prefacingSweetSexySavage). 

Possibly Kehlani considers While We Wait a stopgap between 'artist' albums. With the star announcing her pregnancy in October, the mixtape could be a baby shower gift for fans (she gave birth to a daughter, Adeya, with musician Javie Young-White last weekend). But, even at 30 minutes, While We Wait is a masterpiece. A sage Kehlani ruminates on the centrality of communication in relationships and explores new musical ideas. Besides, for her, the mixtape is a way to circumvent (radio) dictates. 

In contrast to SweetSexySavage, While We Wait is stashed with cameos (Musiq Soulchild, Dom Kennedy, 6LACK). The sleek lead single, Nights Like This, featuring Ty Dolla $ign, is the most pop-leaning song – being co-produced by Sir Nolan (Rita Ora). Kehlani addresses an ex-girlfriend about why their union ended. The UK contra-EDM combo Snakehips just remixed it, together with producer/vocalist B Lewis, having previously reconfigured Kehlani's 2014 tune Til The Morning. 

The opener Footsteps is a mid-tempo duet with Philly neo-soulster Musiq Soulchild that, while referencing Omarion's classic Ice Box, skittles like two-step garage. Kehlani, her soprano sweetly expressive, again laments a love that fractured due to a lack of emotional readiness. The mixtape's highlight is the grooving Morning Glory, which Kehlani recorded with Warren "Oak" Felder – heavily involved in SweetSexySavage. Kehlani articulates her need to be accepted for who she is. Morning Glory was meant to sample TLC's Waterfalls, but Kehlani couldn't license it in time – yet her rap recalls Left Eye. The song stands on its own, winding down with Laura Mvula-mode psychedelic choral stylings. Kehlani sings about fully knowing a new partner in Butterfly – redolent of Miguel's subliminal indie forays, but embellished with spoken word. The set closes with the post-trop Love Language, about lovers surmounting language barriers. Incredibly, it's co-helmed by the Aussie M-Phazes. The Gold Coaster is renowned for his credit on Eminem's Grammy-winning Marshall Mathers LP 2 but, before that, he produced material with Amerie – including her retro single Pretty Brown (featuring Trey Songz). Ultimately, Kehlani is embracing the mixtape to tap into her own 'nostalgia, ULTRA' zeitgeist, and to claim artistic and personal freedom. While We Wait is a mood – and a movement.