15 Mixtapes That Should Have Won Grammys

Image via Complex Original

Wiz Khalifa's official albums have been commercially successful, but this 2010 mixtape stands as the truest expression of his red-eyed artistic vision. From "Waken Baken" on down, Wiz sticks to the script with laser-like focus. As the artist explained to former Complex scribe Insanul Ahmed, "That mixtape is raw, I did what I wanted to do. You can't do that on an album because other people gotta eat off that album." —Rob Kenner

The day Acid Rap came out was the first time the Chicago hip-hop website Fake Shore Drive had crashed since the G.O.O.D. Music "Don't Like" remix dropped. And it's a safe bet that all the people who had been awaiting it, whether they made a successful trip to Chicago's premier hip-hop blog or grabbed the first link from whichever obscure file hosting site they found, once they got it, they were stuck on it for the rest of the day. This is an album that compelled you to listen all the way through. —Alexander Gleckman

People tend to forget: Drake was two mixtapes in at the beginning of 2009. Two mixtapes that had promise, sure: You could see Drake's ideas, where they were going, maybe even glimmers of potential. But it wasn't until So Far Gone that his career kicked into hyperdrive. Plenty of rappers brag about being something people have never seen before, but do they want it? So Far Gone was a resounding answer: Yes. It had everything. This was a mixtape that featured Lil Wayne and Bun B right next to of-the-moment indie acts Peter, Bjorn & John, Santigold, and Lykke Li. It trafficked in chopped-and-screwed Houston rap ("November 18th"), perfectly flossy Young Money rap ("Ignorant Shit"), and an unstoppable song-of-the-summer breakout hit ("Best I Ever Had"). —Foster Kamer

Tinashe is maximally playful and, coincidentally, at her most confident on Amethyst. She rejects boys left and right. She fuels a summertime siren on “Wrong,” with a voice that slithers through Auto-Tune refraction. At Jezebel, the critic Julianne Escobedo Shepherd cast Amethyst as "g-funk for a new, womanist Los Angeles," and indeed, Amethyst was one of 2015's strongest coming-of-age R&B projects, second only to Bieber if we expand that distinction to include pop. Given the singular, streamlined cockiness of Amethyst, you'd maybe never guess that this seven-track mixtape employed nine producers, including DJ Dahi and Ryan Hemsworth. —Justin Charity

Rick Ross understands that beat selection is not something to be trivialized in rap. His gargantuan persona is directly paralleled by the beats he chooses, and this deadly combination reached its apex on Rich Forever, the Titantic of mixtapes. Overflowing with excess, Rich Forever instills the most hedonistic of values in listeners as they play along with the Teflon Don in his fantasy world of lofty thread counts and two-seater coupes. Features by Drake, 2 Chainz, Diddy, Meek Mill, and Birdman add to the voluminosity—not that Ross needs help. Consider Rich Forever the mixtape equivalent of a Michael Bay film: If you're going to blow something up, make sure it looks pretty and everyone gets to see it. —Alysa Lechner

The Weeknd’s brand of withdrawn bacchanal was always destined for greatness, so him settling onto his perch as a deviant pop star is unsurprising. What’s equally unsurprising is that his ascent required the sacrifice of his mystique. When he unveiled his likeness, he developed an identifier: the hair. His music has evolved with his confidence, and Beauty Behind the Madness represents the polished middle ground between unscrupulous impulses and sobering radio bait, but still feels reigned in. The Weeknd shines brightest when unbound; when his sole concern with beauty comes from a place of depravity. That’s what House of Balloons brought—the drugs, the pain, and the Weeknd reaching an unparalleled artistic height by reveling in the lure of life's ugliness. —Julian Kimble

I remember it so clearly: The first time I heard A$AP Rocky's "Purple Swag" and later "Pe$o," I knew he had something going for him. Many rappers search for years trying to find a voice and a sound, but what those songs suggested was that the Harlem rookie already had a fully defined aesthetic. When his mixtape finally dropped, our greatest hopes came true. Rocky draws inspiration from Houston and borrow flows from Bone Thugs and UGK, but that doesn't make him any less of his own artist. Despite his laid-back persona, he comes off as electric and precise on the microphone. The beats on the mixtape, mostly courtesy of Clams Casino and A$AP Ty Beats, bang so hard they bring Houston to Harlem. As Rocky says on "Purple Swag," "I'm Texas trill, Texas trill, but in NY we spit it slow." — Insanul Ahmed

Frank Ocean's debut Nostalgia, Ultra. garnered a cult following shortly after its release. Almost immediately, Def Jam execs swooped in to make a profit by negotiating a deal to re-release the singles "Novacane" and "Swim Good." Nevertheless, this mixtape shaped 2011 in a way that few others did, and laid the foundation for the genre-blending masterpiece Channel Orange. —Brooklyne Gipson

Kid Cudi's first mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi, was a perfect entrance into the rap game. It was a strong enough compilation of tracks to gain the attention of Kanye West, land Cudi a spot on 808s and Heartbreaks, and get him signed to Universal. Haunting lyrics, powerful beats, and glimpses of the rock-star lifestyle were woven throughout every track, every hook, every note. The samples were incredibly diverse—from Band of Horses' "The Funeral" to Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover." "Day N Nite" became a commercial success, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and Cudi's career was off to races from there. Still, he never let his fame get in the way of his creativity, or let himself forget that Cleveland is the reason. —Lauren Nostro

As we brave an era in which hasty (un)edited mixtapes trump thrice-delayed studio albums, expectation-wise, I'm hard pressed to find tapes worth their runtime. (Honorable shouts to Lil Herb and Shy Glizzy in this regard.) Rich Gang's premise was initially perplexing; Rich Homie Quan was a workaday trap chanter, whereas Young Thug was a weirdo rapper who not even weirdo rapper parishioners can quite decipher. RHQ and Thug are both workaday trap mumblers, however, and Tha Tour Pt. 1 did the additional miracle of proving that both of these scruffy motherfuckers could rap. “Freestyle” opens with RHQ spitting my favorite eight bars of 2014: "My baby momma just put me on child support/Fuck a warrant, I ain't going to court/Don't care what them white folks say, I just wanna see my lil boy/Go to school, be a man, and sign up for college, boy/Don't be a fool, be a man” On “Givenchy,” “Milk Marie,” and “Tell Em (Lies),” Thug spits like he's got not one, but four recording contracts. Like his life and label advances depend upon it; though he likely sings to trees for free. —Justin Charity

On this 12-track project, featuring production from Metro Boomin, WondaGurl, Vinylz, and more, Travi$ Scott throws all conventions to the side and takes fans on a dark and twisted ride through his 22-year-old mind. He sings about this on his song "Zombie," where the chorus goes, "We will understand if they don't/We don't want they bullshit no more." There's a brief interlude, where Scott says, "You know when I was 14, I wanted to do a lot of kick-ass shit," before alluding to his current successes; for an artist whose favorite rapper is Kid Cudi, he's reached that "Man on the Moon" confidence. You know, the "Guess if I was simple in the mind/Everything would be fine" level of insanity and brilliance, of youth and eccentricity that kids can relate to. —Lauren Nostro

It seems weird now, but there was a time when no one believed in Big Sean. Then he shifted everyone's perception the good, old-fashioned way: with hard work and improved performance. The signs were there on his debut, Finally Famous, they became a premonition on G.O.O.D. Music singles "Mercy" and "Clique," and his Detroit mixtape was the affirmation. With this release, Big Sean established himself as a virtuoso for a very particular brand of witty, idiosyncratic, new age rap. "RWT" was an awe-inspiring flex of technique. "Mula" signified the arrival of a legitimate contender for hip-hop's contemporary throne. —Ernest Baker

Remember when you knew a couple of Meek Mill songs, but had no idea who he was personally? That changed when Dreamchasers 2, anchored by a few massive hits, broke the personality behind those decibel-shifting yells. It's with this mixtape that we learned "Ima Boss" wasn't a lucky strike by proxy of Meek's mentor, Rick Ross. On this project, Meek proved that he's a wholly capable solo artist, one who can fearlessly compete alongside the most revered artists in hip-hop. He went bar for bar with Drake on "Amen," Big Sean on "Burn," Kendrick Lamar on "A1 Everything," and emerged as the most intractable character in each instance. —Ernest Baker

Monster was the first of three mixtapes that helped Future become a rap superstar. "Fuck Up Some Commas," “Monster,” “My Savages,” 2 Pac,” “Gangland,” “Wesley Presley,” and “Codeine Crazy” are all bangers. More importantly, the songs sound mixed and mastered like they would on an official release. Some mixtapes sound like the artist's cousin recorded them in a basement. But not this. Future was able to establish his new sound and impart his influence on a younger generation of rappers. There would be no Desiigner without Monster. —Angel Diaz

Even J. Cole is upset Friday Night Lights didn't come with a bar code. He has admitted most of these songs were earmarked for his debut album, which, when released, garnered the lowest critical opinion of all of his projects. But underwhelming or not, Cole's Sideline Story wouldn't have managed that impressive debut that solidified his foothold in the game without the metaphorical sacrificial lamb that is FNL. So, yeah, Cole released songs as potent and urgent as "Enchanted" and "Farewell" for free, but his loyal fanbase got that much stronger. The bandwagon overflowed to the tune of 218,00 copies sold in the first week of his first album. Fair trade?—Frazier Tharpe