The 10 Best Mixtape Covers Of 2011

The line between mixtape and album is steadily blurring. Classifying the mixtape now as something "we got for free" seems rude, and it also undermines the increased effort these projects receive. Furthermore, it is not just in the music that improvement is evident.

Mixtapes are becoming total packages.

2011, we're inclined to boldly proclaim, was the year mixtape cover art reached new creative heights. The themes were varied, and the artistic mediums utilized were impressive too. From illustration to photography, with a keen mix of typography thrown in, mixtapes in 2011 got slicker as the stakes grew higher. After all, 2 Chainz says he turned a mixtape to a mansion. Tough to do with MS Paint cover art.

We've ranked the 25 best mixtapes, now check The 10 Best Mixtape Covers of 2011.

If you are going to sing about all sorts of depressing, post-divorce stuff, shield those feelings in a slick package. Mr. Nash knows just how to do it. 1977 set gold standard for R&B mixtape covers in 2011.

Banks favors a gritty NYC aesthetic, that much is clear. If The Cold Corner 2 failed to find the hearts of listeners, the cover art managed to illicit some emotion. Is a weeping Statue of Liberty a sign of our times?

To suggest that the cover for TRU.RELIGION matches 2 Chainz's humor to a "T", well, that's an understatement. The absurdity of it all makes total sense, and what it lacks in artistic merit, the cover makes up for in deftly packaging the assembled songs and portraying the tongue-in-cheek trap star perfectly.

Instantly classic, the art for Rocky's highly anticipated, woozy debut set a tone for both solo artist and extended crew.

Over the years, Curren$y has delivered some memorable cover art. He's borrowed from video games (Tecmo Super Bowl), for example, and generally struck cord with nods to '80s popular culture. Covert Coupe comes off more seriously. Still, it is an effective romp and signals a turn from his recent sonic trips with Ski Beatz to a (slightly tighter) musical journey with Alchemist.

Three cheers for chaotic illustration. Gibbs connection with LRG for the Cold Day In Hell release yields a memorable cover (and more memorable music). Midwestern hallmarks are all over this one —crumbling factories, late model American whips, and strip club residue. Solid stuff.

With enough iconography to dizzy the average man, Krit's Return Of 4 Eva cover art manages to sell the Southern scene rather neatly despite the clutter. Cars, dogs, and women are hard to fault in hip-hop art. Return of 4 Eva offers all in a unique frame.

Yeah, we ranked the Weeknd's House Of Balloons 2011's best mixtape. Sonically, the decision is sound. Artistically, the Weeknd get praise for a consistent aesthetic no better represented than in this cover. The tone is decidedly odd, fitting of slightly strange R&B with a healthy dose of heavy party recovery.

When mining 1970s blaxsploitation and rock n' roll, the margin for error is high. But, big wins are really big and Danny Brown's XXX cover succeeds in setting tone and perfectly paying homage to an era long passed.

Wow. Few albums manage to mix a half-nerd, half-gangster aesthetic so easily. Fittingly, few album covers manage to reflect "only-in-NYC" oddity with such aplomb. A train wreck from which we can't look away, Lost In Translation wins for this (ultimately pretty disgusting) photo cover. Hats off, Exquire.