Before there was a website with a proper archive, before there was this newsletter there was a radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio. The mixtapekings.com crew had a platform before most people even knew what satellite radio was.
That show became a tape. MixtapeKings Radio Vol. 1, hosted and mixed by DJ Kast One, dropped in August 2005. 33 tracks. New York street rap at its peak. Styles P., Sheek Louch, Nas, Jae Millz, Saigon, Papoose, J.R. Writer, Kanye West, Talib Kweli all in one place before the industry had fully caught up to most of those names.
The format was simple: put you in the room. The live interviews cut in raw, the freestyles back to back, the March Madness exclusive cyphers, the Flop of the Week segment from co-host Black. It was not meant to feel like a conventional mixtape. It was meant to feel like you had just tuned in.
The full story breaks down how the show got on the air, the crew behind the boards, every artist on the tape and where they are now, and a special thanks to everyone who made history with mixtapekings.com and supported the movement along the way.
And if you make it all the way through the tape listen for the outro. Vol. 2 was announced. It never dropped. But the crate never got thrown away. You never know what might surface.
Experience the culture at mixtapekings.com — Diony C.