] When 50 Cent's LP, Get Rich or Die Tryin', dropped on
] February 6, it was something like the 20th release of his
] career, though the first official album you could find
] from the rapper on the shelves at your favorite record
] store.
]
]
] 50, the latest star to come out of Eminem and Dr. Dre's
] Shady/Aftermath camp, had already found great success in
] the music industry. But not that music industry. The
] other music industry, the one where labels don't exist
] and there are no highly paid Lizzie Grubmans to publicize
] your new release, where the CDs are sold by vendors
] hawking them off dirty blankets on city streets, and
] bootlegging is encouraged. Welcome to the world of
] mixtapes %u2014 artists as big as P. Diddy use mixtapes
] as radio for the streets, and new rappers will do
] anything they can to get on them if they want to make a
] name for themselves.

MTV.com: Mixtapes: The Other Music Industry