mixtape

noun

mix·​tape ˈmiks-ˌtāp 

variants or less commonly mix tape

plural mixtapes also mix tapes

1

: a noncommercial compilation of songs copied (as onto a cassette tape or a CD) from various sources

In high school, I'd be making mixtapes for friends and girls instead of doing my homework, spending hours perfecting how a Smiths song and Joy Division song and Pixies song would convey the way I feel.

—Aaron Axelsen, quoted at SFGate.com

Writers like Nick Hornby have imbued the cassette tape with considerable romance, in particular the mix tape created for a loved one. In practice, these were often recorded directly from the radio, requiring your typical suburban suitor to sit around for hours on end, waiting for the desired track to appear.

—Richard Glover

2

: an album that is usually recorded and distributed without the involvement of a record label

The mixtape is an unofficial release. It might be tied to an imprint or a label, but it doesn't necessarily appear in stores. In fact, most of them can be purchased only on the streets, at the clubs, from the trunks of cars or from the artists themselves.

—Lance Scott Walker

Long before rap got any radio love, mixtapes were the main form of distribution, the currency that kept everything in rotation as the culture evolved.

—Sidney Madden and Rodney Carmichael

High-fidelity and laden with hits, So Far Gone had the sheen of a professional studio album, and it popularized the idea of mixtapes as low-pressure showcases for burgeoning artists.

—Jonah Bromwich

Examples of mixtape in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Tierra Whack flexes cartoonishly imaginative wordplay on a back-to-basics mixtape that highlights her role as a bridge between generations of Philly punchline rap. — Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 24 June 2026

The singer and rapper began releasing mixtapes in 2012 and dropped her first album, Lizzobangers, in the fall of 2013. — Hugh McIntyre, Forbes.com, 19 June 2026

Dial Up Festival is designed as a celebration of the generation raised on mixtapes, mall culture, music videos, disposable cameras, VHS rentals and early internet life. — Spin Staff, SPIN, 18 June 2026

The teams have to write out their mixtape lists on a dry-erase board styled like a cassette, with the night shift guessing the day shift’s themes based on their song titles. — Tasha Robinson, Vulture, 16 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1985, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for mixtape

• agape
• escape
• landscape
• lenape
• reshape
• seascape
• soundscape
• ape
• cape
• crape
• crepe
• drape