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

Allen then created a Myspace account to post her mixtapes and demos, hoping to build her own following. —Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Apr. 2026

In 2019, Offset decided to go solo and has since released three studio albums and a mixtape. —Steven J. Horowitz, Variety, 7 Apr. 2026

The half-industrial, half-heavenly record was recorded on the brink of a real-life meltdown; the substances Lean had rapped about so brazenly during his adolescent mixtape era would nearly claim his life. —Billie Bugara, Pitchfork, 1 Apr. 2026

Glover has released five studio albums under his alter ego, as well as more than a dozen mixtapes and four EPs. —Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 31 Mar. 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