The hip hop world has a unique history of artists co-opting each others’ work, a phenomenon that probably has more to do with the process of producing a rap album than some special culture. When a rock outfit wants to pay tribute to another band, they learn the chords, do a half-assed impression of the singer’s voice and get on with it. Not so in rap, where downloading a beat and rapping the same words over it could be accomplished by a functioning moron. (We’ll ignore all the functioning morons who write their own verses for now.) Instead, rappers big and small take collections of hot beats someone else probably bought from a producer and re-write the songs to create a mixtape. But does this constant recycling of material stifle hip-hop’s progress?

Believe me, I would love to steal all of his ideas. But for now, this will have to do.

It’s time for this editor to debate the only person with the stones to take himself on. Here’s a little feature we’ll call: Challenging Opponent™.

Yasseb: Let’s face it, rappers are attracted to mixtapes for the same reasons you’re attracted to that Arby’s off the highway – you’re lazy, and it’s the only thing around.

Bassey: But mixtapes are the heart and soul of hip-hop. It’s a community based on sharing ideas and ideals. When one artist pays tribute to another by riffing off his song…

Yasseb: What, an angel ejaculates? Get over it. All that happens is a lazier rapper makes 4 bucks a pop.

Bassey: Sometimes. But most mixtapes are free, and put up on sites like datpiff.com for the love of an art.

Yasseb: Love of an art? You can’t actually believe that, have you even been to that site lately? It’s all musty with the dank armpit stench of self-promoting hacks secretly hoping bored evil empire (Def Jam) execs love their fresh lyrical take on TI’s “Big things Poppin’”

Bassey: Come on, people might have secret motives for everything, but what’s so wrong with wanting to be heard, expressing yourself to a wide audience?

Yasseb: Oh yeah, my deepest emotional feelings are best summarized over a Lil’ Jon beat. Definitely won’t be making slight alterations to his lyrics that are almost clever. Definitely won’t mention how many platinum chains I would steal from a drug dealer who shot my fictional friend. Nope. Definitely won’t be doing that.

Bassey: Wow, so you proved your point – there’s bad music out there, I get it. But that’s not exclusive to mixtapes. In fact, I’d venture to say that when you average it all out, mixtapes have more lyrical quality because the artist is taking a song they love and rewriting poetry that’s about their struggles.

Yasseb: Yeah, their struggle to use another artists’ beats as a cheap vehicle to draw attention to themselves.

Bassey: I don’t get it, what’s with the cynicism? Wanting your music heard doesn’t make you a publicity hound… unless its rap music, right?

Yasseb: No. There’s nothing wrong with wanting your music heard, but that’s different from getting someone else’s music heard with your nasaly lame voice over it.

Bassey: Ridiculous, established artists with totally non-annoying voices have been on mixtapes since the beginning. Rap wouldn’t be what it is today without all those great mixtapes on the street giving young artists a chance.

Yasseb: True, rap wouldn’t have gotten where it is today, but where has it gone lately? Once one guy gets famous, 10 more rappers from the same area piggyback his style and render it lame. These remixes turn cheating off another guy into a culture. It’s like Common said, “So many rhymes about rims, I’m surprised niggas ain’t become tires.”

Bassey: Ahah! You forget about Common’s little known 1991 mixtape, “Unamerican Caravan.”

Yasseb: Maybe… wait a second, those were all original beats!

Bassey: Really?

Yasseb: I don’t know, beats in 1991 all sounded the same.

Bassey: Alright, maybe we can just agree that you are…

Yasseb, Bassey: A challenging opponent.