I was on a Zoom call a couple of months ago when I heard a sister say, “I’m an 80s baby.” I thought about what that meant, especially after the nostalgia I experienced attending the Hip Hop Literacy workshop class on Mixtapes at Brooklyn Public Library. Sommer of the Mixtape Museum and Dr Kashema Hutchinson led the discussion/workshop, Mixtapes: More than Just a Playlist, the history of cassette tapes and it being the genesis of mixtapes.
The discussion brought up vivid memories for me. Maxell compact cassette tapes and putting a pencil in a cassette tape spool to reel in the loose brown tape after undoing knots from it being jammed.
A big part of growing up in the New York Tristate area in the late 80s into the 90s was the music. My parents wouldn’t always approve of the music I was listening to. I couldn’t think of asking my parents to buy the cassette single tapes everyone was bumpin’ in the summer of 90’- “I’ll Do For You,” “Slow Down,” or in 91’, “I Wanna Sex You Up” or “Forever My Lady.” But the cassette single tape that I easily squeezed out of my rigid Jamaican pops was “Everyday People” by Arrested Development.
He’d play it while we were driving in the car and tell me it was a catchy kind of song and rhythm- yea ok Daddy less on the commentary more turning up the volume. But there were ways around not getting what I wanted at Tower Records in the presence of my parents. I saved up my allowance to buy a pack of blank 90 min cassette tapes and recorded the hits from off the radio.
Back in those days, the radio was it; The Quiet Storm and Caribbean Fever on WBLS, Funk Master Flex, DJ Red Alert, Massive B Sounds- Bobby Konders and Jabba and others. I had to plan my time just right and stay locked into my favorite radio frequencies to record the songs that I liked and stop just before commercial breaks. I would let my mood guide me and compiled songs that had certain themes like a mixtape with all Hip Hop dance tracks or a certain genre like house music. I would make it for myself, for a particular friend or for a party I was going to and wanted to make sure the music was all the hits.
So back to the Hip Hop class on Mixtapes where Sommer and Dr Kashema had given us an activity by the end of class to create our own mixtapes with an accompanying J-card. I went all in! The mood would be 70s-80s disco; love and soul (like Soul Train line soul) for the mature crowd-lovers and single folks.
Each selected track met a certain length criteria, had a bass line that made your body feel good and made dancin’ in time with the tempo and melodies compulsory.
| Side A | Side B |
|---|---|
| Johnnie Taylor – Disco Lady | The Whispers- It’s A Love Thing |
| Faith, Hope & Charity – To Each His Own | Central Line- Walking Into Sunshine |
| George McRae – Rock Your Baby | The Temptations- Treat Her Like A Lady |
| Hues Corporation – Rock the Boat | Shalamar- The Second Time Around |
| MFSB – TSOP | McFadden & Whitehead- I Heard It In a Love Song |
| Tavares – Don’t Take Away the Music | Sunrize- You Are The One |
| The O’Jays – I Love Music | Coffee- Casanova |
| The Trammps – That’s Where the | The Jones Girls- Dance Turned Into A Romance |
| That’s Where the Happy People Go | Teena Marie- I Need Your Lovin |
| Brass Construction – Movin | Gino Soccio- Try It Out |
| The Trammps – Stop & Think | Starpoint- Bring Your Sweet Loving Back |
| Jesse Green – Nice and Slow | Gwen Guthrie- It Should Have Been You |
| Edwin Starr – Contact | Odyssey- Inside Out |
| Sylvester- You Make Me Feel | Sylvia Striplin- Give Me Your Love |
| B.T. Express – Energy to Burn | Aretha Franklin- Jump To It |
| Patricia Rushen – Haven’t You Heard | Alicia Meyers- Say, Say, Say |
| Rare Pleasure – Let Me Down Easy | Gladys Knight & The Pips- Save The Overtime For Me |
| T Connection – Do What You Wanna Do | |
| Tempest Trio- Do You Like The Way It Feels | |
| Two Tons O’ Fun- Just Us |
The final touch would be to zhuzh up my J-card with digital graphic design artwork that was reminiscent of disco- jheri curls and afros. Then I’d type up the track list in the order the tracks were played. Back in the day this was all done by hand. I remember I would draw symbols on one side of the J-card and write in cursive, block or bubble letters as neat and artistic as I could fudge it on those tightly spaced J-card lines (trying my best not to make mistakes). I was definitely thankful for the graphic design tools I was using now in this last step. And there…I had it. I was proud of my product. My first mixtape since the 90s, even if it was just for a class exercise…
