Normally this column is used to recommend local mixes worth hunting down. Since the last installment, though, a major national scandal has cut and scratched the mixtape world, possibly beyond repair.

Often these were raw, rough recordings of DJs and MCs in full flow in a live arena, but increasingly they became hip-hop’s version of the demo tape: an artist seeking to get himself signed or become ...

Liberating mixtapes from their physical form led to an expanding of the concept as well. Suddenly artists like Drake were making fully-fledged debut statements of purpose with barely a stolen beat.

When Chance the Rapper wonders out loud if he’s the only one who still cares about mixtapes in the middle of his new release Coloring Book, it’s hard not to scratch your head a little: This is a ...