In honor of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, Def Jam Recordings has released Tony Touch Presents The Def Tape—the Official Soundtrack to the new Paramount+ documentary MIXTAPE—on limited edition vinyl, cassette, and CD.
The album in all formats, along with special edition merch, can be found exclusively in the Def Jam store. The first official video from project is out now, for album standout “We Shot Ya” featuring Conway The Machine and Benny The Butcher. Check out the visual below.
The Def Tape serves as the companion album to MIXTAPE, the new documentary film from Paramount+ in association with MTV Entertainment Studios, Mercury Studios, and Def Jam Recordings. The film—which explores how the creation of mixtapes launched hip-hop into mainstream culture—is now streaming exclusively on Paramount+.
The album itself consists of 13 new original tracks recorded for the MIXTAPE and mixed by legendary DJ and producer Tony Touch. Among many highlights, Grammy Award-nominated gold-selling Harlem hip-hop heavyweight Dave East links up with superstar Teyana for the heartfelt and hypnotic “All I Need.”
Meanwhile, the late Trouble has delivered the powerful “Slippin” as his final recording, paying homage to another fallen Def Jam legend DMX and soundtracking a key moment in the film. Among the other on-screen anthems, Griselda marauders and elite MCs Conway The Machine and Benny The Butcher go bar-for-bar on the explosive “We Shot Ya,” and Jeezy and Rick Ross show up for the South on “Pablo’s Revere.”
Taking it way back, AZ, Doo Wop, and Lil Fame unapologetically lean into the old school energy on “Rampage 2.0.” The Def Tape captures the spirit of hip-hop’s past, present, and future on one of its most important mediums—the MIXTAPE.
MIXTAPE is the story of hip hop refusing to take no for an answer. Before radio play, the internet, and social media, there were mixtapes. DJs were tastemakers, trendsetters and creators of the sound that became the biggest musical genre on the planet.
The importance of mixtapes goes well beyond the tapes themselves. Mixtapes were a form of currency and a signifier that someone was “in the know” and had their ear to the streets. The culture was too strong to be stopped, and the artists were too talented to be ignored – so they turned the sub-culture into the mainstream, and made hip hop what it is today.
Buy or stream The Def Tape and accompanying merch.