#FIRSTLOOK: “MIXTAPE” DOCUMENTARY COMING TO PARAMOUNT+

Paramount+ today announced that MIXTAPE, a new documentary exploring how the creation of mixtapes launched hip hop into mainstream culture, will premiere exclusively on the service Tuesday, August 1 in the U.S. and Canada and Wednesday, August 2, 2023 in the U.K., Australia, Latin America and Brazil, with further international markets to follow later in the year.

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.

“Hip-Hop is 50 years old and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate its journey and contextualize its evolution than through the story of the mixtape. Every voice in this film played a critical role, especially the DJs who, as KRS-ONE says beautifully in the film, risked everything to ‘bring us the music’,” said Omar Acosta, director of MIXTAPE. Producer Tony Touch added “it’s an honor to be involved in this film and to help tell the real story of the mixtape, its origins, its impact, and its on-going relevance for the culture.”

The documentary features 2 Chainz, A$AP Rocky, Dante Ross, DJ Bobbito, DJ Clue, DJ Drama, DJ Enuff, DJ Green Lantern, DJ Jazzy Joyce, DJ Kay Slay, DJ Khaled, DJ S&S, DJ Scratch, DJ Stretch Armstrong, DJ Whoo Kid, Doo Wop, Fabolous, Fat Joe, Funkmaster Flex, The Game, Grandmaster Caz, Jadakiss, James Cruz, Jeezy, Kid Capri, Kool DJ Red Alert, KRS-One, Lil Wayne, Mark Ronson, Mike Tyson, N.O.R.E., Ron G, Shaq, Tommy Hilfiger, Tony Touch, Trouble, Tuma Basa and more.

MIXTAPE is produced by MTV Entertainment Studios, Mercury Studios and Saboteur Media in association with Def Jam Recordings. David Kennedy, Tony Touch, Nick Quested and Daniel Seliger serve as producers with executive producers Paul Rosenberg and Barak Moffit. The film is directed and produced by Omar Acosta (Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives). The Def Tape, the official soundtrack to MIXTAPE, is set for an August release via Def Jam Recordings.

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW TRAILER FOR “MIXTAPE”

This looks so sweet! Check-out the new Trailer for MIXTAPE, coming soon to Netflix. Fun fact: One of its stars Olga Petsa was just in Toronto filming a project with Rachel Sennott of Shiva Baby!

Synopsis:

On the eve of Y2k, orphaned, awkward 12-year-old Beverly Moody (Gemma Brooke Allen) discovers a broken mixtape crafted by her teen parents who died in a car accident when she was a baby. Raised by her grandmother Gail (Julie Bowen), a former teen mom herself who finds it painful to speak about her late daughter, Beverly sees this mixtape as a chance to finally learn more about her parents. So she sets out on a journey to find all the songs on the tape. Along the way, she makes friends with her quirky neighbor, Ellen (Audrey Hsieh); intimidatingly tough, Nicky (Olga Petsa); and Anti (Nick Thune), an anti-everything record store owner who’s the key to finding these tracks, and a renewed bond between Gail and Beverly.

MIXTAPE arrives December 3, 2021 on Netflix.

(Photo/video credit: Netflix)