Mixtape The Game - My Mixtape

Mixtapes are deeply personal things, which partially explains why there has been so much Mixtape discourse over the past week.

That's Mixtape the game, not the CD you burned for your school crush that was rammed with slow jams featuring filthy lyrics that soared over your head, or angst-ridden rock songs performed by men with guitars and feelings.

Mixtape the game, a coming-of-age adventure that follows a trio of teens on their last day in their hometown, before they head off on their own individual adventures. Each scene is accompanied by a real-world track selected by our protagonist, which she insists perfectly suits the situation in which it must be enjoyed. 

Depending on who you ask, Mixtape is either sublime or a bit wank. Maybe a bit of both.

Your enjoyment may hinge on how closely the events depicted resemble your late-teen adventures and whether or not the music successfully captures the feeling and emotions of those defining moments of your young adulthood. Personally, I didn't grow up in California, and the track selection has quite a narrow focus, one that doesn't align with my teenage tastes. However, given the attention it's received, and despite my usual disdain for coming-of-age fiction, I decided to give it a fair shake. I've only played an hour so far, but I like it enough to stick with it at least a little longer. I'll keep you posted.

Anyway, as I mentioned, deeply personal. So I thought I'd throw together a mixtape of my own, one which gathers the sounds of my final year of secondary school and into the very start of higher education (2000-2001), and the events that I associate them with. These are the sounds of moments of my youth and are scenes I'm sure you could work into a game which at least one person would enjoy (i.e. me).

I even made the mixtape! Though I'll warn you, even the world's best DJ couldn't convincingly weave these together. It's a bit all over the place, just like our teenage years.

Track: Fuck the Police - N.W.A (1988)

Scene: Cruising in a Ford Fiesta

To a bunch of white, rural lads knocking about in a beat-up Fiesta, Fuck the Police was irresistible. It was the sound of rebellion, energy and aggression. We'd leather it down country roads, cruising between the villages, blasting out N.W.A, just as Eazy E and co. must've envisioned when they laid down this track. It was a gateway drug to other hip-hop, a cherished vehicle to get friends into some of the music I was listening to, and a window into a world very different to our own. The world was starting to open up, and soon we'd be spread out all over, well beyond where that Fiesta could take us.

Track: Rollin' - Limp Bizkit (2000)

Scene: Suplexes in the Common Room

Many of my friends were into nu-metal, but I didn't hold that against them. Limp Bizkit's Rollin' had appeal outside of its genre, however, being that it was the Undertaker's entrance music, and we were all wrestling fans. It was the tune that played in my head whenever I'd pretend to DDT a friend, or whenever I'd see another simulate putting an acquaintance through one of the tables that were scattered across our school common room. I think the play-grappling was just an excuse to give each other a hug and show our affection, and that is very healthy and nice. It was also an opportunity to put someone through a table, which is less healthy and definitely not nice.

Track: Dance Tonight - Lucy Pearl (2000)

Scene: A Captive Audience

I couldn't understand why no one else was excited. En Vogue's Dawn Robinson, Raphael Saadiq out of Tony! Toni! Tone!, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad from A Tribe Called Quest - Lucy Pearl were a true super group. To me, anyway, though not to anyone else in my social circle. I generally didn't bother trying to convert friends to my music taste, but I do recall trying my luck with Lucy Pearl to zero effect.

Track: B.O.B - Outkast (2000)

Scene: Hitting the Books

I have a very clear memory of splitting a pair of headphones with a friend in the school library, and introducing her to Outkast. She was receptive, and we agreed that B.O.B was the standout. We got on rather well after that. I rarely studied without something in my ear, and music is always better shared.

Track: Sweetness - Jimmy Eat World (2001)

Scene: Brotherly Love

At the time, my younger brother's musical tastes skewed toward US rock. Jimmy Eat World was a favourite, and that was often playing in the background when we indulged in our shared love of basketball and the NBA. Many contentious NBA Live tournaments were accompanied by music, and it was nice spending time with my brother before I fled the nest.

Track: Re-Rewind - Artful Dodger & Craig David (1999)

Scene: Lads on Tour

Here's the scene: I'm dancing to UK Garage in a bar on the Spanish island of Majorca, ruddy faced. A Bacardi Breezer in each hand, my inhibitions gradually melting away with each sip of sickly-sweet rum and sugar. 

My friends and I celebrated the end of school in the most traditional way possible: by going on a filthy 18-30s holiday, lured by the promise of sun (lots), sex (far less than we'd hoped), banging tunes (mostly UK Garage and House) and booze (free-flowing, often served in buckets). Our hotel was a shithole, we all got terribly sunburnt, one hangover merged into the next, we got pick-pocketed, no one slept, and we all had a great time. I think. To be honest, I don't remember much of it.

Track: Lapdance - N.E.R.D (2001)

Scene: Grinding in the World of Ruin

With university on the immediate horizon and the nerves beginning to set in, and the world going a little bit mad - 9/11 and all that - I was able to achieve some semblance of calm in the summer of '01 by throwing myself into Final Fantasy VI. It was my first playthrough, via an import from the US. I equipped EXP Eggs to my team and grinded to high levels while listening to my latest favourite album: In Search of .... by N.E.R.D. I still adore that CD and remain fond of FFVI too. A perfect pairing.

Track: Blue Fields - Nubuo Uematsu

Scene: Shopping!

The summer I left for uni, I got my first credit card. And one of the first things I put on it was the Final Fantasy VIII Original Soundtrack, which was also my first ever Amazon purchase. All part of becoming an adult. The credit card part, that is, not listening to Blue Fields.

Track: Soul Sista - Bilal (2001)

Scene: Gathering New Friends

The first thing I did after moving into my university dorm was get my CD player set up - an ugly Sony mini-hi-fi that was my prize possession - and throw on some tunes. I was letting everyone know what I was into, in the hopes that I would attract some like-minded people. Everyone did some version of this, whether it was playing a favourite CD for all to hear, wearing their football teams' colours, playing PS2 with the door open, or smoking something illegal. I recall having a chat with a couple of neighbours about Bilal's debut album, which had just come out, and being excited that others shared my interests. By the end of the day, I was hosting a PS2 Quake tournament and had already made many of the friends that I'd remain close with throughout my uni years.

Track: Can't Get You Out of My Head - Kylie Minogue (2001)

Scene: Dancing with Strangers

We did a lot of clubbing that Fresher's Week, and that first year in general. And everywhere we went, we'd hear Kylie. She was top of the pop charts and top of most DJ playlists. We danced, we drank, we drank some more; we eventually did some academic work. And then we drank, probably to Kylie.

And that's my end-of-school, start-of-uni playlist. And not a The Jesus and Mary Chain song in sight. Take that, Mixtape the game!