The 30-year-old has been in the local music business since his high school classmate, the rapper Daddy-O, came back to school with a brand-new album. As a teenager, Sess started out guesting on ...

Most take the form of CDs or online downloads. According to local mixtape maker and go-go promoter DJ Supa Dan, they’re most often used by artists who want to “market their product prior to the debut ...

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 ...