Justo Faison

Halfway through Justo’s Eighth Annual Mixtape Awards on Wednesday night in the basement of Club Speeed in Midtown, the microphone was passed to Loon, the sleepy-voiced rapper who records for P. Diddy’s record label, Bad Boy. After paying tribute to the gathered D.J.’s and rapperati, he demanded to know why the awards ceremony “ain’t televised nationally.”

A few minutes later, Loon had his answer when an attempt to clear the stage for a performance nearly erupted into a brawl. (Last year’s ceremony, at the Hammerstein Ballroom, was cut short by a backstage fight.) Through an impressive combination of exhortation, cajoling and threats, a truce was negotiated, and the show went on — and on and on. The last award was given out just before 1 a.m., nearly five hours after the announced start time.

This was a fittingly contentious and chaotic celebration of hip-hop mixtapes and the men (and it is nearly always men) who make them. Compilations of rare and unreleased tracks, nowadays on CD despite the name, they occupy a gray area between bootlegs and official releases.

The paradigmatic mixtape success story is that of 50 Cent, who used appearances on mixtapes to make himself a star, and now lots of up-and-coming rappers are hoping to duplicate his success.

This was one awards show that wasn’t dominated by acceptance speeches. DJ Whoo Kid won the top prize, best mixtape D.J., but he was nowhere to be found. And when DJ Lazy K won best female D.J., she limited herself to a couple of sentences, cheered on by members of her all-female crew, the Murda Mamis.

There were appearances by Fat Joe and Chingy and brief performances by the R & B singer Teedra Moses and the veteran hip-hop duo Mobb Deep. But the evening’s most enthusiastic applause was for Ghostface Killah, the Wu-Tang Clan’s best and wildest rapper, who tore through his frantic current single, “Run,” which has been a mixtape staple for the last few months.

Mixtape D.J.’s have been helped immeasurably by hip-hop’s high-profile feuds: mixtapes are often the only way to stay current on who hates whom. On Wednesday night, just about everyone seemed to be embroiled in some sort of beef. Loon announced that he and DJ KaySlay (known as the Drama King for his beef-centric mixtapes) had settled their differences “like men.”

But other disputes raged on: between hosts, between D.J.’s, between detractors and supporters of Club Speeed, even between rival jewelers. The only consensus was that anything worth doing is worth fighting over.

In the end it was hard not to admire this fighting spirit; after all, cutthroat competition has helped keep hip-hop fresh for almost 30 years.

DJ KaySlay had won the best mixtape DJ award three times in a row, which means he is no longer eligible. But he couldn’t resist grabbing the microphone to announce that he was still hot and that his mixtapes still sold. Whoever disagreed, he said, should “holler at me outside.”

by By KELEFA SANNEH