‘Tale of the Tape’ Mixtape Documentary Includes Unseen Footage of Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole & More

What would hip-hop be without mixtapes like DJ Clue’s Clue for President or 50 Cent’s 50 Cent Is the Future? Red Summer TV explores the Tale of the Tape with a new documentary examining an oral history of one of the forgotten backbones of the genre.

Executive produced by The Source alum Kim Osorio and DJ Envy, the Malik K. Buie-directed Tale of the Tape: How the Mixtape Revolutionized Hip-Hop doc is now available for streaming on Prime Video, Verizon and Spectrum.

“Hip-hop has been my lifeline and driving force,” Buie tells Billboard. “I’ve interviewed and documented some of the biggest hip-hop artists and DJs ever, and they all have a common story with how they became who they were — mixtapes. So, let’s talk about it. Let’s examine it. Let’s give it it’s just due.”

The ode to mixtapes boasts never-before-seen footage of Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, as well as contributions from DJ Envy, DJ Clue, Kid Capri, DJ Drama, the late Combat Jack and more. Royce Da 5’9″ is also onboard as Tale of the Tape‘s primary narrator.

“If we don’t start telling our own history, they will tell it for us. We are taking back the control of our own narratives in hip-hop, specifically on this project with Tale of the Tape,” Kim Osorio adds.

“As someone who collected mixtapes, I thought it was telling that these days the definition of what a mixtape is has changed. We’ve got to continue documenting the culture accurately, so we aren’t written out of it.”

Production on the documentary spans a decade of work from 2012 through 2022. Stream Tale of the Tape: How the Mixtape Revolutionized Hip-Hop on Verizon, Spectrum or Prime Video now.