Before Apple Music and Spotify, there was a period when many rap fans listened to their favorite artists’ music via Datpiff. The 18-year-old audio platform became the unofficial home of Hip Hop mixtapes.
This week saw speculation spread across the internet that Datpiff shut down its digital archive. On Monday night, the MediaLab-owned company issued a statement on Twitter about the discussion of its demise.
“Despite the rumors, we are happy to report that we will still be supplying you with all the mixtapes you love. We’re working through technical issues on our site and app, but still actively update our YouTube! Thanks for all the love and concerns but we promise, we are still here,” tweeted the Datpiff account.
Despite the rumors, we are happy to report that we will still be supplying you with all the mixtapes you love. We're working through technical issues on our site and app, but still actively update our youtube! Thanks for all the love and concerns but we promise, we are still here
— DatPiff (@DatPiff) March 14, 2023
Datpiff has 2.29 million subscribers and more than 1.6 billion views on YouTube. YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Boosie Badazz, Nicki Minaj, Moneybagg Yo, and NLE Choppa have some of the most watched videos on the verified page.
Lil Wayne’s iconic mixtape run is closely connected to Datpiff. For example, the platform offered early access to the Young Money leader’s DJ Drama-hosted Dedication 5 in 2013. Other Lil Wayne projects, like 2020’s No Ceilings 3, dropped on the app as well.
Datpiff also released 2012’s Dreamchasers 2 by Maybach Music Group-backed rapper Meek Mill. Dreamchasers 2 reportedly racked up 2.5 million downloads in 24 hours. The website temporarily crashed at the time.