Name: Ghostface Killah

Mixtape: No Pork on My Fork Vol. 1

Hometown: Staten Island, New York

Joints to check for: "Get My Dough," "Run" featuring Jadakiss, "The Watch" featuring Raekwon, 112's "Hot & Wet" remix

Previous mixtapes: none

The 411: As you can tell from the title of Ghostface's mixtape, don't expect to see the Wu's sharpest dresser at your local eatery indulging in a plate of chitterlings or ribs. He doesn't eat swine. What Ghost does pride himself on is being able to devour MCs in rhyme fights.

"You could take your best MC and bring us to Madison Square Garden and let us battle it out," Ghost says with defiance. "That's how I get down. I'm stuck [in the year] '88. I'm an '88, '86, '87 n---a. I ain't switched my style up or nothing. I'm like a boxer that studies mad tapes. So when I look and study everybody's [rap] tape and see what they're dealing with and who keeps talking about the same thing over and over again, I just apply it to myself. I know where my advantage is at."

With his mixtape, Ghost leaves more than enough material for his potential foes and fans to study and enjoy. With the help of DJ Kay Slay, the soulful MC compiles a mixture of some his greatest hits, like "Chercherz Laghost," "Can It Be All So Simple" and "Heaven and Hell," along with unsanctioned remixes and underground classics that have never officially seen the light of day due to clearance issues. Killah also leaves a sampling of what he'll be dealing with on his upcoming LP, Pretty Tony, such as "Paychecks" and the first single, "Run."

"Brothers can't touch my wardrobe," Ghost, a.k.a. Tony Starks, explained of the album title. "They can't touch my jewelry. They can't touch my slang or even my raps. The Pretty Tony album, it's another classic. That's all I'm about is making classics. I don't care if I don't go gold or go platinum. I'm about just making classics."


Name: DJ Bobby Black

Mixtape: Down & Dirty Vol. #004

Hometown: Atlanta

Joints to check for: "Fightin' in Da Club" by I-20 featuring Chingy, Titty Boi and Lil' Fate; "Nookie" remix by Jacki-O featuring Wyclef Jean; "Fat Man Stomp" by Bone Crusher; "U Don't Want No Drama" by 8Ball & MJG; "Come Get Some" by TLC featuring Lil Jon and the Youngbloodz.

Previous mixtapes: the first three volumes of Down & Dirty

The 411: Lil Jon has changed his mind. He's no longer yelling, "Don't start no sh--, won't be no sh--." Now he's daring you step up. On TLC's "Come Get Some," a cut from their Now and Forever - The Hits album, the howling king of crunk exhorts, "If you want some, shawty, come and get some," before telling everyone to do the A-Town Stomp.

Now before you get it twisted and think TLC's remaining members, Chilli and T-Boz, have gone completely ghetto, the A-Town Stomp is a new step popularized in Atlanta, and the singers are talking about doing just that in the song. "Baby, if I drop it down to the ground/ Then put it in your face/ Now what you gonna do?" they say on the chorus. "Shawty, if I shake it then turn around/ Then back it up on ya/ What you gonna do?"

Bone Crusher, the guest host on Down & Dirty, has his own jig he does on the dance floor. Rapping about a rougher variation of the A-Town Stomp, Bone drops his anthem, the "Fat Man Stomp." "If you ain't fat, it's cool/ But I'mma just show you what you gotta to do/ Pick up your right then your left shoe/ Then stomp ... / Make sure you keep your rhythm right."

Down & Dirty goes from Hotlanta's to Memphis' fat boy, 8ball. Ball and his partner MJG give a sampling of what's to come from their Bad Boy debut with "U Don't Want No Drama." "8ball and MJG, the moment you've all been waiting for," P. Diddy amps at the beginning of the song, before the crunk, bass-laden beat kicks in. "You don't want drama, you don't want none," warns MJG, who later rhymes about beating somebody up worse than Rodney King and causing havoc in a club.

For other artists featured in Mixtape Mondays, check out Mixtape Mondays Headlines.

For a full-length feature on the role of mixtapes in the music industry, check out "Mixtapes: The Other Music Industry."