Whoo Kid makes most of his mixtape savvy

No one should be asking “Who is DJ Whoo Kid?” anymore.

On a recent episode of MTV’s “Total Request Live,” hip-hop superstar 50 Cent held up a copy of his and Whoo Kid’s mixtape “2050 (Before the Massacre).”

That’s exposure.

“I use the media, TV and MTV, BET, all that works for me without me even paying for it,” says Whoo Kid, a leading DJ on the growing underground mixtape scene.

If you want to know what’s hot in hip-hop, you have to pay attention to the mixtapes (which have evolved into CDs).

“I’m the editor of a music magazine, and I’ll send an intern out to get mixtapes every day,” says Elliott Wilson, editor in chief of XXL magazine “I get 50 a week.”

Mixtapes are essentially bootleg compilation CDs produced by DJs like Whoo Kid – who is 50 Cent’s official DJ – that feature unreleased tracks by hip-hop stars with voiceovers from the DJs, sports stars and celebrities.

A Whoo Kid mixtape can sell about 100,000 copies. The CDs sell mostly at independent record stores around the country and on Web sites.

Whoo Kid (born Yves Mondesire), who is the cousin of 50 Cent’s manager, is always first with the mixtapes featuring members of 50 Cent’s G-Unit, which includes rappers Lloyd Banks, Young Buck and The Game (until his recent on-and-off feud with 50 Cent, anyway).

Whoo Kid also looks out for celebrity “drops,” or voiceovers, for his tapes.

“(Boxer) Floyd Mayweather, I did his drops a long time ago,” he says. “When I was in Vegas, he invited me to his house. But I waited until his big fight came four months later, so it made sense for me to put him out because he’s down with society, he’s on HBO, he’s on the news.”

Mixtapes are national these days, emerging from their New York City alley origins, where vendors would hawk them from blankets on the sidewalk. If you check Google for “mixtapes,” tons of sites pop up.

DJ Clue’s name often comes up when the story of contemporary mixtapes is told. The New York City DJ was one of the first to have advance songs from current artists on his CDs.

“Clue opened up the doors,” says XXL’s Wilson. “He made it less about your ability to be a turntablist (scratching) to it being about connections and know-how.”

Up-and-coming New Jersey rapper Left Gunnz has appeared on numerous mixtapes.

“They’re plugged in to the street,” he says of mixtapes. “If you’re not getting major airplay, a major DJ’s tape is almost just as good.”

The Jacka (of the group the Mob Figaz), a West Coast rapper featured on at least 50 albums by artists including Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Too Short, is releasing his mixtape compilation and new album “The Jack Artist” on Tuesday ( www.thejacka.com).

As for the future of mixtapes, technology might again alter their form, Wilson says.

“Nowadays kids are so into music that the mixtapes might be moving toward iTunes or Mp3s,” he says. “Kids will load the mixtapes and send them to their friends in New Orleans, or wherever.”