Mixtape Awards founder Justo Faison is reported to have died in a car crash on Saturday, though details remain sketchy and only a handful of hip hop sites seem to care.  No doubt, as folks return to work on Monday, we’ll be seeing more reports.

Though the Mixtape Awards have been a unique event which helped give djs more attention for their crucial role in the development of hip hop and the marketing of artists both new and old, ironically the Awards themselves were plagued with marketing difficulties and the official site suddenly went "under construction" right before the last Mixtape Awards event in March and remains in that condition.  MTV.com ran a brief report after the Awards and Sasha Frere-Jones shared his unique impressions.

In addition to the personal loss, Faison’s passing comes as mixtapes are assuming ever greater prominence in hip hop.  MTV.com has a special section on mixtapes and a weekly feature called Mixtape Mondays.  A variety of mixtape websites and special sections on hip hop sites exist, some of which can be found through the link list at mixtape blog Mixtapes Etc.  In addition, Mixtape Magazine seems to be in the process of relaunching.