Get in the Valentine’s Day spirit by listening to our favorite, Tanya T6, hosted by DJ Delz. Great for first dates, a nice romantic evening with your long-time sweetheart, or just by your lonesome. The beats are hot, the vox are hot. Trust us when we say putting this on will better your chances of getting lucky than buying a dozen roses at marked-up Valentine’s Day prices.

This record is so baller. We encourage you to preview in the player below.

Get your copy here or by visiting thebestoftanya.com

Rita J is a breath of fresh air for female emcees in hip hop. In such a cutthroat, competitive genre, you’ve got to bring something different and interesting if you want to get noticed. Favorite tracks include, “Body Rock feat. Steph Staa, “No Regrets feat. Adad,” “Outlasted feat. Guilty Simpson,” (and we might be biased about that one because we’re always up for some Guilty, but “Outlasted,” is yet another banger). Rita J and Guilty Simpson kill the track seamlessly. Another couple songs that caught our attention are “Dreamin feat. Ka Di,” and “The Warm Up.”

Maybe this will sound Cliché, but whatever. We’re reminded of a little Jill Scott and Res vibe when listening to Rita J. Of course, Rita J has a completely unique sound, but she’s destined for big things with her sound.

Artist Workshop is her debut album (she’s on the Chicago-based independent label All Natural but lives in Atlanta, GA) Production on Artist Workshop is shared by Black Spade, Kenny Keys, Yuani, Rashid Hadee, Tre Styles, Willowtreez, Vick Lavender, and K-Kruz Guest features include: Steph Staa, Cap D., Guilty Simpson, Yaw, Ka-Di, Adad, Mr. Greenweedz, Rashid Hadee, and Dylan Jones among others.

Available in iTunes now for download.

Four words come to mind when remembering this night: what a great show! Everyone’s performance was spectacular. Our camera batteries died before Ghostface came on–what a bummer–but we managed to get some great photos of the event. The vibe was excellent at Canes Bar & Grill in San Diego. If you’ve never been, it’s really an awesome venue: spacious, great sound system, and right on the beach! Of course, we stayed inside for all of the lovely music that the night had to offer.

First was Buff1. Man, we said it before and we’ll say it again: Buff1 is the closest we’ve heard to Jay Dee from an emcee. Ever. Not only that, the live energy coming from this guy was just thrilling and he kept his performance interactive for the crowd which always makes things more interesting. Much love Buff1! Be on the lookout for big things from Buff1 as he has a Crown Royale project forthcoming with DJ Rhettmatic, who kept it real at the event as well.

Performing with Buff1 was producer 14KT. DJ for the night 14KT made no mistakes on the ones and twos for the evening, but what else would you expect from a member of the Lab Techs? They don’t play. With such an ear for music, 14KT setup every track just right for Buff1 to kill it with his flows. If you don’t already know, 14KT, Buff1 and Mayer Hawthorne have been friends for many years now, which you could tell from how well they worked together on stage. We got to meet 14KT as well, and he too was super friendly and made us feel right at home, even though we were in the presence of such an amazing producer. That’s always nice to see.

Ah yes. Then there was Mayer Hawthorne. We’ve got Mayer’s record, A Strange Arrangement on the car iPod and man we love bumping that record in the whip. Mayer Hawthorne’s show was on par with the studio quality of his album, if not better! Before the show we were thinking maybe after such a long tour Mayer and his voice would be a little worn-out, but far from it. Plus, on the interludes between tracks, Hawthorne made charismatic and funny remarks, which blended nicely with the performance. Watch out for Mayer Hawthorne, as he’s currently touring in Europe, and is scheduled to perform at a New Year’s Eve show in Vegas with John Mayer. So, it’s definitely going to be a very Mayer new year.

We’ve got nothing but love for A-Side Worldwide and Stones Throw Records and appreciate the talented artists they’ve found.

Enjoy all eye candy below!

Emcee Othello (Lightheaded Crew) connects with turntablist DJ Vajra for this 12″ which showcases Mayer Hawthorne aka Haircut and his group Now On (Jackson Perry, IX Lives, Haircut). This is the first single off the upcoming album ‘The Required Taste.’

On the flip-side, Theory Hazit makes an appearance with “Same Team Suckas.” Instrumentals and accapellas available for both tracks!

Artist: Othello & DJ Vajra
Song: Active Balanced feat. Mayer Hawthorne and Now On (Terry Cole Remix)
Album: Unreleased remix
Label: Colemine Records
Year: 2009