The Rap Life playlist is home to hip-hop’s heavy hitters and its vanguard, which means that the Rap Life DJ mix has everything in hip-hop you need to hear right now. This month, the mix was helmed by LA’s own DJ Hed, a man whose ever-evolving place in the culture has found him DJing the BET Hip Hop Awards Cypher, co-hosting Netflix’s Rhythm + Flow, and helping to curate Kendrick Lamar’s groundbreaking Pop-Out concert. For his Rap Life mix, the do-it-all DJ wanted to highlight the diversity of personalities that hip-hop fans have the freedom to buy into. “The thought process putting this mix together was reflecting the current landscape of rap, blending [in] what I think it should be as well,” Hed says. “A few songs that speak to that would be: Wale’s ‘Watching Us’—not only is the Goapele sample classic, but he’s undeniable in that pocket. Zoe Osama’s ‘How U Like Me Now?’—one of the hottest songs in the streets in LA—and Miles Minnick’s ‘Watchin’,’ a breath of fresh air to Christian rap, so much so that you wouldn’t even have noticed it was if I hadn’t let it be known. Overall I’m excited for the space we’re in with hip-hop.” Listen to DJ Hed’s Rap Life mix now and check back each month for more one-of-a-kind mixes.