Revered in East Coast hip-hop circles as the “Mixtape King,” J-Love began his career as a protégé of the PhatHeadz, a crew of engineers associated with legendary Run-DMC deejay/producer Jam Master Jay. Set to ink a contract with now defunct Freez Records in 1997, the then teenaged producer walked away from the deal when label politics postponed the release of his debut compilation album. In 1999, he dropped “Rhyme Mania,” an independently released single that spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Rap Charts. With his credentials established, Love went on to release numerous volumes of his BEST OF mixtape series, winning five Mixtape awards and going on to do production work for some of hip-hop’s biggest names, including Nas , Jay-Z, Mobb Deep, and 50 Cent.