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Talk to any veteran artist and they'll tell you consistency is the secret to longevity. Staying relevant in a competitive industry requires unwavering dedication to the craft—a lesson that nobody knows better than the godmother of house music, Stacey Hotwaxx Hale. The gear head, educator, music nerd and Detroit legend is considered the Motor City's first woman DJ to play underground house music. Her inquisitive mind, passion for audio equipment and community spirit has led to a decades-spanning career that has inspired countless women and expanded Detroit's rich musical heritage.  As a teenager, she learned to record on reel-to-reel tapes before learning the ropes from club king Ken Collier in the late '70s. Mastering the art of what she called "sneak-a-mixx"—seamlessly mixing vinyl records continuously—she beat over 600 artists to win the 1985 Motor City Mix competition. DJing remained a given in her life, even when she pursued a full-time engineering degree. She's often described in interviews how she would do math homework in between mixing tracks during gigs in her 20s. When she's not behind the decks or playing in the live ensemble Nyumba Muziki, she teaches DJing and production classes with the goal of teaching her students self-expression. Hale's sound is warm and dynamic, incorporating everything from gospel, electro, hip-hop, techno and live instruments with the goal of spreading positivity and happiness. Those feelings and cross-genre moods are all tangible on her RA Podcast. Moving gracefully between disco, funky techno, R&B and classic house, Hale's mix feels like the perfect night out, showcasing her versatility, love for vibrant rhythms and her sharp ear. @hotwaxx Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/899

People in Los Angeles usually remember the moment they first saw Colored Craig DJ. He cuts a memorable figure: throwing down records on the turntables and dancing like he's in the crowd, not behind the decks. He's one of those rare selectors who's almost as fun to watch as he is to listen. But the rest of the world should be listening. Over the past few years, Colored Craig has become one of the LA area's most in-demand DJs, not just because of his considerable skills, but because of his old-school, loved-up ethos. He plays classic house records with a verve and style that you can't really teach or learn. You just have to have it. A choreographer by trade, everything about Craig has to do with movement, the joy of it, the energy you both gain and lose through dancing. His RA Podcast, recorded in his living room (a sort of nightclub in itself) gets across the infectious, uplifting energy of his sets, blazing through tracks from Kerri Chandler, Masters At Work and Chez Damier, and even including a disco house track that samples the Price Is Right theme. You might call this sound nostalgic, but it doesn't feel that way coming from Colored Craig, who is obsessed with the now, and the power of the moment. That outlook is all over this mix, and with any luck, you'll be hearing and watching him DJ around the world outside of LA sometime soon. @coloredcraig Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/898

Broken beat, or bruk, is intrinsically collaborative. Its London originators often recorded together, taking inspiration from jazz, hip-hop, deep house, drum & bass and Afrobeat. Because the genre was born of fusion, it brought together heads from all corners of the music spectrum—sound system purists to junglists to Latin Nuyorican aficionados—who each resonated with bruk's complex rhythms in their own ways. Ian Grant, AKA IG Culture, is an early pioneer of bruk, and his story underlines the style's synergetic nature. Starting out as an MC, he struck fame in the early '90s as one half of Dodge City Productions but quickly grew disillusioned with the major label business. After immersing himself in early George Duke records, Fela Kuti, Fuji music, The Headhunters and the like, he started experimenting in the studio. The jazz inspiration, plus his roots in reggae and background in hip-hop and acid jazz, led to his now-seminal, late '90s productions as New Sector Movements—widely considered as the starting point in bruk history. Since then, Grant has kept building infrastructure for the hybrid sound. Alongside Bugz in the Attic, Phil Asher, Dego of 4hero, Demus and Orin Walters, he cofounded the legendary CoOp party, which became a meeting place for diverse musical minds and enabled bruk to keep evolving. Grant remains deeply committed to co-creating, as seen by the Selectors Assemble artist collective he runs with Alex Phountzi (the two are also known as NameBrandSound), his releases with Psykhomantus as Shall I Bruk It, his Afrofuturist take on bruk as Likwid Continual Space Motion and various other projects. On his RA Podcast, the veteran artist presents a forward-thinking portrayal of bruk, adjacent styles that were directly inspired by it and other global club cuts. There are cerebral, jazzy cuts from his CoOp label, Nigerian cruise music, percussive UK garage, 2-step swing, dancehall dub and much more. This is Grant's world, where rhythmic and swung beats reign supreme. @ig-culture Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/897