Khaled Mohamed Khaled (born November 26, 1975), better known as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ, producer, and record executive.
His parents were immigrants from Palestine. Early in his career, while working in a New Orleans record store, he helped several young artists like Lil Wayne and Birdman establish themselves. Later moving to Miami, he began DJing, and released his debut album in 2006, with a second following a year later. In 2010, his single "All I Do Is Win", featuring Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg, and T-Pain, was certified Platinum.
From 2015 to 2016, he also became popular on the app Snapchat, thanks to his "keys to success" videos and larger-than-life personality.
Not to be confused with R&B singer Khalid.
Discography:
- Listennn... the Album (2006)
- We the Best (2007)
- We Global (2008)
- Victory (2010)
- We the Best Forever (2011)
- Kiss the Ring (2012)
- Suffering from Success (2013)
- I Changed a Lot (2015)
- Major Key (2016)
- Grateful (2017)
- Father of Asahd (2019)
- Khaled Khaled (2021)
- God Did (2022)
Tropes Regarding DJ Khaled's Work:
- Adam Westing:
- Khaled's appearance in "Freaky Friday" by Lil Dicky
I'M DJ KHALED — Wait. Why am I yelling?- His appearances As Himself in commercials really dial up his Cloud Cuckoo Lander/Large Ham tendencies.
- Big Fun: He's rather chubby and knows how to party.
- Catchphrase:
- Congratulations, you played yourself.
- WE THE BEST MUSIC!
- DJ KHALED!
- Another one!
- LISTEN-AH! Was an early catchphrase, but he dropped it later on.
- Major key.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: He's a bit of an odd duck, and proudly so. His appearance on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah has him spouting off one Ice-Cream Koan after another and taking the show's hosts on a tour of Khaled's personal Sugar Bowl.
- Doting Parent: He clearly loves to show off his sons, Asahd and Aalam. Not only is his eleventh album literally called "Father of Asahd," but the two-year-old boy is listed as one of the executive producers (along with his dad, of course).
- Epic Rapping: "God Did", which clocks in at 8 minutes 21 seconds.
- Also true of some of the remixes to his earlier hits - the "Welcome To My Hood" remix, for instance, clocks in at just over 7 minutes.
- Large Ham: He commands a very in-your-face presence.
- Lighter and Softer: His current work is much more mellow and less rough than his earlier output.
- N-Word Privileges: Zigzagged. He initially used the N-word early on in his career (but has stopped saying it in his later projects), and while he didn't get cancelled for it, people later began to question his use of the N-word in his earlier projects due to his Arabic heritage.
- Repetitive Name: His full name is Khaled Mohammed Khaled.
- The name of the 12th studio album is the self-titled Khaled Khaled.
- Reverse Cerebus Syndrome: From his debut in the mid-2000s to the early 2010s, Khaled's music consisted almost entirely of aggressive, vulgar Boastful Rap and in-your-face Type 2 Gangsta Rap songs. From the mid-2010s onward, his music has consisted mostly of Intercourse with You or Silly Love Songs that are much better-suited for radio play. Khaled himself has become far less aggressive and more mellow and affable.
- Sampling:
- "Wild Thoughts" (with Rihanna and Bryson Tiller) samples "Maria Maria" by Santana.
- "Nas Album Done" (with Nas) samples The Fugees' "Fu-Gee-La".
- "Just Us" (with SZA) samples Outkast's "Ms Jackson".
- "I Did It" (with Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby and Lil Baby) samples "Layla" by Derek and the Dominos.
- "Staying Alive" (with Drake and Lil Baby) samples the Bee Gees song of the same name.
- Step Up to the Microphone: He raps a verse each in the remixes to "All I Do Is Win" and "Welcome To My Hood." He's not bad at it.
- Wolverine Publicity: He's worked with the vast majority of high-profile mainstream rappers, with every track on every album loaded with guest performers. Each single has an average 4 to 5 rappers on it, with the Updated Re Release featuring even more than that.
