Biography
Larger-than-life producer, radio personality and entrepreneur DJ Khaled made his name as a member of the Terror Squad before launching a Grammy-nominated chart-topping solo career in which he worked with virtually every major name on the contemporary urban scene. Born in New Orleans to Palestinian immigrant parents, Khaled's passion for hip-hop developed at a young age and after leaving high school he worked at a record store, became a fixture on the reggae soundclash circuit and hosted several shows on Miami station WEDR. His big break arrived when he joined the hip-hop collective Terror Squad as their permanent hype man and DJ, and began showcasing his production skills on tracks for Fat Joe, Fabolous, Rick Ross and Pitbull. In 2006 Khaled invited these same artists, alongside the likes of Kanye West, Lil Wayne and John Legend, to guest on his debut, "Listennn the Album." The star-studded record, which peaked at No.12 on the Billboard 200 and spawned a U.S. Hot 100 single ("Holla at Me"), set the template for Khaled's career. The album "We the Best" (2007), which shared a name with the record label Khaled founded, and 2008's "We Global" also featured a who's who of hip-hop and R&B, while his credentials were further boosted in 2009 when he was appointed the President of Def Jam South. Following 2010's "Victory," Khaled signed to Cash Money Records and scored with three consecutive US Top 10 albums, 2011's "We the Best Future," 2012's "Kiss the Ring," and 2013's "Suffering from Success." Khaled parted ways with the label in 2015, releasing his seventh studio effort "I Changed a Lot" through his own We the Best imprint that same year, while in 2016 he returned to radio with a show on Beats 1, published a book charting his rise to fame titled "The Keys," and scored his first No. 1 LP with the Best Rap Album Grammy nominee "Major Key." Khaled maintained his winning streak in 2017 with "Gravity "a second consecutive chart-topper that also spawned massive No. 1 singles in both his homeland (the Justin Bieber-featuring "I'm the One") and the UK (the Santana-sampling, Rihanna-guesting "Wild Thoughts"). Khaled then ventured on to the big screen, playing a fictionalized version of himself in the a capella comedy "Pitch Perfect 3" (2017), hit the road with Demi Lovato and recruited the likes of Jay Z, Beyonce and Future to appear on his 11th album, 2018's "Father of Asahd."
