The son of Palestinian immigrants, Khaled was born into a modest family in the New Orleans area. His parents arrived in the United States with no more than twenty dollars and sold clothes in the back of a van. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Orlando, Florida. It was in this place that young Khaled realized that his future would be connected with music.
He started DJing in the garage of his house. Through great effort, his parents managed to accumulate a small fortune, which could be used for the use of the house and certain amenities. However, this positive streak vanished when a series of tax problems ruined his family, who were forced to return to New Orleans.
Then came the question that literally marked his career: to return to New Orleans, or to fight for a place in the Orlando musical empire? Given what we know about his current success, you can imagine what he has chosen.
The following year was a real blast when a celebrity with a high reputation was forced to earn a living about a hundred dollars a week. In a later interview, Khaled says he didn’t have any furniture. The floor was his bed. Can you imagine such a respected guy being destroyed like that?
Financial problems sent him back to New Orleans with his parents. That’s where he really started his work scene, working at the Odyssey Records music store. Not long after he got there, almost magically, a guy named Birdman and another named Lil Wayne, who was about eleven years old at the time, appeared in his path.
Everything was fine in New Orleans, but his place was in Orlando, where he went after winning five thousand dollars in a DJ contest. Note that not everything was great. Without a driver’s license, he was repeatedly stopped by the police in the state of Florida, which cost him a month in prison.
To be successful, you have to take risks, so he decided to emulate his father and go to Miami with twenty dollars. Time to conquer the city from below. After several appearances on pirate stations and as a DJ, Khaled began his official career on the Friday night show at 99 Jamz station.
All this at the age of 22, that is, in 1997. Six years later, he will be given his own program at the same station. Nine years later, he will present his first work.
There were very few guys able to bring such different artists together in one fireworks show, and that’s thanks to the character of DJ Khaled. The figure of this big man becomes important when you consider the fact that he was always in the right place at the right time.
Gradually, Khaled added new voices to his list of employees. His positivity and the added value of a reliable guy – something very important in a music industry full of business sharks – has made him, with just two albums, one of the most important pillars in the hip-hop world. This success led him to create his own label, We The Best Music.
Once you are at the top, if you do everything right, it is very difficult for someone to come and pull you down. Especially if you know how to do something well. With a style clearly oriented towards club music of the late 2000s, DJ Khaled has become a very strong example for any self-respecting musician.
He almost never needed to rap to establish himself among the stars. However, what can never be blamed on DJ Khaled is his ability to bring together the present, past and future of the international scene.
