During his early career, Khaled became acquainted with several young artists and helped them before their breakthrough; these include
Birdman,
Lil Wayne, and
Mavado. One of his first jobs was at the New Orleans record store, Odyssey, where he met both Birdman and Lil Wayne in 1993. After leaving Odyssey, he began DJing in reggae
sound clashes, mixing dancehall and hip-hop. His first radio gig was on a
pirate station. In 1998, he moved to Miami and co-hosted
The Luke Show on
WEDR "99 Jamz" with
2 Live Crew's
Luther Campbell. In 2003, he started hosting a weeknight radio show on 99 Jamz called
The Takeover.
2006–2008: Listennn... the Album, We the Best, and We Global On June 6, 2006, his debut album,
Listennn... the Album, was released by
Koch Records; it premiered on the US
Billboard 200 chart at number 12.
We the Best (2007) was his second album, whose release was preceded with singles "I'm So Hood" (with
T-Pain,
Trick Daddy,
Plies, and
Rick Ross) and "We Takin' Over" (with
Akon,
T.I., Rick Ross,
Fat Joe,
Birdman, and Lil Wayne). "We Takin' Over" peaked at number 28 on the US
Billboard Hot 100 and number 11 on the US
Hot Rap Tracks chart and was certified Gold by the
Recording Industry Association of America on November 20, 2007. Khaled made a guest appearance on Birdman's 2007 album
5 * Stunna on the single "
100 Million", which also features Rick Ross,
Dre,
Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne. That year, Khaled won two Ozone Awards: one for Best Video ("We Takin' Over") and another for Best Radio DJ. In 2008, Khaled's third album,
We Global, came out with singles "
Out Here Grindin" (with Akon, Rick Ross,
Lil' Boosie, Trick Daddy,
Ace Hood, and Plies) followed by "
Go Hard" (featuring
Kanye West and T-Pain). RIAA certified the single "I'm So Hood" Platinum on June 4, 2008. He was appointed the president of
Def Jam South in February 2009. That same month,
50 Cent released a video titled "A Psychic Told Me" in which he spoke of harming Khaled's mother and showed alleged footage of her and her workplace. Following this, Khaled refused to comment, not wanting to give 50 Cent the publicity, simply stating: "I'm not gonna let him bait me".
2010–2012: Victory, We the Best Forever, and Kiss the Ring His fourth studio album
Victory was released on March 2, 2010. The album featured guest appearances from
Drake, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross,
Nas,
Snoop Dogg,
Ludacris,
Nelly, and more. The single "
All I Do Is Win" featuring Ludacris, Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg, and
T-Pain was certified as a double-platinum single. Other singles include: "
Put Your Hands Up" featuring Ross,
Young Jeezy,
Plies, and Schife, and "
Fed Up" featuring
Usher, Drake, Ross, and Jeezy. The album had low sales and debuted at number 12 on the
Billboard 200. DJ Khaled announced the title of his next album,
We the Best Forever, on
Twitter. On August 19, Khaled signed to
Cash Money Records along to
Universal Motown, the album will be released under the label, also under
E1 Entertainment,
Terror Squad,
Def Jam South, and Khaled's own label
We the Best Music Group, with confirmed guests as
Fat Joe,
Chris Brown,
Keyshia Cole,
Cee Lo Green,
Cool & Dre, Rick Ross, Kanye West,
Jay-Z, Nas,
Birdman, Lil Wayne,
T.I.,
Akon, Drake, and
Nicki Minaj The first single, "
Welcome to My Hood", featuring Rick Ross,
Plies, Lil Wayne and
T-Pain was released on January 13, 2011; it was produced by the Renegades, and co-produced by DJ Khaled himself along with the Nasty Beatmakers. The song was his first release under
Cash Money Records and
Universal Motown Records, a music video was filmed in Miami, Florida, and directed by
Gil Green, featuring cameos by
Flo Rida,
Bow Wow,
Busta Rhymes, and other artists. The next single, "
I'm on One", featuring Drake, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne, was released on May 20, 2011. Khaled performed the song at
BET Awards 2011, which aired on June 26, 2011. On December 10, 2011, DJ Khaled announced the title of his next album,
Kiss the Ring, in an online video, with the release date as "coming soon" in 2012. Guests on the album include
T-Pain,
French Montana,
Future,
Wiz Khalifa, Nas,
Plies,
Ace Hood, Kanye West, Rick Ross,
Meek Mill,
Big Sean,
2 Chainz,
Jadakiss,
Kirko Bangz,
Mack Maine,
Tyga,
T.I.,
J. Cole,
Kendrick Lamar,
Big K.R.I.T.,
Mavado, and
Wale. Khaled mentioned that he had a verse from someone "very special", which was later revealed as
Scarface. The first single released was "
Take It to the Head", featuring
Chris Brown, Rick Ross,
Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne. The second single was "
I Wish You Would", featuring Kanye West and Rick Ross.
Kiss the Ring was released on August 21, 2012 and debuted at number four on the
Billboard 200. The third single was "Bitches and Bottles" featuring
T.I., Lil Wayne, and
Future. In 2012, Khaled and other producers, including
No I.D., worked with
Kanye West on his sixth studio album
Yeezus, although Khaled's contributions were ultimately omitted from the album.
2013–2015: Suffering from Success and I Changed a Lot In January 2013, Khaled announced that he began work on his seventh album,
Suffering from Success. After attending a doctor due to a bald spot on his beard, Khaled was told that he was "suffering from success", which inspired the album's title. The first single from the album, "
No New Friends", features Drake, Lil Wayne and Rick Ross, and was produced by Canadian producers
Boi-1da and
Noah "40" Shebib. On April 14, 2013, Khaled released a promotional video for
Suffering for Success, and the music video for the aforementioned single. The single was premiered the following day and released to iTunes of April 19, 2013. "No New Friends" has since debuted at #55 on the
Billboard Hot 100. On June 10, 2013, it was announced that
Suffering from Success would be released on September 24, 2013. On July 25, 2013, Khaled publicly "proposed" to fellow
Cash Money artist
Nicki Minaj via
MTV. He supported his offer with a 10-karat diamond ring from Rafaello & Co., valued at about $500,000. Later, he reaffirmed his proposal in an interview with
Power 106's
DJ Felli Fel, stating: "I ain't a young boy no more. I'm on my thinking the future. I just had to be honest. I always liked her. She's my friend, of course. And I like her. It's more than a crush." On July 29, 2013, in an interview with
Funkmaster Flex, Minaj denied Khaled's proposal, saying: "Khaled is my brother and Khaled was not serious with that damn proposal, y'all. Please let it go. He was kidding." The same day, Flex premiered Khaled's new single, "I Wanna Be with You", which featured Minaj, as well as frequent collaborators
Future and Rick Ross. This lead some to believe that his proposal was a
publicity stunt to promote his new single. On April 28, 2014, DJ Khaled announced in an interview with MTV that Jay-Z would be featured on his new single. The interview was noted due to Khaled "cursing, gesturing, and tossing the microphone to the floor in an effort to convey the importance and impact of the music he has coming this summer." A few hours after that, he released the single called "
They Don't Love You No More", also featuring frequent collaborators Rick Ross, Meek Mill and French Montana. The song was included on his eighth studio album,
I Changed a Lot, which was released in 2015. The following day, "They Don't Love You No More" was serviced to
mainstream urban radio in the United States. On July 1, 2014, Khaled announced that he has partnered with Danish audio company
Bang & Olufsen to launch his own brand of headphones, titled "We the Best Sound". The brand is advertised in the video "They Don't Love You No More." On August 8, 2014, Khaled released the official artwork for the second single from
I Changed A Lot entitled "
Hold You Down" which features
Chris Brown,
August Alsina,
Future and
Jeremih, and is produced by
Bkorn,
Lee on the Beats and LDB. The single was released on August 11, 2014, along with a music video, directed by
Gil Green. On November 3, 2014, Khaled released the remix to "Hold You Down" featuring
Usher, Rick Ross,
Fabolous, and
Ace Hood. On May 11, 2015, DJ Khaled revealed that he had amicably parted ways with Cash Money Records. "I'm not signed to Cash Money at all. I've been off for a minute," Khaled revealed. "It's not that I'm here to promote that I've been off. That's family. But, nah, it's just We The Best. Nothing negative, everything's beautiful." On the same day, DJ Khaled released the third single off the album
I Changed a Lot titled "
How Many Times", featuring
Chris Brown, Lil Wayne and
Big Sean produced
Bkorn,
Lee on the Beats and OZ. DJ Khaled revealed that his long-delayed album,
I Changed A Lot, would be released on October 23, 2015, and also revealed the album's artwork.
2016–2019: Major Key, Grateful and Father of Asahd On February 5, 2016, DJ Khaled premiered the debut his new
We The Best Radio show on
Beats 1 with the premiere of
Future's fourth studio album
EVOL. On February 14, 2016, DJ Khaled announced that he would debut
French Montana's new mixtape on We The Best Radio. The
Wave Gods titled mixtape premiered on February 19, 2016. On February 29, 2016, Khaled signed a management-only deal with Jay Z's company,
Roc Nation and announced his ninth studio album,
Major Key, was going to be released in 2016, specifically on July 29, and has a lion on the cover. On June 3, 2016, Khaled released the first single off Major Key, "
For Free", which was produced by the OVO team of Nineteen85 and Jordan Ullman. He announced his album would feature Jay Z, Future, Kanye West, Big Sean, Lil Wayne, and Rick Ross. In October 2016, he appeared in advertising for the alcoholic beverage
Cîroc Mango and starred in "Let's Get It: Khaled's Odyssey", an episode of ''Let's Get It''. On December 24, 2016, Khaled announced on Twitter that he was working on his tenth studio album. In January 2017, he was seen in the studio on his Snapchat with potential collaborators, such as
Chance the Rapper,
Justin Bieber,
Migos and
Mariah Carey. On February 9, DJ Khaled announced his tenth studio album would be titled
Grateful and said that it was going to be released in June. On February 12, DJ Khaled released "
Shining", the lead single of
Grateful which features
Beyoncé and Jay-Z. He had a
cameo appearance in promotional material for
Spider-Man: Homecoming, and later appeared as a fictionalized version of himself in
Pitch Perfect 3 (2017), in which his character is featured as both a performer and a major plot point. Also that year, he announced he would join
Demi Lovato as the opening act for their
Tell Me You Love Me Tour. On March 1, 2018, Khaled announced his eleventh studio album would be titled
Father of Asahd, titled after his older son Asahd. The album's lead single, "
Top Off", featuring Beyoncé, Jay-Z and Future, was released the following day, on March 2. On July 23, Khaled announced the next single, titled "
No Brainer", featuring Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper and Quavo, which was released on July 27. On March 5, 2019, Khaled announced that the album would be released in May 2019. It was released on May 17, 2019. He released several music videos for the album's singles on that day through May 20, including one for "
Higher", featuring late rapper
Nipsey Hussle and
John Legend, a track which also garnered Khaled his first
Grammy Award.
2020–present: Khaled Khaled, God Did and Aalam of God On July 17, 2020, Khaled released two singles simultaneously, titled "
Popstar" and "
Greece", both featuring Canadian rapper
Drake. Two days prior, on July 15, Khaled announced his twelfth studio album would be titled
Khaled Khaled, after his legal name. The announcement was accompanied with a video trailer documenting his life and career, including the birth of his sons Asahd and Aalam, who both would executive produce the album, and winning his first
Grammy Award. In March 2021, Khaled collaborated with
Dolce & Gabbana on a collection of ready-to-wear and beachwear pieces. On April 30, 2021, Khaled released his 12th studio album,
Khaled Khaled. The title of the album is taken from Khaled's real name, Khaled Khaled.
Allah is, as well as Khaled's two sons, credited as an executive producer due to the Khaled family's religious beliefs and spirituality in
Islam. The album included 14 tracks and song features with the likes of
Nas,
Beyoncé and
Jeremih. Two days after the release of the album, Khaled revealed an updated track listing that added the track "Big Paper", which features American rapper
Cardi B, which was not on the previous track listing. On July 6, 2022, he announced the title of his upcoming 13th studio album,
God Did, and released the album on August 26, 2022. On August 10, 2023, DJ Khaled announced via
Instagram that he will release his upcoming fourteenth studio album
Til Next Time, promoted by its lead single, "
Supposed to Be Loved", which features rappers
Future,
Lil Baby and
Lil Uzi Vert. The title of the album was later changed to
Aalam of God. ==Artist relationships==