How DJ Khaled Built a Hip-Hop Empire Off of Relentless Positivity, Self-Promotion and Friends Like Drake and Jay-Z
variety.comDJ Khaled grew up around money. Literally — as a child being raised in New Orleans, the future producer-rapper watched his parents sell clothing out of their car at flea markets and stuff the profits in a pouch wrapped around their young son’s waist.
Later, when they got their own store, it was the sound of the cash register that would ring in his ears. Those early experiences with street-level entrepreneurial activity influenced the rest of his life, most dramatically after all of his family’s hard work to build up retail businesses was done in by what Khaled calls “a bad accountant” when he was 17.
Now 47, Khaled took those hard lessons to heart. Today, he’s an enormously accomplished artist and entrepreneur, known to most as an eminently quotable hype man (“We the best!” “Another one!” “Bless up!”) whose records feature guest appearances from friends such as Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Drake, Lil Wayne and other hip-hop royalty.
Fellow mogul Jay-Z says, “Khaled shines a light of positive energy into every room he enters. His exuberance and sheer ambition are infectious.
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