Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on November 26, 1975, to Palestinian immigrants, young Khaled Mohamed Khaled moved with his parents to Orlando, Florida around 1989 where he began DJing. Financial instability, however, drove his parents back to New Orleans and Khaled soon followed suit.
In New Orleans he began working at Odyssey Records (1993). In 1994, he won $5,000 in a DJ contest and promptly moved to Miami where he began opening for rappers such as Notorious B.I.G.
In 1996, Khaled made his way into pirate radio station Mixx96, then joined Miami hip hop station 99 Jamz a year later, where he co-hosted WEDR’s The Luke Show.
From 2003-2013, DJ Khaled got his own show on 99 Jamz, during which time he assumed handles such as Arab Attack, Terror Squadian, Beat Novacane and Mr. Miami.
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The DJ launched his own record label We the Best in 2006, soon followed by his first album, Listennn … the Album, which landed at 12 on the US Billboard 200.
Singles from his second album We the Best (2007)—“I’m So Hood” and “We Takin’ Over”—won accolades in the form an Ozone Award for Best Video (“We Takin’ Over”) and Platinum certification for the former. Khaled also won an Ozone for Best Radio DJ (2007).
Khaled won DJ of the Year at the BET Hip Hop Awards (2008) and became president of record label Def Jam South (2009).
The single “All I Do Is Win”, from his fourth album Victory (2010), got certified 2XPlatinum. Between 2010 and 2015, Khaled was signed up with Cash Money Records along with Universal Motown. In 2016, he signed a deal with Epic Records. (CNBC)
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Partnering Denmark’s Bang & Olufsen in 2014, Khaled launched “We the Best Sound”, his own headphones brand.
In 2016, Khaled unleashed We the Best Radio show on Beats 1 and also teamed up with Sean “Diddy” Combs for Cîroc Mango vodka’s ad campaign (“Let’s Get It: Khaled’s Odyssey”). It was the year Jay Z became his manager.
Khaled’s 10th album, “Grateful”, skyrocketed to top spot on Billboard 200 in 2017. The DJ’s album count is now 11. (CNBC)
His movie contributions include appearing in Pitch Perfect 3 (2017) and a song for Disney’s 2018 film, A Wrinkle in Time.
Featuring in an ad for TurboTax (2017), Khaled also hosts/judges Fox’s music competition The FOUR Battle for Stardom. (CNBC)
Khaled’s other awards include one American Music Award (2017), five ASCAP Awards (2016-17), 11 BET Hip-Hop Awards (2008-17) and one Urban Music Award (2017).
A loyal Rolls-Royce fan, Khaled’s collection boasts a 2016 Ghost sedan, a 2017 Wraith coupe, a 2017 Dawn convertible and the latest $430,000 Phantom VIII. Besides these, he owns a Cadillac Escalade and a Range Rover. His brand devotion spurs Khaled to showcase Rolls-Royce in his videos too—a gesture equally reciprocated with Rolls providing vehicles for high-profile events. The company even gifted a Rolls-branded child seat for his son. (Forbes)
Author of the book The Keys (published 2016), DJ Khaled lives in Mulholland Estates, Los Angeles since 2017 with his fiancée Nicole Tuck and son Asahd.
The DJ became an internet sensation when he streamed his son’s birth live on Snapchat.
