DJ KHALED: ALL STAR COACH

Words By David Lopez

DJ Khaled is that dude. Anyone who has seen this Palestinian- American music videos knows that he brings out all the top-notch artists. Remember “ Holla at Me,” off his debut Listennn: The Album last year? That was arguably the best posse track of 06’ with appearances from heavy weights like Lil Wayne, Paul Wall, Rick Ross, and Fat Joe. He's followed up with his sophomore LP We The Best, which features a million dollar budget video for “We Takin’ Over,” which imitates Biggie’s “Hypnotize,” the song has become a scorcher out the gate with a chorus by Akon, as well as guest appearances from a slew of rappers including The King, T.I.

“The new album is crazy, it represents unity, it represents big collaborations, big productions, it represents what people been wanting, it represents the hood,” Khaled says with enthusiasm about his new project. “ My second single is called "Brown Paper Bag," with Jeezy, Juelz, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Fat Joe, and Dre,” Khaled shares. The Miami resident delves into production as he administers the boards on the album intro with Rick Ross, and a cut from Beanie Sigel.

The transition to fame didn’t come so easy for this 31-year-old Big Dog Pitbull; he’s been deejaying for over 15 years, putting in work on the mix-tape and college radio scenes, the persistance landed him a time slot on Miami radio station 99 Jamz.

“I started deejaying parties hard, mix tapes, college radio, underground radio and then from there it just took off. My shit was that I made sure that my Deejaying game was on point, before producing then shit started taking off like crazy.”

When asked why he made such a bold proclamation with the album title We The Best, he eagerly responds: “ Because we the best. We just the best, you the best, I’m the best. We have to represent ourselves to the top, because if we wait for somebody else to tell you that then you are playing yourself.” And with the kind of star studded collaborations that he’s been able to muster up who can argue with him.

We The Best was released on June 12th and features appearances by producers The Runners, Cool & Dre, The Diaz Brothers, as well as artists such as T-Pain, Juelz Santana, Jim Jones, Trick Daddy, Trina, Styles P, Cassidy, Ja Rule, and Jadakiss.