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DJ Khaled

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Khaled Bin Abdul "DJ Khaled" Khaled was always an enthusiastic cheerleader for hip-hop. As a youth growing up in Louisiana, he worked at a record store where he met and supported Cash Money artists, including Lil' Wayne. He moved to Miami in the mid-'90s and landed a support role for Luther Campbell on the hip-hop and R&B radio station 99 Jamz. He eventually got his own show and built a reputation as an avid supporter of commercial hip-hop. He developed a loud radio personality, much in the tradition of East Coast DJs (emphatic speech, shouted slogans or catch-phrases to punctuate sentences, aggressive posturing). He also built a reputation as a DJ for the Terror Squad and released mixtapes.

In 2006 he released a "solo" album, Listennn... the Album. Khaled produced three of the 17 tracks and spoke his familiar words of encouragement, but otherwise allowed other artists to handle the rapping and production. The magnanimous titles of his subsequent albums appeared to reflect his general enthusiasm and confidence in rap as a whole: We The Best (2007), We Global (2008) and Victory (2010).

Khaled was also a minor Internet sensation when his drops for McDonald's on 99 Jamz were shared online in 2009. His extensive explanations about the virtues of the fast food chain's McCafé, sausage biscuits and other items from the dollar menu netted such notable quotables as, "When that whipped cream is on your face and even hits your nose," "Give thanks to the microwave," and "I put two or three in my mouth immediately and start eatin' it like crazy." ~Dan Nishimoto

Photo Credit: Chris Owyoung/Prefixmag.com