q&a DJ Khaled (Miami, FL)
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hat do Kanye West, Juelz Santana, Freeway, The Clipse, Akon, Styles P, Fat Joe, Rick Ross, Trick Daddy, Pitbull, Young Jeezy, Bun B, USDA, Fabolous, Nas, Trina, Slim Thug, and Chamillionaire have in common? They’re all featured on DJ Khaled’s new album - and he’s adding more features every day! Your first single “Holla At Me” has been doing really well. Are you happy with the response so far? Aw, man, I’m so happy. The whole world is supporting DJ Khaled and my single “Holla At Me” featuring Lil Wayne, Pitbull, Paul Wall, Fat Joe, and Rick Ross. The video for “Holla At Me” is off the hook. BET is showing me crazy love and MTV is showing me crazy love, so I’m very happy. Yeah, the video shoot was crazy. How did you get all those artists together at the same time? Everybody got love for me, man. I got a lot of good relationships, and they love the song so much they wanted to do the video. They wanted to have the song blow up, actually. All these artists perform my record when they do their shows out of town. They just show me phenomenal love. It was hard to get everybody’s schedule together, though. Since you’re on the radio five days a week and in a lot of the clubs in Miami, is it hard for you to travel out of town to promote your album? It’s real hard, but what I do is go out of town on the weekends. At the same time, they let me take off when I need to. My radio station is fully behind me. 99 Jamz has supported me so much, from Mr. Russ to Tony Fields to Derek B to Joe Castro to Jerome. They’re promoting me so much on my station, and the whole 99 Jamz staff is just supporting me so much. They’re pushing me to go promote my album. Have the other stations in Miami been showing some love to your single, or do you feel like they hold back a little because you DJ for a rival station? At one time, the rival stations were playing it like crazy. I think they slowed down a little. I’m sure their bosses got on their cases. But the whole country’s showing love. The competition really doesn’t exist in Miami because DJ Khaled and 99 Jamz are number one. The show I’m on, The Takeover alongside K Foxx, we got the number one ratings. So we’re good, you know? What do you have planned for Springfest? I’m hosting Springfest with 99 Jamz, and we’re gonna have a crazy surprise on stage. Okay, what about Memorial Day weekend? That’s always a big weekend for you in Miami. Yeah, it is. We do Memorial Weekend real big every year. We’re taking over like always. We’re really taking it to another level this year with my album promotions. I’m doing my album party that weekend, it’s gonna be real big. Me and Budafuco are opening Mansion for the whole weekend. When the out-of-towners go back home they’re gonna buy 5,000 copies of DJ Khaled’s album. Each person. That’s a lot of record sales. I hope so. But I’m doing this more for staying relevant in the game and getting my family and my fans to the whole next level. When does the album come out? The album drops June 6th. It’s called Listennn. That’s something me and my family always say. That’s just my trademark. Have you decided on a second single? I’m gonna drop two records. One is “Born And Raised” featuring Trick Daddy, Rick Ross, and Pitbull, produced by The Runners. That’s gonna be a fucking crazy record, it’s gonna be a problem. That’s the Florida anthem. What else you got comin’? Then I got a new record that’s so crazy: Young Jeezy, Bun B, and
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Jeezy’s group USDA. Orlando’s own DJ Nasty did the track, and it’s called “Gangsta Shit.” They’re both gonna fuck the game up. It’s gonna be so big. Remember I told you first, right here in the OZONE magazine. What else are you working on besides the album? I’m doing my producing thing. I just did a song for Young Jeezy’s new album, and I’m also featured on one of his records talking crazy shit. I’m working on Fat Joe’s new album, Rick Ross’ new album, and I just did a joint for Dre featuring Keyshia Cole. The joint on Fat Joe’s album features Lil Wayne. It’s so crazy right now. I’m representing that Miami movement. Do you have any contact info? Myspace.com/DJKhaled. That myspace shit is serious right now, you know? - Julia Beverly (Photo: Earl Randolph)