Fresh off an epic closing performance at the Grammys, DJ Khaled a handful of major-key life and career updates today at Mr. Chow in Miami’s W South Beach. And what better way to wrap a larger-than-life press conference—with glasses of champagne circulating a room of more than 100 people—than by evoking a piece of nostalgia from the marquee act on Khaled’s “God Did.”
Toward the end of an eventful press conference, Khaled summed up his many 2023 developments by recreating Hewlett-Packard’s 2006 commercial campaign that saw luminaries like Pharrell Williams, Mark Cuban, and most memorably, Jay-Z, tell stories as their hands illustrated visuals. And Khaled’s mitts had lots of information to enact: There was the joint partnership with Def Jam announcement, which signified his We the Best label moving to the most storied record label in hip-hop (where he once served as A&R and later president of the label’s South division). The move also makes Khaled the Global Creative Consultant for Universal Music Group. LION!
Outside of music endeavors, Khaled is offering a full-ride scholarship for four years of schooling at the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment at Brooklyn’s Long Island University. The producer also revealed his second Jordan collab is hitting stores at the end of the year; he’s opening a We The Best Snipes store in Miami, too. To cap it all off, Khaled was awarded the keys to the cities of Miami Beach and Miami, of which he already has several. Listennn!
When you’re made aware of a DJ Khaled press conference that’s shrouded in secrecy, you don’t know what to expect beyond hearing some We The Best anthems, seeing more bottles of Belaire than you can count, and hearing echoes of those patented catchphrases. All of the above happened of course, but otherwise, a Khaled press conference is like any other press conference: not much spectacle from one of hip-hop's greatest showmen. The event was quite relaxed, but one thing that you don’t see every day is a blend of mostly Black media members hailing from cities all across the United States, at companies ranging from as big as Forbes to small local start-ups. Too often stars ignore that sector, but Khaled put us in full focus. I like that.
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