All of this early grinding enabled him to forge the priceless industry connections that would prove so useful later on in his career. He also did some production work on Fabolous’ album, Real Talk, and on a couple of Fat Joe’s joints. How does DJ Khaled release an album dam near every year with some of the biggest names in hip-hop, without rapping a line or producing a beat? While it’s easy to sit back and say he doesn’t do anything, if you look beyond just beats and rhymes, DJ Khaled actually does a lot.īefore we go in on what DJ Khaled actually does, let’s take a look at his background and come up first.Įarly on in his career, Khaled worked as a DJ for various gigs, including for Uncle Luke’s Friday night WEDR radio show The Luke Show. It is now a word to generally describe full-length albums released for free, which is the modern form of mixtape that was made a popular following by 50 Cent and his group G-Unit in the early 2000s, sometimes containing all original music, other times composed of freestyles and remixes of popular tracks.Ever since DJ Khaled broke through into rap’s top tier, there’s always been questions and speculation from haters, doubters and just plain confused people – what does he does actually do?ĭJ Khaled: I make hits. In the hip hop scene, mix tape is often displayed as a single term mixtape. Also since the 1990s, it describes releases used to promote one or more new artists, or as a pre-release by more established artists to promote upcoming 'official' albums. Blend tapes became increasingly popular by the mid-1990s, and fans increasingly looked for exclusive tracks and freestyles on the tapes. Ron G moved the mixtape forward in the early 1990s by blending R&B a cappellas with hip hop beats (known as 'blends'). In the mid-1980s, DJs, such as Brucie B, began recording their live music and selling their own mixtapes, which was soon followed by other DJs such as Kid Capri and Doo Wop. (who later became known as Whiz Kid) and DJ Super V would create personalized House Tapes which would eventually circulate throughout New York City. In the late 70's into the early 80's DJs began recording mixtapes out of their homes, referring to them as House Tapes.

As more tapes became available, they began to be collected and traded by fans. Hip hop mixtapes first appeared in the mid-1970s in New York City, featuring artists such as Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa. In hip hop's earliest days, the music only existed in live form, and the music was spread via tapes of parties and shows.

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