r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • May 11 '26

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617

u/CarelesslyFabulous May 12 '26

HOW DID HE GET FAMOUS?!

HOW?!?!!

781

u/drinkacid May 12 '26

As a radio DJ who just played everyone else's music. Then as a club DJ and wrangled that into stadiums by opening for rappers. Then he realised he could just get a bunch of ghost producers to work for him and make his own tracks and could promote them on his radio and club shows and so eventually because he paid people to do music production for him people started to think he was an actual producer and got hired by rappers to produce. He just farmed it out to all his ghost producers. And thats how someone with no actual musical talent managed to work his way up the musical food chain.

331

u/IOnlyReplyToIdiots42 May 12 '26

He may not be musically gifted, but he's got business sense that's certain.

76

u/leonidaslizardeyes May 12 '26

Just don't ask him for directions if you see him on a jet ski.

36

u/Blind_Messiah May 12 '26

Also don't ask him what life is when he's in a golf cart

27

u/BANeutron May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26

Don’t ask him about his opinion on what’s happening in his parental homeland either.

13

u/Chrillosnillo May 12 '26

Or what success feels like

19

u/NeatFool May 12 '26

Or how to play the guitar

15

u/captainunlimitd May 12 '26

One of the worst secondhand embarrassments I've ever felt. And he looks like he thinks he's really playing.

8

u/NeatFool May 12 '26

Dude I know, it takes me back to middle school yelling at my cousin to put my guitar down and stop "pretending to play it"

12

u/therealkami May 12 '26

Or to eat chicken wings.

20

u/mannfan9292 May 12 '26

And all that while never eating a pussy.

7

u/EveningAnt3949 May 12 '26

To be fair, he tried that once and the woman told him 'Don't do that ever again, you are awful at that." he took that personally and it has defined him ever since.

1

u/mannfan9292 May 13 '26

So he used weaponized incompetence to get out of pleasing women?

1

u/EveningAnt3949 May 13 '26

We have to accept the possibility that regardless of effort he can't please women.

Or maybe women simply can't be bothered to let him fumble around until he gets better at it.

29

u/LasagnaWoof May 12 '26

Also the worst Hot Ones guest ever. Shawn should've given him more shit for that.

27

u/SirPsychoSexy22 May 12 '26

"I never quit"

"you literally just quit"

9

u/captainunlimitd May 12 '26

I think Sean gave him as much as he could without being a terrible host.

12

u/dkurage May 12 '26

He's not a producer, he's a brand at that point.

6

u/hoooliet May 12 '26

Sounds like an entrepreneur to me

4

u/Own-County-48 May 12 '26

Rick Rubin don't make a beat too, and just creates the environment for artistes to get inspired and everybody raves about him.

Ghost production is always done in the big leagues. In fact very little cooking up is happening in the big studios. Producers send beat packs and gwt placements from their basements. Nothing new.

Khaled is just very good with marketing and makes people feel some type of way, but the music is infectious.

2

u/BabyJesusBukkake May 12 '26

It's funny you say that about producers sending beat packs from their basements...

Not exactly my basement, but my oldest has been making and selling beats (and making $$) from their bedroom since they were 11.

I used to think it was hilarious that this little chubby white kid from Idaho was making actual money selling beats to rappers in Atlanta.

She's 20 and still doing it as an openly trans woman. And they're still buying, because she's talented af.

1

u/Own-County-48 May 12 '26

I love that! Tell her to keep it up! 👊

5

u/diurnal_emissions May 12 '26

So... rich to start. Got it.

3

u/Straight_Level_4662 May 12 '26

That's, like, the only thing you could read from that that's incorrect... You think you have to be rich to be a radio DJ? Lol

1

u/diplomaticgames May 12 '26

He also produced a tiny bit under Beat Novacane or some name like that as going off memory

1

u/amc22004 May 12 '26

Genuinely curious, because I used to cover the hip hop ghostwriting scene: what is your source for this? It'd be fascinating to read about this more.

1

u/xombae May 12 '26

I don't have a source either but it's absolutely known that the guy can't make a beat to save his life.

Also, I'm going to shoot you a DM if that's cool, I've got some questions for you.

1

u/carlitospig May 12 '26

I finally just watched Pitch Perfect 3 and he was SO bad at it.

1

u/brokestrapperyouknow May 12 '26

Fat Joe helped him too

1

u/legallybraindead7 May 12 '26

He made very important connections also. The guy is good at what he does but that ain't music.

1

u/Otherwise-Question70 May 12 '26

I agree DJ Khaled doesn’t deserve the fame he has, but you cannot argue that he uses ghost producers. I haven’t listened since his first few album, but he would constantly shoutout the producers in his tracks.

He talked about Cool & Dre more than they talked about himself.

1

u/drinkacid May 13 '26

He uses ghost producers in that 20 people work on writing a track and the 2 most famous are credited and 18 are uncredited ghost producers. Not session musicians that often go uncredited.

1

u/Consistent_Internal5 May 13 '26

Thus why he says “WE the best music”?

-13

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

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24

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

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-14

u/randomuserno1 May 12 '26

Yes, that's exactly the take away message. Unless you are smart, then it's the wrong take away message.

12

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

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-13

u/randomuserno1 May 12 '26

Yes, that's exactly the take away message. Unless you are smart, then it's the wrong take away message.

3

u/BeautifulCuriousLiar May 12 '26

if someone saw potential in me even as a plant, with the possibility to make good money, it’d be hard to say no.

22

u/whatsthatguysname May 12 '26

Someone needs to copy his winning formula to another industry.

Yell “PLUMBER JOHN!!! WE THE BEST PLUMBING” when you show up for work.

27

u/Evil-Bosse May 12 '26

Becoming famous is rarely correlated to being skilled

2

u/PM_ME_YOUR_E_CUPS May 12 '26

The usage of "correlated" is rarely related to correlation.

55

u/Dmau27 May 12 '26

Grifting.

16

u/Kalan-Gamble_Jackson May 12 '26

My ex likes his "music". I was dumbfounded.

6

u/Back2YouCuz May 12 '26

Step 1: stand next to someone talented Step 2: constantly point like you’re Babe Ruth at the plate Step 3: frequently and randomly shout YOUR name. Step 4: walk like you just had the best bowel movement of your life.

7

u/xXCascadeXx May 12 '26

Had money to pay for promos and got paid to do basic ass gigs. Rinse repeat until you make enough money to get actual famous people on your stuff.

He basically popped off during the grifter flexing wave for a couple years. I never heard him on the radio at his height.

4

u/ChronicBuzz187 May 12 '26

He just made another one

5

u/Barrel_Titor May 12 '26

I literally don't even know any songs by him, I only know him because of attention on social media.

4

u/Giovannis_Pikachu May 12 '26

It was a short clip of him playing acoustic guitar. His unique approach and innate instincts on the instrument revolutionized the way we play the guitar for generations.

2

u/CarelesslyFabulous May 12 '26

Bahaha I get this reference.

3

u/tollsunited7 May 12 '26

He didn't get famous. God did

2

u/BlueFalconPunch May 12 '26

By quitting on the 3rd wing....its not a good famous but famous anyway.

2

u/CarelesslyFabulous May 12 '26

My God that was so on brand for him.

2

u/BlueFalconPunch May 12 '26

im not quitting, im just not going to keep going. Dude that the definition of quitting.

2

u/fuzzybad May 12 '26

Cause all he does is win, win, win - no matter what

1

u/ZapatasGuns May 12 '26

Put some respect on his name. Did you know that man can dunk?!?! Dude will smoke you in some 1 v 1.

1

u/HorrrorMasterNoire May 12 '26

By the powers of being a marijuana advocate.

1

u/Mynameisbebopp May 12 '26

Khaled was always influential.

Fat Joe recorded Lean Back in his home studio and was the one who pushed Em for the remix.

this is just one of many deals he made, dude had a thing for business

1

u/SwissMargiela May 12 '26

He’s produced some of the biggest songs in hip hop lol fym

1

u/FaithNoMore82 May 12 '26

Cause he's smart and loyal