DJ Khaled’s positivity has long been a proven force in the music industry, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t hit moments in his life where he felt his back was against the wall.
In a new interview with Jeff Ihaza for Rolling Stone, Khaled—whose new album Til Next Time is out next year—pointed to a period “around 2015” as being crucial to him changing his life for the better. At the time, Khaled explained, he was in a “hustling not smart” mindset.
In fact, according to Khaled, he was still renting his house at the time and was even experiencing difficulties when it came to settling his bills.
“I remember I had like a month to come up with this [large] amount of money,” the We the Best Music Group founder told Ihaza. “I kept saying, 'There’s no way in the world that we worked this much this far and we don’t have nothing to show for it.' I changed that right away.”
This thinking also led Khaled to take a closer look at his personal life, namely his desire to start a family. "I always bet on myself from day one," Khaled said. "But I tripled down that day.”
Fans will note that Khaled released his I Changed a Lot album in 2015, followed less than a year later by his Major Key blockbuster.
See the full interview, which serves as both a celebration and examination of Khaled's singular positivity, right here.
Khaled's most recent album, God Did, arrived in August of last year and went on to bag five Grammy nominations. In the months since, Khaled has announced a joint venture with Def Jam (under which Khaled has been named a global creative consultant for UMG) and a Ryder Cup ambassadorship.
"I’ve been getting into my golf a lot more recently; it’s become a passion of mine," Khaled said when announcing the latter back in June. "We’re about to take it up a gear."
