When Morning Edition host David Greene spoke to DJ Khaled recently, there was simply too much good stuff to fit all of it on the radio. Fortunately, the show passed along to us an extended version of the interview, which opens with David explaining why this was the second time they set up an interview with the musician, producer and social media super-super-superstar.
You should listen to the whole thing for yourself, because none of this sounds as intriguing in print as it does when DJ Khaled says it, but here are a few of the things you'll hear.
1. When David clarifies that the "keys" he talks about are not literal keys, but keys to success and greatness, Khaled says, "Yeah, but there's nothing wrong with having some nice keys that will inspire you on a chain, because I have one ... it's to remind me that the keys are so important."
2. "If you text me, I'm gonna hit you back with a key. With some type of key." David asks what he would get back if he texted, "Hey, what's up? How's New York." Khaled: "It's a cold world. Bundle up." And then he would add a key emoji, because of course he would.
3. If you follow DJ Khaled, you know that he frequently tells you that "they" don't want you to do whatever it is he's telling you that you should do. Who, David asks, are they? "They are the people that don't believe in us, that want us to lose ... that want us broke, that want us finished ... they are the people that we need to stay away from. I remember, I had somebody actually come up to me and say, 'Khaled, you will be nothing, you know? Stop what you're doing, you know? You're just a DJ, you're going to be local forever. You're not going to be able to succeed."
4. Hearing Khaled refer at one point to "cloth talk," David Greene of NPR's Morning Edition asks what cloth talk is. "Cloth talk is what we're having right now. We're having like serious talk." David Greene: "You and I are having cloth talk." Khaled: "Yeah, we're having cloth talk, and it's like having real talk, but authentic. You know? This is it."
5. A lot of folks are familiar with DJ Khaled's Snapchatted Jet Ski "incident," when he got lost in the dark during a trip to visit Rick Ross. (Take all that in for a moment.) But what you may not know — and what you did not hear on Morning Edition — is the way Khaled connects getting lost on a Jet Ski with having been at a very difficult moment in his life when he wasn't sure he should have a baby. (Yes, really.) He also explains being pulled over by the Coast Guard — not for the first time.
6. Would you expect that Ed Sheeran helped DJ Khaled develop his Snapchat persona? Well, it's true. Would you expect that Khaled first came to understand the power of his social media presence at an actual Apple store? He says this is also true.
All this, plus a couple of Khaled-isms that you'll have to listen carefully to even catch, in this Small Batch edition of Pop Culture Happy Hour.
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