S. Samuel
Miami's DJ Khaled recently discussed Kanye West's star power and, specifically, just how much credit he should get for landing the elusive hip-hop star on his new Kiss the Ring album.
Khaled credited their longstanding relationship for helping secure big Ye collaborations.
“You can’t get Kanye West for a song. There’s nobody in this music business who can do what I do and that’s why that album is called Kiss the Ring,” Khaled boasted to MTV News on August 21, the same day that he released his sixth studio album. “First of all Kanye’s my friend that I’ve known for a long time … from my first album,” he said. “He salutes my talents and I work with him in the studio a lot and Ross, you already know our grind and our story from day one.” (MTV)
Mr. West recently came through for Khaled’s “I Wish You Would” music video.
Kanye West combines his two recent collaborations with DJ Khaled , “I Wish You Would” and “Cold” , into one lengthy video directed by Hype Williams . Williams’ trades in his fish-eye lens for very, very un-Steadicam shots of Yeezy in a narrow, graffiti-laced tunnel. Along the way, Rick Ross appears for his part on “I Wish You Would”, and Kim K. cameos during “Cold”. “I Wish You Would” appears on Khaled’s new album Kiss the Ring, due out August 21st via We the Best Music Group/Terror Squad/Cash Money Records/Universal Republic Records. “Cold” was released as a standalone single by West, and is currently available via iTunes. (Consequence of Sound)
Although Ye is a phone call away, Khaled previously revealed his difficulty in getting an Eminem collaboration in the books.
“I wanted Eminem,” Khaled said in an interview this week. “I really want to make it happen, I think it’s gonna happen…I never really sat down and talked to him — I’m a fan of him and I’m cool with him, but he doesn’t know me like that. I really don’t know what route to get him…I don’t just ask people to get on records. I want people to want to want to do the records and know I’m gonna make a hit record ’cause that’s what I do. I’ve worked with Jay-Z before, I’ve worked with Kanye [West] before, so I wanted to reach out to Eminem.” (Hot 97)
His new LP is slated to push up to 40,000 copies in its opening week.
Trey Songz‘ fifth Atlantic album, Chapter V, will easily take the #1 spot on next week’s chart as the only title that will hit six figures, with a first-week total that should reach 125-130k. His last album, 2010’s Passion, Pain & Pleasure, debuted with 240k in sales on the way to a total of 842k to date. Cash Money/Republic rapper DJ Khaled’s Kiss the Ring, the follow-up to last year’s We the Best Forever, is on target for 35-40k as the second-highest debut of the week. (HITS Daily Double)
Check out some recent DJ Khaled footage below:
