For DJ Khaled, status and streams don’t define him anymore — family does.
After the birth of his first son Asahd, 6½, the music producer had a new lease on life — and he remembered that’s exactly what JAY-Z told him would happen.
“It’s all for them,” Khaled, 47, told Variety in a cover story interview on Wednesday. “Every single thing — the house we’re living in, the cars we drive, the watches, the music … JAY-Z told me, ‘Wait till you have a kid — that’s when life really starts.'”
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(499x0:501x2):format(webp)/dj-khaled-variety-7-062123-90240ad46104469ea14baeb7c1936d50.jpg)
He added, “And as soon as my kids were born, my life changed. Not just these blessings, but also my mentality. Money doesn’t define success. Money doesn’t define being a mogul. To me, true success is being happy.”
Khaled shares sons Asahd and Aalam, 3½, with partner Nicole Tuck. In May, he opened up to PEOPLE about his step-by-step morning routine — which includes expressing gratitude for his family.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(499x0:501x2):format(webp)/dj-khaled-variety-5-062123-8727e73aa74447f59a60e498ec74aa4d.jpg)
After waking up at 7:30 a.m., Khaled hops out of the shower at 8:15 a.m. and gets dressed while spreading “that cocoa butter all over me” by 8:47 a.m., he said. Then he’s out the door and headed to the golf course by 9:30 a.m. after kissing his whole family goodbye.
“That’s my routine on-cycle and off-cycle. Because there’s only one cycle. It’s called show gratitude in life every day,” Khaled told PEOPLE.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(499x0:501x2):format(webp)/dj-khaled-variety-cover-062123-9befa791e53f462f8844dde36a910599.jpg)
“Even if you want to call it on-cycle or off-cycle, my life is making sure my kids are happy, making sure my queen is happy. And then after that, I do things to keep me inspired more because I’m inspired that they’re happy. Every day I wake up, I show my gratitude to God and my kids and my wife. That’s something I really do. I don’t talk it. I live it.”
Elsewhere in the Variety interview, DJ Khaled also opened up about his friendship with Drake — and said that they have bonded over their kids.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(499x0:501x2):format(webp)/dj-khaled-variety-2-062123-92088e026ab44df6b5ac974df80488e9.jpg)
He called Drake’s family “beautiful” and revealed that his 5-year-old son Adonis “plays good basketball too” as he marveled over the “Knife Talk” rapper’s court in his Toronto home.
“That house is unbelievable because you gotta remind yourself that it’s a house,” said Khaled. “You’ll be in the basketball court, and then you’ll be in the studio, and then it feels like you’re walking an hour to get to the indoor pool or the club.”
He added that the home is “like a museum” and “you can get lost in there, for sure.”
