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Alternative R&B act the Weeknd -- a solo outlet for vocalist Abel Tesfaye -- surfaced in March 2011 with House of Balloons. A nine-track, 50-minute mixtape made available for free download on the Weeknd website, House of Balloons was based in morose ballads filled with drug references and sexual longing. Sonically, there were clear traces of radio-friendly contemporary R&B à la Trey Songz, Jeremih, the-Dream, and Drake, while also appealing to listeners who favored left-of-center, production-over-songcraft exponents like Spacek and Sa-Ra. The mixtape, made by Tesfaye in collaboration with producers Doc McKinney and Illangelo, among others, garnered widespread coverage within days of its March 21 release. A second mixtape, Thursday (August 19), preceded several appearances on Drake's album Take Care. Echoes of Silence (December 21), the third Weeknd mixtape, followed just before the end of the year. The following June, "Crew Love," off Take Care, reached the Top Ten of Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart. A few months later, he was featured on another charting single, Wiz Khalifa's "Remember You." After Tesfaye signed with Universal Republic, the three Weeknd mixtapes were remastered and bundled with three new songs for Trilogy, issued in November 2012. The set debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart. The following April, Tesfaye won Juno Awards in the categories of Breakthrough Artist of the Year and R&B/Soul Recording of the Year. Trilogy was certified platinum by the RIAA the next month. Kiss Land, much darker in tone than its title implied, followed in September 2013 and debuted at number two. Out of its several singles, only "Live For," featuring Drake, touched the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart. Tesfaye had much more success with a series of non-album singles that followed. "Often," released in 2014, was a Top Ten R&B/Hip-Hop hit. He was featured on Ariana Grande's "Love Me Harder," which reached the Top Ten of the Hot 100 and went platinum in the U.S. "Earned It," featured in Fifty Shades of Grey, repeated the same feats. In 2015, Tesfaye issued "The Hills," a booming ballad, and "Can't Feel My Face," a disco-funk throwback, as the first two singles from Beauty Behind the Madness. Both songs topped the Hot 100. The album was issued that August and debuted at the same position. Through the end of 2015 and into 2016, he was featured on Disclosure's "In the Night," Kanye West's "FML," Future's "Low Life," and Beyoncé's "6 Inch," among other tracks. "Starboy," a collaboration with Daft Punk, was released in September 2016 as the lead single from Tesfaye's album of the same title. It became the singer's fifth Top Ten pop single prior to the November arrival of Starboy, which landed on top of the Billboard 200. The album's success was sustained with the second single, its other Daft Punk production, "I Feel It Coming." ~ Andy Kellman Follow @theweeknd on twitter! theweeknd.co/Starboy

No overnight success, Khaled Mohamed Khaled toiled as a DJ for years prior to becoming an immensely successful, larger-than-life figure in rap music. During the latter half of the 2000s and throughout the following decade, surrounded by an ever-shifting cast of high-profile associates, Khaled factored into several of the rowdiest and most triumphant crossover rap hits. His first nine albums, released from 2006 through 2016, peaked within the Top Five of Billboard's rap chart, supported by singles that often seemed like events. Many of the genre's biggest names, including Rick Ross, Drake, and Jay-Z, eagerly took part. Cynics noted that Khaled rarely produced or wrote material and wondered if he did more than yell, self-promote, and flaunt. Meanwhile, others were having too good a time to care, charmed by Khaled's fun-loving spirit and/or the well-placed talent that flanked him. The son of Palestinian immigrants, Khaled spent the first years of his life in New Orleans, Louisiana. His family moved to Orlando, Florida, where, at the age of 13, he started to learn how to DJ in his supportive parents' garage. Due to financial hardship, Khaled's family returned to New Orleans. While still a teenager, Khaled briefly worked at the city's Odyssey record store, networking with rising rap artists like Birdman and Lil Wayne and, to the dismay of his boss, running up the phone bill by placing long-distance calls to record labels. Khaled went back Orlando, then headed south to Miami and struggled to establish himself as a DJ in the reggae soundclash circuit. At Miami pirate radio station Mixx 93, Khaled approached the on-air DJs and asked for a portion of their time slot. Marcello Valenzano and Andre Lyon, who were on the brink of leaving town and becoming known as production duo Cool & Dre, obliged. Khaled made the studio his home and became an exuberant force on the city's airwaves. His reach extended with mixtapes and club gigs. He received a boost from Luther Campbell, who brought him on as a regular DJ for WEDR's The Luke Show, and was eventually granted a station slot of his own, shortly after he received his first production credits. Emboldened by his increasing popularity and number of connections, as well as his status as the DJ for Terror Squad, Khaled put together his first official mixtape, which led to a long streak of commercially successful proper albums. Debut full-length Listennn: The Album (2006), released through Koch, was a modest success due to the Afrika Bambaataa-sampling Cool & Dre production "Holla at Me." It hit the Top 20 of Billboard's rap chart and, like all Khaled hits that followed, involved several rappers. Khaled remained with Koch/E1 for three additional albums that placed a total of four singles in the pop Top 40: "We Takin' Over," "I'm So Hood," "Out Here Grindin'," and "All I Do Is Win." Made with a combined total of 14 rappers and seven producers, these anthems earned Khaled several gold and platinum certifications. Birdman, who was among the crew heard on the first of the big hits, added Khaled to the Cash Money roster for a period that entailed three additional albums: We the Best Forever (2011), Kiss the Ring (2012), and Suffering from Success (2013). Only "I'm on One" and "No New Friends" were added to Khaled's stack of Top 40 hits, but the parent albums either reached or nearly missed the top of the Billboard rap chart. After a one-album stint with Sony's RED division, which yielded I Changed a Lot (2015) and its "Hold You Down," Khaled moved to major label Epic for Major Key (2016). Prefaced with "For Free" and "I Got the Keys," his seventh and eighth Top 40 singles, the album debuted at the top of the Billboard 200. Late that year, he announced he was working on his tenth album, Grateful. The album's lead single, "Shining," arrived in February 2017 and featured Beyoncé and Jay-Z. ~ Andy Kellman Follow @djkhaled on twitter! http://smarturl.it/DJKhaled_ImTheOne