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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. ~ Andy Kellman Follow @djkhaled on twitter! https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/dj-khaled/id157749142

Contemporary R&B singer and songwriter Kehlani Parrish studied ballet and modern dance at the Oakland School for the Arts. An injury prompted a move to OSA's music department, where she blossomed as a vocalist. During eighth grade, she joined Poplyfe, a band that competed on America's Got Talent during the program's sixth season. Following an affable performance of Travie McCoy's "Billionaire," judge Piers Morgan noted that he thought Kehlani, the frontperson, could be successful without the band. While Kehlani brushed the notion aside, she eventually went solo and presented herself as a slightly younger, more down-to-earth alternative to contemporary R&B artists like Jhené Aiko. Her first release, the eight-track Cloud19, was released in 2014, and a pair of its songs registered on Billboard's Twitter Emerging Artists chart. A lengthier set, You Should Be Here, followed in 2015 with guest appearances from BJ the Chicago Kid and Chance the Rapper. Shortly after its release, major-label Atlantic announced that it had signed Kehlani to a recording contract. You Should Be Here was later nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Urban Contemporary Album. Atlantic released several Kehlani tracks during 2015 and 2016, including "Gangsta," her first crossover hit, taken from Suicide Squad: The Album. Kehlani's first proper full-length, SweetSexySavage, arrived on Atlantic in early 2017. ~ Andy Kellman Follow @Kehlani on twitter! kehlanimusic.com itun.es/us/P4kfhb

Travis Scott is the stage name of Jacques Webster, a Houston-born hip-hop artist and producer affiliated with Kanye West's GOOD Music and T.I.'s Grand Hustle. Scott has a heavily Auto-Tuned half-sung/half-rapped vocal style, and refers to himself as a singer rather than a rapper. He's produced or co-produced tracks by Kanye West, Rihanna, and Drake, and he's appeared on tracks by Jay-Z, Pusha T, Meek Mill, and numerous others. Within four years of his 2012 mainstream arrival, Scott attained platinum singles as a lead artist and songwriter/producer, as well as a pair of Top Five studio albums, the latter of which went to number one. Scott grew up in a suburb of Houston and began making music as a teenager. He formed a duo called the Graduates with Chris Holloway, and they released an EP in 2009. The following year, he formed another duo, the Classmates, with OG Chess. Scott produced the duo's two full-lengths, Buddy Rich and Cruis'n USA, and the duo broke up by the end of 2011. After dropping out of college, Scott moved to Los Angeles and began recording music on his own. He came in contact with T.I. and eventually Kanye West. West hired Scott as an in-house producer for GOOD Music, and appeared on the label's 2012 compilation Cruel Summer. Scott's debut, Owl Pharaoh, was originally scheduled to be released as a free mixtape in 2012, but as his profile grew (including a placement in XXL Magazine's Freshman Class of 2013), and due to sample clearance issues, the album wasn't released until May of 2013. Featuring guest appearances by T.I. and 2 Chainz (on single "Upper Echelon") as well as Toro y Moi and and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, the mixtape eventually garnered a nomination for Best Mixtape at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards. The build-up to Scott's first proper studio album involved the mixtape Days Before Rodeo, promoted with the singles "Don't Play" and "Mamacita," and the March of 2015 U.S. Rodeo Tour, for which Scott headlined, supported by Young Thug and Metro Boomin. Several of the dates sold out. During the same month, Rihanna's Scott-produced hit single "Bitch Better Have My Money" was released. "3500" and "Antidote" were released ahead of Rodeo, Scott's second full-length, which followed in September on Grand Hustle/Epic and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. Toward the end of the year, "Antidote" peaked at number 16 on the Hot 100 and became Scott's first platinum single. Chatter regarding a follow-up, along with numerous delays, ensued throughout much of 2016. Meanwhile, Scott extended his commercial presence with featured spots on Wiz Khalifa's "Bake Sale," Rihanna's "Woo," and Kanye West's "FML," as well as a collaboration with Young Thug and Quavo, "Pick Up the Phone," a mid-year hit issued as the lead single of Young Thug's JEFFERY. Three months later, after "Bitch Better Have Money" earned a platinum certification, Scott's second proper album arrived. Titled Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, after one of Quavo's lines in "Pick Up the Phone," the woozy, mostly midtempo set featured that hit and contributions from the likes of André 3000, Kid Cudi, and Kendrick Lamar. It went straight to the top of the Billboard 200. ~ Paul Simpson & Andy Kellman Follow @trvisXX on twitter! Follow @kendricklamar on twitter! smarturl.it/BITTSM