If DJ Khaled was going to have an album listening party in NYC, it had to be extravagant. Deep purple disco balls spun a warm glow over the bushel of flowers and stone lion statues. The walls were stacked with blown up photos of Khaled being his usual self, standing next to lions in he wild and brandishing his “We the Best” chain. Being sponsored in part by RocNation, Lavo’s bars were packed to the brim with apple Ciroc and Dusse. Before Khaled entered the building, the DJ ran through the discographies of Kanye and Jay Z, throwing in the final ingredient to the overall lace feel of the the night.
When Khaled arrived, he brought in Busta Rhymes and LA Reid, both sharing the trait of being rather involved with the creation of his new record. Devoting a good chunk of time to say thanks, Khaled called out everyone from Epic Records down to his unborn son for contributing to and inspiring Major Key.
With all that out of the way, Khaled got right into premiering the record. He explained each track as it came on, and hyped up the crowd while they were playing. Speaking on the music, Khaled really crafted some gems here. Major Key is similar to a sampler bearing a little something from every corner in Hip Hop. He has tracks like “Nas Album Done” and “Pick These Hoes Apart” that let their emcees get as spitter-ific as possible. “Holy Key” and “Jermaine’s Interlude” fall on the more introspective and reflective side of the fence, while “For Free” and “Don’t Ever Play Yourself” ride the wave of being boastful club anthems. Major Key clearly has a lot of love baked into it, and listen through it at the party most definitely made me believe he deserved the giant lion cake Epic rolled out for him.
You can catch DJ Khaled’s Major Key on iTunes
Photography by Martin Nunez Bonilla mnbcreativo.com
