Perhaps an unfair critique considering tracks like “We Takin’ Over” and “Out Here Grindin'” probably aren’t getting made without his behind the scenes brokering, but in an artistic sense, extremely true. While he’s produced a few beats here and there as Beat Novacane, and there’s no denying his influence on the Miami club scene through his work as a radio and club DJ there, for the nation at large, he’s known mainly as the guy who does everything by doing absolutely nothing.

DJ Khaled is something like the Prop Joe (HBO’s The Wire) of hip-hop, if Prop Joe weren’t ever able to supply the best ideas or the best product in Baltimore, only the best compromises.