As we continue to celebrate Black Music Month, it’s time to recognize producers. The ones who sculpt, paint and set the sonic pictures, elevating the artists featured to places unimaginable without them. One such skilled sound shaper is DJ Khalil. Son of NBA player and basketball coach Walt Hazzard, his exposure to music icons during his childhood began from the jump. Eventually forming memorable duo Self Scientific with Chace Infinite, the beatmaster would go on to meet fellow icon and mentor Dr. Dre establishing a fruitful partnership that connected him toEminem, going on to co-produce tracks off 2010’s Grammy awarded “Recovery”. Beyond his hip-hop contributions with tracks for Nas, Clipse, Ye, ASAP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar and Benny the Butcher, he’s tapped into R&B and jazz, collecting five Grammys along his busy career including one for Jon Batiste’s statement piece “Freedom” off his brilliant 2022 Album of The Year “We Are”.

Curious about DJ Khalil’s latest musical venture and what he’s doing now, I jumped at the chance to attend the 40th Anniversary JUST KREATE event at LA’s Gibson Showroom recently. Featuring a live band, the laidback soulful recorded session will be released as a sample pack dropping on WAVS.com to be chopped up to the producing listener’s heart content. While there, I got a chance to chat with Khalil about his early start in music, his work with Nas, Jay-Z, Kanye, Anderson Paak and The Clipse, his Grammys, WTF moments with Q-Tip and his plans for 2026. Listen to the interview below and follow DJ Khalil on Instagram HERE!