MUSIC MONDAYS – KHALID – Creators For The Culture

#RunTheCulture

Having talent, true talent, transcends. It transcends where someone is from, it transcends age. This week’s #MusicMonday artist, Khalid it was of those transcendent musical talents.

At the age of 21 and in only his third year in the music game, Khalid has gone from a regular everyday teen living in the far out border town of El Paso, TX to one of the top male vocalist in all of modern R&B thanks to his smooth voice and lyrical content and grooves deeper than his age might imply.

“Location”, his debut single. was released in 2016 and went quadruple platinum. His debut studio album, American Teen, dropped in 2017 to critical acclaim and garnered two Grammy nominations for Best Urban Contemporary Album and Best R&B Song (for “Location”). And the album went platinum. He won the 2017 VMA for Best New Artist and collabed with SZA that year. Then in 2018, he teamed up with Normani and had hist first #1 on Billboard (“Love Lies”), did a song for the Black Panther soundtrack, and released an EP, Suncity. And in 2019 he released album two, Free Spirit along with an accompanying short film.

In an age of heavy bravado and swagger bordering on all-out arrogance in rhythm & blues music, Khalid is a breath of fresh air. Not afraid to express emotions and show vulnerability while still making youth-oriented hit records is the rarest of musical combinations today but Khalid pulls it off effortlessly making him another creator for The Culture to watch.

#FunFact: Khalid was a military brat. He was born in Fort Stewart, Georgia. and spent his childhood in various locations including Fort Campbell in Kentucky, Fort Drum in Watertown, New York, and six years in Heidelberg, Germany before moving to El Paso.