The bizarre way DJ Khaled got Bryson Tiller on ‘Wild Thoughts’
DJ Khaled is one of the biggest names in pop music, and whether it’s hip-hop, R&B or Afrobeats, whenever the producer makes a song it is an anthem that shoots to the top of the charts. The former Terror Squad member has worked with many of the biggest names in the music industry and in 2017, he linked up with Rihanna and Bryson Tiller to create ‘Wild Thoughts’.
The track was a club smash and his friendship with Rihanna made it easy for him to get her on the track. However, Khaled struggled to Trapsoul star Bryson Tiller on the song and it actually proved to be a very big problem for Khaled and led him to do something very strange.
During an appearance on the Drink Champs podcast in 2022, the Father Of Ashad creator first spoke about Rihanna’s contribution to the track, recalling, “RiRi jumped on it—thank god. Dream come true! RiRi loved the record. We got a hit. I’ll never forget, RiRi changed the pitch of the record. She changed the pitch to make it her [own]. When you’re a great artist, you make records your own. And she’s an icon, she’s a great artist, so she put her passion to it and pitched the record up, which was genius.”
Khaled unveiled that he had actually received vocals from Bryson Tiller prior to Rihanna’s but, due to the change in pitch, required Tiller to record new vocals suited to the edited instrumental. Unfortunately for him, it proved more difficult the second time around, and he didn’t get back to Khaled with his new recording quickly.
Recalling the extreme measures he went to to get Tiller’s new vocals, Khaled recalled, “I’m calling Bryson, my album come out in like in two weeks. I was like, ‘Yo bro, I need you need to cut the vocals over. You know that Rihanna’s vocals is in, you hear that, right? Everybody’s excited.'”
Speaking about Tiller’s lack of cooperation, Khaled continued, “He’s not picking up his phone! I need this done. I got f***in’ Rihanna vocals. One of my biggest records in my career. He not picking up the phone.”
That said, the DJ admitted that he took it upon himself to get the vocals and jumped in his car and drove to Tiller’s home himself. When he couldn’t get into the property, he began making noises from outside to get the attention of the vocalist.
Remembering the scene he made, Khaled humorously recounted, “He has a gate. I’m flashing my lights, honking my horns, sending texts. Nobody’s replying. One thing about me, anybody know me, I don’t play no games.”
Still, after not getting a response, he bizarrely decided to climb the gate and Tiller appeared, just as Khaled was in the midst of scaling the gate. Telling hosts Noreaga and DJ EFN how he got caught in the act, Khaled detailed, “Bryson comes out, they open the gate — I was already climbing the gate. You think I’m playing? Ask them. Call them. Get their version, it might be more intense.”
The song which sampled Santana’s 1999 hit ‘Maria Maria,’ reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and the track received praise the musician who made the original, who stated, “There is a reason that the infectious groove/theme that [songwriter] Wyclef [Jean] and I created on ‘Maria Maria’ still resonates today. It speaks to the heart! DJ Khaled, Rihanna and Bryson take that vibe and bring it to a new dimension with ‘Wild Thoughts,’ but the groove and essence of the song is still intact.”