''Suffering from Success'' is the seventh studio album by American

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

and record producer

DJ Khaled Khaled Mohammed Khaled (; born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ and record producer. Originally a Miami-based radio personality, Khaled has since become known for enlisting high-profile music industry ar ...

. It was released on October 22, 2013, by

We the Best Music Group We the Best Music Group is an American record label founded by DJ Khaled in 2008. Namesake of one of Khaled's catchphrases, it has operated as an imprint of Def Jam Recordings since 2023. Previously, the label operated an imprint of Island Def Ja ...

Cash Money Records Cash Money Records is an American record label founded in 1991 by brothers Ronald "Slim" Williams and Birdman (rapper), Bryan "Baby" Williams. The label gained prominence in the late 1990s for having signed and released albums for New Orleans– ...

and

Republic Records Republic Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Based in New York City, it was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially ...

. The album has

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

s from

Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ex ...

Ace Hood Antoine Franklin McColister (born May 11, 1988), known professionally Ace Hood, is an American rapper. Born in Port St. Lucie and raised in Deerfield Beach, Florida, he was discovered by DJ Khaled and became the first act to sign with his rec ...

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. An influential figure in modern Hip-hop, hip hop music, Rick Ross has become known for his "Wiktionary:booming, booming" vocal perfor ...

Meek Mill Robert Rihmeek Williams (born May 6, 1987), known professionally as Meek Mill, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he embarked on his career as a battle rapper, and later formed a short-lived rap group the Blo ...

T.I. Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. (born September 25, 1980), known professionally as T.I. or Tip, is an American rapper and singer raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Harris is credited as a pioneer of the hip hop subgenre trap music, along with fellow Georgi ...

Swizz Beatz Kasseem Daoud Dean (born September 13, 1978), known professionally as Swizz Beatz, is an American rapper and record producer. Born and raised in the Bronx borough of New York City, Dean embarked on his musical career as a DJ in 1994. At the age ...

Puff Daddy Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, Combs worked as a ...

Big Sean Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. He met Kanye West as a teenager, and signed with his record label GOOD Music, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings in 2007. He gained popul ...

French Montana Karim Kharbouch (Moroccan Arabic, Arabic: IPA pronunciation, æɾiːm χɑɾbuːʃ born November 9, 1984), better known by his stage name French Montana, is a Moroccan-American rapper. Born and raised in Morocco, he immigrated to New York ...

2 Chainz Tauheed K. Epps (born September 12, 1977), known professionally as 2 Chainz (formerly Tity Boi), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, he gained recognition as one-half of the Southern hip-hop duo Playaz Ci ...

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer and rapper. Born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, he is widely acclaimed for his distinctive production work and "stuttering" rhythm ...

, Plies,

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

Wale Wale or WALE may refer to: Places * Wale, Devon, a hamlet in England * Wale, Tomaszów Mazowiecki County, a village in Poland People * Wale (surname) *Wale (rapper), stage name of American rapper Olubowale Victor Akintimehin Radio and televisi ...

Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and actor. Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he signed with the local independent label Rostrum Records to re ...

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her ...

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

, Mavado,

J. Cole Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born in a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained attention as a rapper following the release of his d ...

Bas Bas may refer to: People * Bas (name), a given name and a surname * Bas (rapper) (born 1987) Chemistry * Boron arsenide (BAs), a chemical compound * Barium sulfide (BaS), a chemical compound Other uses * ''bas'' (French for "low"), as in bas ...

Scarface Scarface may refer to: Gangster-related * Scarface, nickname for Al Capone (1899–1947), an American gangster and a businessman. * ''Scarface'' (novel), a novel by Armitage Trail, loosely based on Capone's rise to power ** ''Scarface'' (1932 ...

Jadakiss Jason Terrance Phillips (born May 27, 1975), better known by his stage name Jadakiss (, ), is an American rapper who began his career in the 1990s and formed the hip hop trio the Lox alongside Styles P and Sheek Louch in 1994. The group signed w ...

Akon Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon (), is a Senegalese-United States, American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist. An influ ...

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...

, Anthony Hamilton, Birdman, Vado,

Jeremih Jeremy Phillip Felton (born July 17, 1987), known professionally as Jeremih ( ), is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer. He embarked on a musical career after meeting record producer Mick Schultz in 2008, and signed a recording contract wi ...

, and

Kat Dahlia Katriana Sandra Huguet (born July 29, 1990), better known by her stage name Kat Dahlia (formerly Kat Hue), is an American recording artist. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, Dahlia is a singer, songwriter, fashion icon and rapper, known for he ...

Producers Producer(s), The Producer(s), or co-producer(s) may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *Producer, a stakeholder of economic production * Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes t ...

include DJ Khaled,

Boi-1da Matthew Jehu Samuels (born October 12, 1986), known professionally as Boi-1da (a play on Boy Wonder) is a Canadian record producer and songwriter based in Toronto, Ontario. He is an in-house producer for Drake's OVO Sound label and has prod ...

J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League J.U.S.T.I.C.E. (Just Undeniably Some of The Illest Composers Ever) League is an American record production team and rappers composed of producers and instrumentalists from Tampa, Florida. The group is made up of members Erik "Rook" Ortiz and ...

Arthur McArthur Jeremy McArthur (born October 29, 1988), known professionally as Arthur McArthur, is a Grammy-nominated Canadian record producer from Toronto, Ontario. A classically trained piano and guitar player, he has been involved in music producing since 20 ...

, Streetrunner,

Young Chop Tyree Lamar Pittman (born November 14, 1993), better known by his stage name Young Chop, is an American record producer, rapper, and songwriter. He is best known for producing drill hip hop music, and for producing many of Chief Keef's early hit ...

and

Lee on the Beats Anthony Leedel Norris (born February 11, 1990) is an American hip hop record producer and songwriter, professionally known as Lee on the Beats. Lee has produced for artists such as Lil Wayne, DJ Khaled, Kid Ink, Ace Hood, French Montana, Rick Ross ...

. ''Suffering from Success'' was supported by two singles, " No New Friends" featuring Lil Wayne, Drake and Rick Ross, and " I Wanna Be with You" featuring Nicki Minaj, Future and Ross. The album was met with mixed reviews from

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

s and debuted at number 7 on the US ''Billboard'' 200.

Background

On January 17, 2013, DJ Khaled announced that he had begun working on his seventh album, titled ''Suffering from Success''. In January 2013, during an interview with

MTV News MTV News was the news production division of MTV. The service was available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network and an online news team. In 2016, MTV refreshed the MTV News brand to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and ...

, DJ Khaled explained where the album title came from, saying:

We just got done turning in Ross' album, and you know people don't realize, when you turn in an album, it's a lot of work behind the scenes; from clearing records, dealing with lawyers, sample clearances, mix and mastering, marketing plan. At that time, I'm running around and I notice a big bald spot on my beard that kept getting bigger and bigger. I'm acting like I don't want to see it, I'm brushing it away and it kept getting it bigger and bigger. So When I finally got home off the road, I was like you know what, "I'm gonna go to the doctors." I don't like going to the doctors, so I go, and she's like it's a disorder that comes from your nerves and your stress, but she said "I'm going to give you medication, and I'll see you back in 4 months." Through that whole process while I'm at the doctor's office, my phone's ringing, I'm dealing with marketing people, I'm dealing with lawyers, I'm dealing with Ross, I'm dealing with personal shit, a whole bunch of shit at the same time. It didn't stop, she's thinking I'm crazy. So she gave me my medicine and all that, and she found out who I was, and after watching that 45 minute doctor's session, she grabbed my shoulder and she just goes, "Son, you're suffering from success." I looked at her and was like, "That might be the realest thing you can tell me," and it opened my mind up like, success comes with stress, and happiness. So I'm driving home from the doctor's office and I'm like, "that's gonna be the name of my new album, ''Suffering From Success''."

On June 10, 2013, it was announced that the album would be released on September 24, 2013. On July 31, 2013, the album cover was released. On August 26, 2013, DJ Khaled announced the album has been pushed back from September 24, 2013 to October 22, 2013.

Guest appearances

In these early reports from

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, it said that the album would include the features from

and

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

and

, which would be featured on the first two singles. In May 2013, Khaled also confirmed to be working with

on the album. On August 26, 2013, on a vlog, it was revealed that Khaled was in the studio with

, Vado, Birdman,

Juelz Santana LaRon Louis James Sr. (born February 18, 1982), better known by his stage name Juelz Santana, is an American rapper and member of now-defunct hip-hop group, the Diplomats (also known as Dipset). He is best known for his appearances on group coho ...

, Mavado, and

. On September 12, 2013, American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

announced that

and himself, would be featured on the album. On September 27, 2013, Khaled revealed that

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

would be featured on the album in an unspecified way. On October 6, 2013, the final track listing was released, revealing

s on the album from Future, Ace Hood,

Diddy Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, Combs worked as a ...

, Meek Mill, Rick Ross,

, Swizz Beatz,

, Plies, Lil Wayne,

, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Mavado,

, Akon, Anthony Hamilton,

, Scarface, Birdman, Vado and

Singles

On April 14, 2013, DJ Khaled released a promotional video for ''Suffering from Success'', and the first single, called " No New Friends" featuring

and

, which was released on April 19, 2013. The music video was shot on May 15 and 16, 2013 in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and featured cameos by

and Birdman among others. The music video for "No New Friends" premiered on MTV Jams on June 9, 2013, and was co-directed by

Colin Tilley Colin Tilley (born June 27, 1988) is an American filmmaker, music video director, and television commercial director. Tilley is the CEO and owner of Boy in the Castle Productions. He has directed more than 300 music videos. Tilley directed, pr ...

and Drake. "No New Friends" has peaked at number 37 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. On July 25, 2013, Khaled publicly "proposed" to fellow Cash Money artist

via

. He supported his offer with a 10 karat diamond ring from Rafaello & Co.,valued at about $500,000. Later, he reaffirmed his proposal in an interview with

Power 106 KPWR (105.9 FM) – branded as ''Power 106'' – is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California, broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles area. KPWR is owned and operated by Alex Meruelo's Meruelo Group, through licensee KPWR Radio Ho ...

DJ Felli Fel James Andrew Reigart (born September 3, 1970), better known by his stage name DJ Felli Fel, is an American club and radio Disc jockey, DJ for Los Angeles's KPWR, Power 106, as well as a record producer and hype man. He is also a member of the Am ...

, stating: "I ain't a young boy no more. I'm on my thinking the future. I just had to be honest. I always liked her. She's my friend, of course. And I like her. It's more than a crush." On July 29, 2013, in an interview with

Funkmaster Flex Aston George Taylor Jr. (born August 5, 1967), professionally known as Funkmaster Flex, is an American DJ, rapper, record producer, and host on New York City's Hot 97 radio station. In 1992, he became host of the first hip hop radio show on Ho ...

, Minaj denied Khaled's proposal, saying: "Khaled is my brother and Khaled was not serious with that damn proposal, ya'll. Please let it go. He was kidding." On the same day, Flex premiered Khaled's new single, titled "I Wanna Be with You" which featured Minaj; as well as frequent collaborators

and Rick Ross. This led some to believe that his proposal was a "publicity stunt" to promote his new single. Shortly after the song's release, Khaled confirmed it was all a joke and a way to introduce the record. The music video was shot in

on August 9, 2013. On September 3, 2013, the music video for "I Wanna Be with You" premiered on MTV Jams. On October 17, 2013, DJ Khaled released a making of video for the song "Never Surrender" featuring

, Anthony Hamilton, and

. The following day the audio to the song was premiered. Then on October 20, 2013, the song's music video was released. The video shows a "crew of drug dealers that gets unraveled when one of their own gets caught and snitches on the rest of them".

Critical reception

''Suffering from Success'' was met with generally mixed reviews from

s. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a

normalized Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 56, based on 6 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Omar Burgess of

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...

gave the album two and a half stars out of five, saying "It's unfortunate that repetitive material and songs that are just overall poorly executed mar such moments. From his extensive work as a DJ, producer and an executive producer, DJ Khaled clearly knows what wins. And if you find yourself at a nightclub or party, it's very likely a song found on ''Suffering From Success'' will serve as your theme song for the night. But coming from someone who has been so influential for the better part of the last decade, DJ Khaled's latest has very little utility beyond the velvet rope." Erin Lowers of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' gave the album a five out of ten, saying "While DJ Khaled has the power to curate a memorable album with the producers and artists featured, this record fails to stick. Despite being titled ''Suffering from Success'', what it's actually ailing it is a lack of originality." Sheldon Pearce of '' XXL'' gave the album an L, saying "''Suffering From Success'' is Khaled's first full step back since becoming the premiere DJ for crafting rap hits in the mid-2000s. He simply doesn't provide enough flash to continue his meteoric ascent toward becoming an independently viable brand. If you want to talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk. The barometer for his success will always be the quantifiable impact of his records and the buzz they generate in the hip-hop community, and there are very few buzz worthy records present here. Khaled will undoubtedly continue to bring the same bravado, after all… all he does is win." David Jeffries of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

gave the album three and a half stars out of five, saying "Khaled does his usual cheerleading and gets some production credits himself, but the real trick he pulls off is inspiring all these artists to somehow save up all these high-grade club tracks and singles for the DJ's annual dispatch. ''Suffering from Success'', once again." Grant Jones of RapReviews gave the album a four out of ten, saying "Decidedly hit and miss, it's the songs that stray beyond the typical tales of money, sex and cars that are worth returning to, and while I'm not saying anybody should wholeheartedly embrace baldness, maybe ten years of partying has taken its toll."

In popular culture

In 2017, the album's cover art and its title became a subject of

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s posted on

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, and

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, where it gained more attention in the following year.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 7 on the ''Billboard'' 200, with first-week sales of 27,000 copies in the United States. In its second week, the album dropped to number 28, selling 9,000 more copies. In its third week the album sold 5,000 more copies. In its fourth week, the album sold 3,000 more copies bringing its total album sales to 44,000 copies.

Track listing

;Notes * Track listing and credits from album booklet. * signifies a co- producer * signifies an additional producer * “No New Friends” features uncredited vocals by

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2013 albums DJ Khaled albums Cash Money Records albums Republic Records albums Albums produced by Boi-1da Albums produced by Noah "40" Shebib Albums produced by Timbaland Albums produced by Young Chop Albums produced by J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League Albums produced by Cool & Dre Albums produced by J. Cole Albums produced by DJ Khaled Albums produced by Vinylz Albums produced by Allen Ritter