Kiss the Ring

On December 10, 2011, DJ Khaled announced the title of his next album, Kiss the Ring, via video, with the release date as "coming soon", presumed 2012.[2] The album cover and release date were released in a video promoting the album on May 24, 2012.[3] Guests on the album are Ace Hood, Lil Wayne, T-Pain, Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross, Chris Brown, Kanye West, Wale, Nas, among others.[4] The production team consists of Jahlil Beats, Mike WiLL Made It, Hit-Boy, The Runners, J. Cole, K.E. on the Track, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, DJ Premier, The Beat Bully, Detail, Boi-1da, DJ Toomp, Sonny Digital, DASECA Productions and The Olympicks.[4]

The album's first single "Take It to the Head, released on March 27, 2012, featured Chris Brown, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne.[5] On May 20, 2012, the music video for "Take It to the Head" featuring Chris Brown, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne premiered on MTV Jams.[6] On June 27, 2012, the album's second single "I Wish You Would" featuring Kanye West and Rick Ross was released. It is produced by Hit-Boy.[7] The music video for "I Wish You Would" premiered on BET's 106 & Park on August 13, 2012, along with the music video for West's single "Cold".[8]

The song "Bitches & Bottles (Let's Get It Started)" featuring Future, T.I. and Lil Wayne was released as a promotional single and debuted at number nine on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.[9] "They Ready" featuring J. Cole, Big K.R.I.T. & Kendrick Lamar, "I Did It For My Dawgz" featuring Meek Mill, Rick Ross, French Montana & Jadakiss, and "Hip Hop" featuring Scarface, Nas & DJ Premier were also released as promotional singles prior to the album's release.[9] On August 17, 2012, the music video was released for "Don't Get Me Started" featuring Ace Hood.[10] On August 20, 2012, the music video was released for "Suicidal Thoughts/Aktion Pack" featuring Mavado.[11] On December 2, 2012, the music video for "Bitches & Bottles (Let's Get It Started)" featuring Future, T.I., Lil Wayne, and Ace Hood premiered on MTV Jams.[12] On December 5, 2012, the music video was released for "I Did It for My Dawgs" featuring Rick Ross, Jadakiss, Meek Mill, Ace Hood and French Montana.[13]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[14]
Consequence of Sound	[15]
Entertainment Weekly	7.5/10[16]
Exclaim!	7/10[17]
HipHopDX	[18]
XXL	[19]

Kiss the Ring received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 62, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on seven reviews.[20] In a mixed review, Edwin Ortiz of the HipHopDX, claimed the album "is a series of single tracks that hit or miss, and one can only imagine what DJ Khaled's batting average is at now".[18] In the highest-score review, XXL editor Adam Fleischer, said the Kiss the Ring "is brief and overrun with enough proven formulas and artists that the opportunity for a miss barely exists".[19] Mark Bozzer from Canadian music magazine Exclaim! reviewed the album saying "Khaled goes through his hip-hop Rolodex yet again and compiles a strong collection of MCs and producers to add some shine to his latest musical collage".[17] AllMusic editor David Jeffries characterized as "a run-of-the-mill Khaled album and that mill is still doing pretty awesome".[14] In the review which the album had the lowest score, Consequence of Sound editor Mike Madden said: "unfortunately, Kiss the Ring often sounds like it was made just to vault the celebrity-status and net worth of the man on its cover."[15]

The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200, selling 41,000 copies in its first week.[21] It also peaked at number three on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. As of September 11, 2012, it had sold 63,000 copies in the US.[22] Then by September 2013, the album had sold 108,000 copies in the United States.[23]

(*) Denotes co-producer