It’s Been Five Years Since DJ Khaled Got Lost At Sea On A Jet Ski
And broadcast the entire journey on Snapchat for the world to see.
It’s time to cast your mind back to simpler times, when one man, a jet ski, and an iPhone stopped the world.
It’s been a hell of a year to say the least, and after a year like this it can be difficult to find joy in even the most joyous moments. So come with me on a journey as we celebrate the five year anniversary of DJ Khaled getting lost at sea on his jet ski and Snapchatting the whole thing, so we can all feel true joy again.
Let me set the scene. It’s 2015 and Snapchat was reaching the peak of its popularity — since launching their ‘stories’ feature two years earlier, sharing snapshots of your everyday life with the world had become easier than ever, and celebrities were just beginning to see the value in this.
The likes of the Kardashians and Justin Bieber were some of the first celebrities to jump on the platform, gathering huge audiences, but soon an unlikely hero entered the fray with a booming announcement: “Another one”.
Exactly how DJ Khaled went from ’90s radio host turned record executive, to the most popular person on Snapchat — and one of the most famous people in the world — seems a mystery. Yet, by the end of the year, the ‘Wild Thoughts’ hitmaker had the world watching his every move and had accidentally launched his career to new heights.
What Happened On That Fateful Night?
A typical day on DJ Khaled’s Snapchat was, for many, a simple escape from their own mundane reality. Instead of waking up and starting another boring day as yourself, you could simply fire up the app and watch Khaled do everything with more enthusiasm and money.
We were there for everything — his hydration journey, watering his plants, telling his flowers he loves them, and serenading the “LIONNNNNNN” statues in the garden. All were a part of his “Major Key[s]” to living your best best life. At its heart, DJ Khaled’s Snapchat was the mogul living his best life, and wanting everyone to do the same.
However, on this day five years ago, what started as an educational jet ski trip for his fans ended up turning into a Lifetime movie’s worth of drama, suspense, and plot-holes in just two minutes.
What started as an educational jet ski trip for his fans ended up turning into a Lifetime movie’s worth of drama, suspense, and plot-holes in just two minutes.
His story that day started like any other random Monday would: jet skiing to Rick Ross’ estate for a late lunch. However after leaving Ross’, and running into the coastguard, our hero found himself in a spot of trouble when he forgot a major key to success — “not to drive your jet ski in the dark”.
Always a quick thinker, Khaled took to his Snapchat story straight away to update his fans and to get someone to call ‘Zay Zee’ if they know her. Who is Zay Zee? Why didn’t he just call her himself instead of putting it on his story? How late did lunch with Rick Ross go? Many questions still remain unanswered to this day.
Clearly no one managed to get in touch with Zay Zee because the rest of the story is a bit of a mess. What follows is nearly two minutes of him riding through pitch black shouting advice like “The key is to keep going!” into the darkness every time he checked in as he tried to find his way back onto the pathway to more success. It’s chaotic, it’s confusing, and you never find out how he got home.
It’s chaotic, it’s confusing, and you never find out how he got home.
The final story of the day is him walking into his garden confirming he made it home and greeting his “LIONNNNNNN” statues as if he hadn’t almost gotten lost at sea an hour earlier.
In an interview with Tech Insider later that week Khaled opened up further about what happened, explaining: “Basically what I’m trying to tell you is that it’s almost impossible to drive a jet ski at night time unless you’re in a city with lights lit up so you can navigate. Besides being pitch black, that water turn[s] black at night.”
Thankfully, it took someone approximately 15 minutes to compile the whole journey into a video — relive it below. After these dark times, Khaled’s words of motivation and perseverance are needed more than ever.
Patrick Campbell is a writer and DJ based in Melbourne. They are on Twitter.