DJ Klypso

Joseph Salim Mourad (born December 6, 1983), known by his stage name Klypso, is an American record producer, songwriter, Dj and entrepreneur. Klypso made his debut as a DJ in Brazil for the 2pac 10 Year Anniversary Tour. In late 2006, Klypso began working closely with the group “Nuthin’ Under a Million.” Klypso has worked alongside renowned artists such as Anthony Johnson, Dr. Dre, TI, Kendrick Lamar, and many more.
Early Life
Joseph Salim Mourad was born on December 6, 1983 in Mountain View, California. He is one of four children. As the son of a globally recognized pastry chef, Salim Mourad, Klypso spent most of his childhood in the back of the bakery dreaming about becoming a professional athlete. As a child, his father had season tickets to the 49ers and would bring him to the games regularly. His dream of playing professional football only grew bigger after being fortunate enough to see Joe Montana play in Candlestick Park. Klypso’s love for sports lead him to play baseball and football all throughout his childhood into high school. Klypso also took an instant liking to classical music and was fascinated with the different sounds and instruments. Music became a distraction early in life and he began to focus all of his energy into writing lyrics and teaching himself how to play the piano. As a result, his focus became less on sports and more on music. Klypso spent most of his time with his close friend Tommy Mckinley and his family made of musicians. Having been a part of their daily jams sessions gave him tremendous drive. He wrote his first set of rap lyrics in middle school. In the seventh grade, Mike “MYK” Kim, Michael “Fee” Johnson, and Klypso all became close friends. MYK was the first person to teach him how to mix and scratch on turn tables. Klypso recorded his first set of songs with MYK in his parent’s garage. They all remain close friends to this day.<ref name=":0" />
Towards the end of high school, Klypso met Dion “Mind Trapp” Brigham and Daniel “Kama Kaze" Tucker, both college students at the time. Kama Kaze gave Joseph the name Klypso and Mind Trapp took Klypso under his wing by taking him to the recording studio at Foot Hill College in Los Altos Hills, CA. Klypso meticulously watched over Trapp’s shoulder to learn how to operate all of the equipment in the studio.<ref name=":0" />
At the young age of seventeen, Klypso dropped out of high school and moved to Los Angeles to pursue his passion in music and acting. In June 2002, Klypso completed his GED.<ref name=":0" />
Career
Klypso became involved in Hollywood nightlife instantaneously upon arriving to Los Angeles. He and Tommy Beringer of “Nothin’ Under a Million” began promoting nightclubs and working together for a public relations team. Subsequently, this lead to meeting celebrities and many networking opportunities. During this time, Klypso was still in contact with a couple of artists from his hometown. Besides working on his own music, he was producing and making beats for his friends back home.<ref name=":3" />
Klypso constantly found himself bouncing from couch to couch lugging his music equipment around. In early 2005, he had the privilege of being introduced to Brandon “Shaggy” Brown who facilitated an enormous breakthrough in his career. Shaggy quickly recognized Klypso’s unique talent. He set him up in a home in Sherman Oaks, CA where he met Anthony “Slim” Johnson, songwriter for Andre “Dr. Dre” Young as well as meeting David “King David” Manzoor. Klypso had the advantage of working with Slim for about one year prior to Slim signing with Dr. Dre in 2007.<ref name=":0" />
In 2006, Klypso was walking down Melrose Place where coincidently, he met Jamal “Mystro” Mckinney. Soon afterwards, Mystro introduced Klyspo to Mopreme Shakur, brother to the late 2Pac. This introduction lead to making his debut as a DJ in Brazil late 2006 for the 2pac 10 Year Anniversary Tour. In addition, Klypso began to build on production with the up and coming group “Nothin’ Under a Million” as well as helping market their records.<ref name=":3" />
In 2006, DJ Jam, former DJ for Snoop Dogg, introduced Klypso to Ne-Yo and from there he produced the song “Say What”.<ref name=":2" />
Over the next few years, Klypso continued to work alongside Slim and Dr. Dre. He had the pleasure of working with renowned artists such as TI, Kendrick Lamar and many more. Over time, Klypso began to discover the producer within himself and started to focus more of his time on building his brand.<ref name=":2" />
In 2011, Klypso continued to do audio engineering for Slim and Dr. Dre. He helped audio engineer the radio hit “Kush” by Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dog and Akon.<ref name=":2" />
Through the connections he made over the years, Klypso began to branch off on his own in 2012. He produced the song “I’m a Stop” by “Too Short” featuring 50 cent, Twista, and Devin The Dude.<ref name=":2" />
In 2013, Klypso worked with singer and songwriter Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd on the Grammy nominated best rap album of the year entitled “Food and Liquor II” by Lupe Fiasco<ref name=":1" />
After attending his first Grammy ceremony, Klypso was inspired by the experience and it opened his mind to other genres of music.<ref name=":1" />
Late in 2013, Klypso linked up with Tramar “Flo Rida” Dillard and performed the half time show for the San Francisco 49ers vs. Carolina Panther’s playoff game in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Bank of America Stadium.<ref name=":3" />

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