DJ Khaled — God Did

Thirteenth album by DJ Khaled who returns to release an LP almost 18 months after the last time and remains number one on the Billboard 200 (his fourth to do so), also reaching number one in Canada. The album is a worldwide hit reaching charts worldwide and is one of the best-selling hip-hop records of 2022. Among the producers stand out the names of Dr. Dre, Kanye West and Mike Dean. StreetRunner and Tarik Azzouz produce eight beats each. Guests are Jay-Z, Eminem, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, John Legend, Fridayy, Kanye West aka Ye, Drake, Future, lil Baby, Lil Durk, 21 Savage, Roddy Ricch, Quavo, Takeoff, SZA, Nardo Wick, Kodak Black, Don Toliver, Travis Scott, Gunna, Latto, City Girls, Skillibeng, Buju Banton, Capleton, Bounty Killer, Sizzla, Juice WRLD, Jadakiss and Vory.

Finally DJ Khaled takes some melodic beats from these eighteen picks and builds a record that is at least listenable most of the time. Nonetheless, fans completely crush this project and consider it his worst album, when in fact it is one of the best, but there are probably few who have sipped through this guy's entire discography. This effort is by wide margins among his best records. And it's still a pretty bad album.

Drake introduces the project, but then comes the best moment of the project: DJ Khaled brings together his faithful Rick Ross and Lil Wayne, together with John Legend, Fridayy and leaving plenty of space to express himself to the champion Jay-Z who puts on a DJ song Khaled. Hova is saying absolutely nothing, but you don't realize it because he goes on for at least four minutes and in the end you realize that this song is not among the must-listens of the season and that eight minutes of a DJ Khaled song is too much, no matter how much legends you manage to place in a track.

"Use This Gospel (Remix)" is almost tearful because it sees two once-phenomenal boys in free fall, Eminem and Kanye West Ye are together on a Dr. Dre beat, but the track could still go totally unnoticed. Future, already a veteran of Khaled's discography, and Lil Baby, the new advancing, meet to give a very strong and somewhat unexpected kick in the ass to the concept conceived by DJ Khaled and here put an end to the religious theme of the disc, which is only religious in the title and little else. Boys don't do well on a generic trap beat. "Keep Going" is good, I have nothing to say. "Party" is even better, there are cousins Takeoff and Quavo in one of the best songs on the record, although far from being one of the best of Migos.

If someone hadn't written this somewhere I wouldn't have even noticed that "Staying Alive" actually pays homage to the Bee Gees' timeless hit of the same name, that's because Drake is really sucking here singing that ridiculous hook of his. Useless track. SZA is tasked with saving "Beautiful", no easy task. Kodak Black and Nardo Wick come on a frenetic trap beat that I'm not particularly fond of. Travis Scott and Don Toliver take "Let's Pray" and direct it among the strongest pieces of this scarce DJ Khaled record. The song by Gunna and Roddy Ricch has no good production, while Latto and City Girls have fun in "Bills Paid", a sexual track that does not see its strengths in lyricism, but in a lush and melodic production that totally clashes with an album by DJ Khaled is sooo good.

21 Savage places another highlight with a solo, the first of this tape, in "Way Past Luck" with a good enjoyable performance on a production to match. DJ Khaled finally gives a sequel to his latest track from the CD he released last year and puts Buju Banton, Capleton and Bounty Killer together in one track, this time there are also Sizzla and Skillibeng in an obligatory hit. Khaled also places a solo track from the late Juice WRLD and gives space to Jadakiss, who takes the stage and holds Khaled's album aloft, who surprisingly places four decent pieces in a row, something practically never happened in an album of this guy. He closes the last solo of the disc, performed by Vory, after a short skit.

It's still not a good album or a decent album, but it's not disastrous or bad or totally weak as someone write or tend to think. There are few really good moments, some guests arrive uninspired and the religious concept is poorly thought out and worse executed, proving that Khaled has no talent. The record is quite generic even for the period. 5/10.