The executive producer’s thirteenth album is another big-budget collection with more durable songs than usual.
DJ Khaled is just one phone call away from recruiting the biggest artists in the world. Aside from 2014 and 2018, he’s released an album every year since 2010’s Victory, exhausting his resources while moving wherever the wave of hip hop is going. His cartoon personality turned him into a walking meme, coming out with a new catchphrase around every album cycle. Besides the social media antics, Khaled’s notoriously known for being a questionable curator, failing to deliver quality albums that actually make sense. Yet the grand features find us in the same position to see if it’s the same old story once again.
If the law of averages is anything to go by, DJ Khaled was overdue a passable album. God Did is his least chaotic effort in a while, coming from a man where the bar is never high in the first place.
God Did avoids the headaches of your typical DJ Khaled album. It is a fair length at 57 minutes, and far less spotty than his last three releases combined. So what’s the secret this time? The curation is appropriate on virtually every cut. Nardo Wick is paired up with Kodak Black, rap giants Rick Ross, Lil Wayne and Jay-Z unite on the title track, Future and Lil Baby combine effectively, and the Cactus Jack boys feel homely on their respective joint. It results in songs that are not hard to get wrong, especially when the beats have some meat on the bone. Tracks like “It Ain’t Safe”, “Keep Going” and “Let’s Pray” are high-energy trap cuts that offer no reason to invite scrutiny. Midtempo cuts arrive with “Party” (Quavo, Takeoff), “Big Tyme” (Future, Lil Baby) and “Fam Good, We Good” (Gunna, Roddy Ricch), while chemistry’s found on Latto and City Girls’ “Bills Paid”, a song better than most of the rappers’ solo records. These are songs strong enough to be lead singles for the guest artists’ own albums.
Though as usual, the sustenance of a DJ Khaled album will be capped to a certain point. There is still no intention of actively playing God Did front to back for years to come. It is not designed to be the case, even if there are a string of durable highlights. Rather, it is a shame that the highlights have to be housed within God Did when they could fulfil greater potential without the producer’s name being attached. The best bet is to take the best tracks and slap them in some playlists—but you knew that already.
God Did does not offer an album experience, but it is DJ Khaled’s best offering since 2016’s Major Key. The exec earns some stripes as a curator, pulling together guests that conjure up decent, modern rap songs. Dare we say it, Khaled does his job somewhat effectively for once.
6 / 10
Best tracks: “God Did”, “Jadakiss Interlude”, “Way Past Luck”, “Bills Paid”
Mic Cheque 