DJ Khaled delivered yet another star-studded album on Aug. 26. The GRAMMY-winning producer and DJ's 13th LP, GOD DID, features 31 guest stars, including Jay-Z, Drake, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Kanye West, SZA, John Legend, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Lil Baby, Future, Buju Banton, Bounty Killer, Travis Scott and Roddy Ricch (to name only half!).

The overarching theme of GOD DID finds DJ Khaled continually praising a higher authority for believing in him when others didn't.

"It's really God did," he tells GRAMMY.com. "It's like, [if] you speak something into existence and you do God's work, you're going to get God-level results." 

Even just hours after the album's release, Khaled says that he was receiving positive reviews from both fans and his collaborators. "Every artist I worked with on the album [is] hitting me up personally saying how inspired they are, how great of a producer I am, how I'm inspiring them. They're praising my work ethic. And I'm just like man, these are some of my idols telling me this!"

In an interview conducted on album release day, Khaled reveals some remarkable behind the scenes moments of how it all came together plus his top takeaways from GOD DID.

Its Tracklist Is Very Intentional

GOD DID was arranged so that the music and the actual song titles flow together and tell a story from beginning to end. Khaled hopes listeners will absorb the 18-track LP as a whole, and play it in order.

"Before the album dropped, I got on Instagram and I said to all the fans, 'Please, take the shuffle button off,' because this is an album that you have to listen to from top to bottom so you can feel the story," he explains. "But you can also feel the way the energy builds up, the way it takes you into different sounds and goes back up — just the way the track is flowing."

And with so many superstars featured, Khaled also insists it's a "no skips" album. "I wanted everyone to hear it without going around shuffling. It's an album you are supposed to press play from top to bottom."

GOD DID Is Jay-Z's Favorite DJ Khaled Album

Khaled's longtime friend and collaborator Jay-Z appears with a deep verse on the album's title track with John Legend, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross and Fridayy. "He immediately started freestyling lyrics off his head," Khaled recalls of his time in the studio with Jay. "I heard him just saying rhymes."

Once Jay-Z heard the entire album, he was even more inspired. "He's like, 'Yo, Khaled, this is your best work up to date. This is your biggest album.' And he was telling me how proud he is of me and I seen a smile on his face, how genuine he was — it was a moment. For my idol to tell me this is my best album, it's God did. You know what I'm saying?"

Juice WRLD Wrote A Khaled Tribute Song Before His Death

Though Khaled never met Juice WRLD before the young rapper's untimely passing in 2019, he was apparently an inspiration for the late star. As GOD DID was in the works, rapper Lil Bibby (who signed Juice WRLD to his Grade A Productions in 2017) sent Khaled a song that Juice WRLD once wrote about the producer — which became the basis of "Juice WRLD DID."

"[Bibby] decided to give it to me when I'm making GOD DID," he explains. "Come on! You see what I'm saying now? Like this God did, I can't make it up. I never knew [about the song when Juice WRLD was alive], never in my life. I'm telling a true story — this is all real. I felt like he recorded that right in my room in my studio. The man made a song called 'DJ Khaled Another One.' God bless him, man. God bless Juice WRLD."

His Dancehall Dreams Came True

Khaled has spent a lot of time DJing in Jamaica and began spinning there in his teens. He's made sure to honor his love of dancehall music and Jamaican culture on each album, but the GOD DID track "These Streets Know My Name" — which includes Jamaican artists Skillibeng, Buju Banton, Capleton, Bounty Killer and Sizzla — is his most ambitious effort in the genre to date, featuring generations of legends in the scene.

"I listen to reggae music only and dancehall and reggae music in my whole house every day, nonstop," he shares. "I was raised on it. I'm part of sound culture from a kid, from like 14 years old to where I'm at now. I was in all these dances DJing and cutting dubs, so it's a big part of my story and I'll never forget where I come from."

Eddie Murphy Gave His Blessing To "PARTY"

One of the most fun surprises on GOD DID comes with "PARTY," featuring Migos' Quavo and Takeoff. The song samples Eddie Murphy's "Party All The Time," which was a huge hit for the comedian-turned-singer in 1985. 

"I love that song," Khaled says of "Party All The Time." "It's not an easy record to clear. Maybe that's why we haven't heard that sample like that, because I was surprised nobody's ever used it like that. He cleared it, so big up to Eddie Murphy. Thank you for clearing the record!"

"PARTY" is one of the five music videos Khaled has unveiled since GOD DID's release, along with videos for "BIG TIME," "BEAUTIFUL," "IT AIN'T SAFE," "THE STREETS KNOW MY NAME," and "KEEP GOING." ("STAYING ALIVE" was released in early August.) Stay tuned to his YouTube channel to see if more are on the way.

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