2017 is quickly shaping to be the “Year of the Dads” Whether it’s the boisterous Lavar Ball using his gift of gab to stiff-arm his son’s detractors, or it’s JAY-Z strengthening his indomitable empire with his new set of twins, one dad currently has everyone in Hip Hop beat.
The lovefest between DJ Khaled and his son Asahd has been a sight to see so far this year. Not only did he have his proverbial Simba moment at Hot 97’s Summer Jam when he was hoisted up in the air in front of 50,000 people, but the youngster is dubbed executive producer for his pops’ 10th album Grateful.
With great power comes great responsibility, right? For Asahd, the power of being adorable nabbed him the ever-so-elusive Drake vocals for “To the Max.” Such power gravitated Jay and Bey towards the luminous record “Shining.” It grabbed Rihanna, who was dripping with Bajan swagger on the “Maria Maria”-sampling “Wild Thoughts.” It brought out a combative and hungry Big Sean on his purported Kendrick-aimed track “On Everything.” Asahd undoubtedly reeled in the heavyweights, but even this superbaby couldn’t carry the arduous workload demanded by his pops. (We’re aware giving this toddler props for orchestrating such a major league affair is tongue-in-cheek. He’s cute; play along.)
From the onset, Khaled allows revered reggae star, Sizzla, to sprinkle prayers down on his family for the intro track “I’m Blessed.” After being showered with blessings, Khaled goes on a rampage and hammers listeners with radio-singles beginning with “Shining.” Penned by PARTYNEXTDOOR, Beyonce fires away at her haters with sharp jabs. “Poppin’ off at the mouth, all year, boy/Came out ’97, winnin’ 20 years, boy,” sings the “Déjà vu” songstress. Then, Jay Z, pardon, JAY-Z, properly instructs us on how to concoct the perfect elixir used to produce a set of Hollywood twins. “One ain’t enough, I need two/That night I mix the Ace with the D’US’/Hit a triple-double in the Garden/Held up my left wrist like I’m Harden,” Hov raps.
Not only does Khaled do a masterful job of acquiring marquee talent, he encourages them to go against the grain. On the blustery record “To the Max,” Drizzy takes his talents down to Miami à la LeBron and experiments with Jook – a sound that is prominent in Khaled’s hometown. Travis Scott pushes his creative limits when paired with Calvin Harris on the pop-centric summer blitz of “Don’t Quit.” The crusade takes a lyrical detour when Pusha T and Jadakiss join forces on “Good Man;” an ominously slow-brewing trap record where the GOOD Music prez spews venom but the biggest conversation stir comes complimentary of “On Everything” where Scott smoothly lays down the foundation for Big Sean to zero in on (again) his purported arch-rival, Kendrick Lamar.
DJ Khaled f. Rihanna & Bryson Tiller – “Wild Thoughts”
“And I realized all I ever needed was in me, nigga/’S’ on my chest boy so shots can’t even pinch me, nigga/No substitute for me, but they gon’ still tempt me nigga/God is in me, that’s the only one who can end me nigga,” Sean buoyantly raps. Despite delivering solid contributions on “Don’t Quit” and “On Everything,” the workload may have strained the Houston star, as he falls short of notching a triple-double on “It’s Secured” featuring Nas. After providing fans a savory appetizer on “Nas Album Done,” from Khaled’s 2016 overhyped effort Major Key, Esco sounds out of place over the frantic electric guitar melody and repetitive chorus.
Though Asahd should be commended for securing some big name vocals, even his baby spidey sense couldn’t stop dada from running wild with the guest list. For Khaled, he was being overly ambitious by shooting for the moon and aiming for 23 tracks. No one’s attention span can ride that far deep, especially in 2017. After “Don’t Quit,” – which is track 11 – things become a blur. Despite a hearty helping supplied by Future – who appears mostly towards the end of the album – one person’s time and energy is drained after an hour and a half. The first half of the album, Khaled showed precise execution, stacking banger after banger. Had he sliced the album down to 15 or 16 tracks, he could have secured a very special project. Fortunately, for him, baby Asahd will have way more time to produce music in his play-pen: The studio.
Billy ocean is ?
That kid has more street cred than Drake
Disappointing.
After Major Key I was expecting this album to he amazing. Other than a couple tracks, I can’t fuck with this. There’s so many songs that easily fall into the “background noise” category.
The Nas and Travis track is so trash to me that it hurts to say. Nas no question is top 2 or 3 of all time but when he does things like this it explains why people put Jay over him now. Nas doesn’t adapt well with the times as an MC. Jay can flow on any beat and bring fire. Not saying Nas can’t but it seems that way when it comes to certain beats like he just doesn’t flow well with them especially the trap beats. Hook is trash too by Travis and Nas made it worse with doubling what Travis was saying. And Nas please stop the random bars about nothing.
My thoughts exactly. Nas is my favourite rapper of all time and ‘Nas album done’ was actually dope in my opinion… but this song is trash. Even if Travis wasn’t singing that shitty hook, it would still be a shit song. Album has too many poppy songs… I expect a few more gritty hip hop songs from DJ Khaled
What do you mean “put Jay over him now”? King HOV’s been over broke ass Nas for the longest time now. And duh, he can rap over any beat and still be nice, that’s why he’s the King. Oh, and Travis fucked up by being on this wack track, but don’t fall asleep on him. He brings great music to the table.
I think Nas and Jay have opposite problems. While Jay seems like he can adjust his flow to any style of beat, his bars have been weak since the black album maybe poundcake. On the other hand Nas (worst beat picking emcee of all time) still has bars but he can’t adjust to the current sound.
Wrong, Canibus is the worst beat picking MC of all time.
First half of Nas’ first verse just okay… then he completely loses it… i think it’s partially an issue of protools and post-production: I seriously doubt he’s rapping live over all the drops, cut-outs, edits and pauses in the beat. Nas does sound completely out of place though… Travis is like a liquid terminator in the trap, and Nas is a clunky-ass T-1000.
dope album
Another one that happens to a better one than the other one.!?!?! WTF does that even mean? Expect this comment to be deleted.
a super average album you could easily skip 12 or 13 track of this album and dont lose anything
Wtf was that Nobody beat? That’s a slowed-down Blackman, same sample, same pattern, different speed. Half of the album sucks, the other half is average.
alot of big singles but too many tracks overall.
Dope album
Oh mi lordy lord, what a fk up, again and again. Only new thing dj Khawet added was a mini me of himself. As if 1 fat dj who can’t dj wasn’t enough. Now we are stuck with 2 of them. And then the nas song which made my ears bleed. Nas been nice, until he started hanging with those wack commercial bullshit rappers/producers. This album is one of the biggest culture vulture compilations ever!
Trash
DJ Khaled brings “another one”! Banging from start to finish, except for that trash ass Nas track. Even Nas’ own broke fans are shitting on that song. Still giving it a 5 because it’s the ROC!
U nid 2 get checked up or maybe khaled cheque u out 2 rate dis shit 5/5 dats crazy dis ulbum is jst madness.
It’s straight. Way too many tracks though. The nas track might be the worst song.
This seems more like a Future or Travis Scott album than a Khaled album with how many damn songs they both are featured on. LoL shits alright
Even Nas sounds like an rnb bitch on this stuff.
Its secure and to the max are the worst song in Drakes and Nas Catalog respectively.
If you’re gonna say “respectively” then you have to put each set in the correct corresponding order. Should’ve said “in Nas and Drakes Catalog”, since you listed “It’s Secured” first. Not that you’re really gonna care about this, just thought I’d give you a little tip. And yes, I agree. That Nas song was terrible, “Nas Album Done” was better.
gurbage. crawl back in yer mums womb. then up ya daddies shaft. land on her back or face on replay.
dont agree with this websites assesment, khaled does not provide a single solid banger that wasnt released as a single. major key was miles ahead of that project in terms of depth and quality
Khaled did is thing, love the album.
Perfect soundtrack for summer 2017!! Inspiring and feel good album.
Big Boi and Bone Thugs new albums are way better
Totally!!!
Album too long, too many features (as expected for sure, no surprise here), difficult to digest. Not a fan of Khaled but I preferred Major Key, album was shorter, quality was packed in a fewer amount of tracks.
this review is actually pretty damned funny. i can imagine nicki and keys seeing the Lil Ahsahd pic that came with the advance check and going “aaawwwww… sure, Khaled, i’ll email you my vocals.” plus khaled trolling hard putting his kid on the album cover, completing the Nas/Biggie cycle of rappers putting baby versions of *themselves* on the album covers. now these deadbeat dad rappers gonna round up their bastards for photo shoots and do covers like the back of Wu’s “Iron Flag.”
The one is the only terrible song on this album. To many renditions of old songs but an okay feel good summer album
bada
Another same ol DJ Khaled album. Whoopdy friggin do!