WHERE DOES DJ KHALED STAND WITHIN HIP-HOP NOW?

BY IJR

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about DJ Khaled. I mean the man most recently dropped his twelfth studio album, “God Did,” an album that I’ll admit I’ve only listened to about maybe 20% of. “God Did” follows the classic mixtape format reminiscent of DJ Drama and his Gangsta Grillz mixtape series. Now I can definitely see the appeal this type of project has had in the past, but these days I don’t see the need for this sort of album, I mean it really bears no real weight in the music industry, tells no stories, and from my perspective, almost comes off as a money grab. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m only referring to the DJ Khaled projects here and nothing else, as in the past I’ve enjoyed plenty of Metro Boomin and Internet Money projects that essentially follow the same format. In fact, I’m even anticipating the release of Kenny Beats’ debut album “LOUIE" which will likely follow a similar format, however that being said, I feel good about supporting the albums I just mentioned because anytime that I think about them, It feels like someone really put their time, effort, and passion Into making them, an individual or collective of individuals really sat back and made the project what it is. Whether they made the beats, loops, recorded the artists, engineered, or contributed to the concept, you can really feel it and feel proud that they came to this result, however, that’s usually never the thought when it comes to DJ Khaled’s projects. Now I’ll clarify again, it has nothing to do with the music, I mean there really are some bangers in those albums, but they never feel like they belong to the individual that is Khaled. This makes me ask the question, how necessary is DJ Khaled to hip hop in the modern era? I mean sure he’s given us a lot of interesting moments, by connecting artists that he personally wants to see work together, but as simply as executive producer of his full-length albums, his contribution feels extremely watered down, and basically redundant. Take my opinion with a grain of salt, but DJ Khaled’s recent projects to me have felt incredibly manufactured, and its honestly a shame that his A&R abilities are being focused on these personal projects when he could be using his influence and connections to build albums with the artists of his choosing, similar to what Rick Ruben has been doing for the past two decades. Anyway, just a random thought I had, what do you think? I’d love to hear your takes.