DJ Khaled has revealed that JAY-Z picked out the cover art for his upcoming thirteenth studio album, God Did which arrives on Friday (August 26).
The We The Best boss made the revelation during a recent video interview with Billboard‘s deputy director of Hip Hop and R&B Carl Lamarre. According to Khaled, he stuck to the same formula in having Hov choose a cover out of two options while also revealing the Brooklyn rap legend thinks God Did is his best album.
“I am the biggest JAY-Z fan, and I actually let him pick my album cover. I always give him like two cover options and see which one he would pick, and I did it again on this album,” Khaled said. “After I got done playing it, he pulled me aside and said, ‘Yo this is your best album.’ JAY-Z, I love you, and you know that.”
DJ Khaled unleashed the cover art earlier this week on social media, showing his face emblazoned across the front with a tear of joy falling from his eye.
“VGOD DID OFFICIAL ALBUM COVER,” he wrote. “The tear represents tears of joy from God’s blessings GOD, I LOVE U SO MUCH! ???? ?????? ?? ?? ???????? ?? ???? ???, ?? ???? ? ????? ??? ??? ??? ?????? ?? Thank you god for blessing my family, my friends and my fans. When nobody believed, YOU DID! I praise you daily. We’re here to do GODS WORK!!”
In addition to helping pick out the cover, JAY-Z is one of the All-Star names featured on the album, and his contribution has been receiving a lot of buzz. Earlier this month, DJ Khaled shared a photo of his startling reaction to hearing JAY-Z’s verse, along with a screenshot of himself on FaceTime with an equally stunned Young Guru and Roc Nation executive/photographer Lenny “Kodak Lens” Santiago.
Young Guru pushed the excitement even higher by tweeting, “HOV is the greatest of all time. This can’t be debated anymore!!!”
Lenny S., meanwhile, shared a photo on Instagram of Hov at Jungle City Studios, the storied NYC studio where he and others like Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar and Rihanna have recorded in the past.
“If you’re a real Artist you know exactly where this is and you know exactly what’s happening,” he wrote in the caption. “@djkhaled @youngguru763 The BEST to ever do this shit!!!!”
DJ Khaled is swinging for the fences by calling on the big guns for his album. He revealed the track list this week that features Drake, Kanye West, Eminem, Travis Scott, Future, SZA, Lil Baby, Lil Wayne, 21 Savage, Don Toliver, Juice WRLD, Jadakiss, Latto, City Girls, Kodak Black, Quavo, Rick Ross and more.
[via]