According to Khaled, the album thematizes the constant quest to relate to and praise a higher God for believing in him when others did not and he has been very open and proudly admitted to being a Muslim who habitually prays.[7] "God has always told me to keep going; [...] When times get hard, I go harder. When times get great, I go even harder. I don't waste my emotions and energy on moving backwards. I use my energy to find the solution to keep going. If something ain't workin' out the way it's supposed to work out, [...] I want to find a way to get back up and keep going and find the solution."[8]
The project serves as the follow-up to his previous album, Khaled Khaled, released a year prior.[9]
God Did received generally mixed reviews from critics. On Metacritic, based on 6 reviews, the album received a score of 43, the lowest of DJ Khaled's career.
Clash called the album a "bombastic return from the hip-hop high-roller".[14] Dani Blum of Pitchfork described the project as a "bogged-down album" in which "some of the album’s most appealing melodies and hooks seem more incidental than intentional, the logical outcome of combining stars and beats, then backing away". Blum characterized DJ Khaled as incompetent to harness "the power of collaboration to push artists beyond their comfort zones", with the exception of the title track with Jay-Z, which was praised as "ambitious".[1]
Although the album as a whole generated little enthusiasm from critics, Jay-Z's performance on the track "God Did" received critical acclaim.[18][19] Simon Vozick-Levinson of Rolling Stone called the verse "a master class in mature lyricism",[20] while Complex wrote that "the long-teased verse is a reminder that he's still an exceptional writer" and that "this verse will definitely go down among Jay-Z's best".[21] An Ambrosia For Heads article called Jay-Z's verse the best verse of 2022.[22]
Commercial performance
God Did debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 107,500 album-equivalent units (including 9,500 copies in pure album sales) in its first week.[23]
^"Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 35.Týden 2022 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
