DJ Khaled explains the story behind getting the “Use This Gospel” remix on “God Did”.
DJ Khaled finally dropped his highly anticipated 13th studio album “God Did” last night, and one of the most talked about tracks is the “Use This Gospel” remix by Eminem and Kanye West, with production from Dr. Dre and The ICU. The super producer linked up with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe and revealed the whole story of getting the song on the album.
“Produced by Dr. Dre, this is a gift from Kanye Dr. Dre and Eminem. Not just to me, to the world,” he said. “Me and Kanye worked on a few records and we didn’t finish them, they’re incredible, we just didn’t finish them. Kanye, he got so much going on, he’s doing a lot, so I’m like, “Yo,” I called Kanye one day and I said, ‘I got an idea.'”
He continued, “He [Kanye West] Came by my house about a year and a half ago, 8:00 in the morning and he just showed up to my house. I never knew he was coming. tells the chef, ‘Give me some eggs with ketchup,’ and he had a drink. We go to my studio, I play him music, he plays new music. We both inspire each other. He plays me an incredible album that he did with one of my idols, Dr. Dre, he played it from top to bottom for me. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. We had a great get-together at the crib, he leaves, that’s a year and a half ago. I told you he was making records for this album, me and Ye, he couldn’t finish them because he was so busy, so I said, “I got an idea. I remember you playing me this Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kanye record and y’all was talking about God, I was speaking that gospel.” I said, “Man, that would be beautiful if we could put that on God Did,” and Ye hits back and says, “I love the idea.” You know Ye don’t love no idea. He said, “I’m down,” but obviously we got to get, Obviously I said, “I got to call Dre to get his blessings, and of course, Em’s blessings.”
@drdre @kanyewest @Eminem this GIFT is UNBELIEVABLE!! THANK YOU!! Thank you for letting me put this on my album to bless the world with! @drdre you’re my idol! @kanyewest you’re my BROTHER! @eminem this is a dream come true. #GODDID 📜 AVAILABLE NOW https://t.co/ox0jTeh51G pic.twitter.com/GkyCX6104M
— DJ KHALED (@djkhaled) August 26, 2022
“So I called Dr. Dre after I hung up with Ye, I called Dr. Dre and I said, “Dre, bless up, brother, yo, boom boom.” I was like, “Yo, I would love to put your song on my album that you produced with Em and Ye.” Make a long story short, he was like, “Yo, I’m down, we just got to make sure we get Em’s blessings,” and I’m like, “Of course, everybody got to want this, this has got to be bless this.” So He hits me back, and says, “We got you, and we love you.” Let me tell you a story, We get the blessings, a few months ago I text Dre, before I came up with calling Ye about this, a few months ago, I text Dre to see if this was still his number because I haven’t talked to him in a while. I said, “Bless up, brother, is this still your number?” I think he hits me back like a week or two weeks later. But I ended up catching the COVID, so I look at my phone, I’m like, ” he hit me back,” but I was sick with the COVID, God bless, God is great, so I didn’t want to hit him back right away because I didn’t have my energy, my spirit wasn’t. If I’m going to talk to Dre, my idol, I got to feel DJ Khaled, he got to hear DJ Khaled. So I’m like, I was working on another record that I wanted to present to him that I produced, that I wanted to present to him to get on, and I never played it for him. That’s what I’m saying, this is God Did, instead I was blessed to get a gift from Dr. Dre, Kanye West, and Eminem, produced by Dr. Dre, man. The minute I thought my album was done.”
Given that Dr. Dre produced it, the song has been reworked and has an air of early 2000s Eminem nostalgia with harder-hitting percussion and a faint rock influence. Slim Shady raps about putting his faith in “the Father” and questioning whether he can hang on. Although he uses his typical speed raps and flow shifts, it is still a surprising effort given the number of religious allusions he makes.
Check out the interview below.
