For my first GQ story, I went to Miami to profile my countryman, DJ Khaled! It was a whirlwind trip that culminated with the two of us riding in his Maybach.

Featured image of Sama’an Ashrawi and DJ Khaled in Miami by Artis.

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A post shared by Sama’an Ashrawi (@sam3an)

Enjoy an excerpt below and read the full profile here.

DJ Khaled’s Divine Inspiration

On album 13, God Did, he’s still able to call in stellar features from the likes of Jay-Z, Lil Baby and 21 Savage. The secret to Khaled’s success is simpler than it seems.

By Sama’an Ashrawi

I’ve been struggling with making direct eye contact lately. Maybe it’s a post-Covid-isolation thing? Whatever the cause, this weakness has never been more challenging to me than on a recent, predictably hot and humid mid-August afternoon in the Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami. I’m in a photo studio and, from the other side of the camera, DJ Khaled has just whipped his Prada shades off, and is staring directly into my eyes as if we’re two outlaws in a Wild West saloon. It makes me feel like nothing could be more crucial than returning his gaze.

Khaled is smoking a blunt and blasting his thirteenth album, God Did, for me; we’re one week away from its release, which means I’m among the first people outside of his inner circle to hear “Use This Gospel,” a last-minute addition to the album with an all-star lineup: Kanye West and Eminem, over production by Dr. Dre and Timbaland. Khaled has long had Eminem and Dr. Dre on his collaborator bucket list, and now he’s crossed both off with one track. I must not have enough excitement on my face because now Khaled, wearing a Terrell Jones custom ensemble comprised of a zebra-striped, silk-print button-up shirt beneath a black suit jacket, is stepping off of his mark and walking over to me. The closer he gets, the more his walk morphs into a stomp-type dance, and, by the look on his face, I can tell that I’m supposed to be doing this dance, too.

“Yo! Are you not hearing this?” he bellows, pointing at me. Khaled is so close to my face I can see every detail of his. His barber must be a magician because his beard is immaculately lined and tapered. “That’s Eminem,” he boasts. “On a Dre beat?”

Circling a body-length mirror in the center of the studio, I’m now doing the Khaled Stomp with DJ Khaled, trying to keep my eyes locked with his while simultaneously taking notes on a pad, because he asked us not to record on our phones. “This is bucket list!” I shout over the music, trying to keep my feet moving and my face looking excited enough. “Yes!” He shouts back to me, never missing a step. “This don’t just happen! God did that!”

Read the full profile here.