DJ Khaled's God Did: New milestone for DJ Joozey

Joseph Simon alias DJ Joozey is one of the headliners from across the world who have taken part in DJ Khaled’s ongoing campaign dubbed ‘God Did’ which is also the title of his 13th album. In a reel that was first shared on the music icon’s Instagram page, a number of entertainers in different parts of the world such as Australia, Brazil, Canada and China are seen taking part in what has so far become a viral ad. DJ Khaled opened up the video with the words ‘they didn’t believe in us..’ and the entertainers from across the globe responded ‘God did’.

What is perhaps most striking in the promo clip for folks in Tanzania is the appearance of the country’s very own rising star, DJ Joozey. Joozey is one of a few selected talents from Africa featured in the project.

In a one-on-one interview with The Beat, DJ Joozey unravels how he became a part of DJ Khaled’s album campaign. One Saturday afternoon as DJ Joozey was preparing to board a flight from Dodoma to Dar es Salaam after a successful event, he received a phone call from Seven Mosha, Marketing and Artist Manager in East Africa under Sony Music Company.

“She told me that there was an opportunity for me and shared the details. I was then instructed to record a short video that would be emblematic of the country I am representing without being too direct about it. I was overwhelmed with joy that I had to remind myself to calm down and start working on the opportunity immediately,” he recalls.

As he was breathing in the news, Joozey started generating ideas that would bring out his creative side and make him worthy of the campaign feature.

“I planned on using a car to showcase the Tanzanian plates and the national flag but I quickly changed my mind when Seven emphasized that It should not be a casual video and that it had to showcase ‘the Tanzanian element’,” Joozey narrates.

He then started recording short videos in different parts of the country. It wasn’t until he shot a video with the ‘Kilimanjaro National Park’ signpost in the background that he finally got his breakthrough.

“I remember it was after one of my shows at Elements Club, I hopped into a car which took me to different spots in the country as I was in a quest for ‘the Tanzanian element’. My team and I were looking for good scenery as well as something that connected to nature, so we went to Bagamoyo, Tanga and Kilimanjaro. At times, we parked on the roadside when we saw something that we were certain would fit in the requirements we were working with,” DJ Joozey details.

It took him about 24 hours on the road and 20 videos to find the missing ‘element’. Before that, he recorded on a farm of sisals and another one of sunflowers. He recorded at a waterfall in Marangu and also with a Maasai shuka in the middle of a forest pathway.

“When we shared the first videos, Seven told us that there was still room to do better. This pushed us to think and rhetorically question ourselves ‘when you introduce yourself as a Tanzanian to people of different nationalities, what are the first things that come to their minds; the Kilimanjaro Mountain, Zanzibar and Serengeti national park. We started driving to the Kilimanjaro National park right away since we were already close to it,” he says.

By the time DJ Joozey’s car arrived at the national park, it was already closed for the day. He then asked the security guards and the guides at the gate for a few minutes to record himself with the signpost as his background. Little did he know this moment would land him DJ Khaled’s God Did campaign deal.

“In my heart and soul, I knew I wanted that opportunity because, through it, I wanted to pay my deeds to the country that has made me the person I am today; Tanzania,” he says.

While he was resting after a working night that included making and updating his playlists and exploring new sounds, DJ Joozey’s phone started getting buzzed with congratulatory messages from different people. This was a short while after sharing the ‘Kilimanjaro video’ with Seven.

“I did not know that my video met the particular requirements until when I saw that video on DJ Khaled’s page. Through that campaign, I have expanded my work beyond the borders even more because I have been getting invites to different countries to showcase my talent, especially in the Kiswahili language,” he hints.

On July 6 this year, DJ Khaled teased his album in an Instagram post that detailed ‘God Did’ will be out “soon” through We The Best Music Group/Epic Records. However, the release date, album cover and full features are all still unknown.

His first post about the album was followed by a collection of contents with a number of celebrities such as basketball legend, Lebron James repeating the words ‘they didn’t believe in us, God did’.

DJ Khaled then shared a video with different musicians including Rick Ross, Drake, Diddy, Future and Justin Bieber, sharing their opinions on his work as well as unveiling their experiences of working alongside him. In this reel he showed different times he was awarded, when his name was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame earlier this year as well as the time he met rap icon, Jay Z.

He then shared another reel with audio that is a possible intro or outro of God Did album, highlighting his career and in this video, several artists who are speculated as possible features in the God Did album are seen jamming to and recording muted music. These artists include Drake, Kanye West, Lil Baby, Lil Durk, 21 savage, Roddy Ricch and Future.

God Did will be the follow-up to DJ Khaled’s 12th album named Khaled Khaled which has reached platinum certification and debuted on Billboard 200 in 2021.

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