Find out what went down at the Apollo screening of Father of Asahd: The Album Experience ,co-hosted by Tidal and CRWN.
This past Tuesday DJ Khaled brought his exclusive Tidal documentary Father of Asahd: The Album Experience to the Apollo Theatre, along with Elliot Wilson for an intimate CRWN interview. Following the release of his 11th studio album, Father of Asahd, which dropped last Friday, May 19th, DJ Khaled has been dropping visuals left and right. So far Khaled has released videos for “Higher,” “Wish Wish,” “Just Us,” “Celebrate” and “Weather the Storm,” with even more on the way. It’s no surprise with this many visuals for one project, that Khaled also logged away countless hours of behind the scene footage, the highlights of which are shown in Father of Asahd: The Album Experience.
The documentary not only gives an inside look into the making of the music videos, it also follows the album from start to finish. DJ Khaled knew he was making what he expected to be his greatest body of work and had cameras following him 24/7 over the course of the last 2 years. Father of Asahd: The Album Experience goes through each individual track on the album, from inception to listening to the beat to working on the track with each artist to making each visual. Khaled invites you to watch his process, his energy and his work.
The documentary begins with the first single off the project which dropped last year, “Top Off,” featuring Jay Z, Future and Beyoncé. Overall we see little vignettes of how each track comes together and who all Khaled had in mind. We see Khaled honor the legendary Buju Banton and Sizzla, whom he travels to Kingston for. Khaled also has rare footage of Nipsey Hussle, days before his untimely death this year and addresses his personal issues with releasing the music they created together. When Khaled invites Nas and Diddy to hear the finished product, Diddy gives the biggest co-sign imaginable and calls Father of Asahd DJ Khaled’s Illmatic.
Following the screening, DJ Khaled joined Elliott Wilson on stage for his CRWN interview. Khaled came with high energy and even jokingly cut Elliott off when he couldn’t stop himself from speaking about the album. Khaled’s energy was definitely matched by his fans who went to great lengths to see him and watch him speak. Fans eagerly awaited both the screening and Q&A, one girl even yelling “I waited two hours for Khaled, he better talk.”
While slow and steady at first, Khaled quickly began giving insight into his life when speaking with Elliott. Khaled discussed what a blessing “Top Off” was and how he humbled he was when he found out Hov added Beyonce to the track and heard her vocals for the first time. He described the birth of his child and how it happened in New York and even shared the intimate phone conversation he had with Buju before seeing Asahd for the first time. He shares how Nipsey’s verses were inspired by the conversation the two shared on their walk to the studio moments before recording. Both the documentary and interview give incredible insight not only on how these songs came together, but how Khaled’s movement and hustle is constant and consistent. Be sure to check out the documentary exclusively available on Tidal as well as Father of Asahd, available on all streaming platforms.
