Key Takeaways
- DJ Khaled first pitched “Shining” to JAY-Z, before suggesting they get Beyoncé on the song.
- JAY-Z played the record for Khaled after Roc Nation’s annual brunch.
- The track added to the momentum of Khaled’s Grateful album, which also featured major hits like “I’m the One” and “Wild Thoughts.”
DJ Khaled remembers JAY-Z hilariously looking at him like he was “crazy” when he suggested getting Beyoncé on “Shining.” During Wednesday’s (Sept. 11) episode of the “Joe and Jada” podcast, the Grammy-winning producer shared how he managed to get the power couple on Grateful.
“One thing I love about Jigga, if he love you, the man’s accessible,” Khaled said of his “GOD DID” collaborator. “As big as he is, nine [times] out of 10, if you got love and respect, you can have a meeting with him.”
At one of those meetings, Khaled played Hov the “Shining” instrumental. “I’m like, ‘Yo, I need you on this,’” he recalled. “I turned it down and said, ‘But I need you and the queen on this.’ He looked at me like I was crazy.”
“There’s too many great stories with Hov, but that particular story, he was like, ‘Leave me with that joint.’ He ain’t say he [was] gon’ get the queen on it. He ain’t say nothin’,” Khaled added. Turns out, the artists ran into each other again “that same day” at the Barclays Center, where JAY-Z revealed he had played the song for Beyoncé.
Khaled admitted he was trying to “keep it cool,” so he waited until he was back in the car to let his excitement out. See the clip below.
“Later on, hours after that, the man Jigga sent me a picture of him in the jet,” Khaled explained. “[He said], ‘You know me and B listening to this joint.’” Two days later, Khaled crossed paths with JAY-Z again at Roc Nation’s annual brunch. There, Hov told him to swing by his house afterward to “hear something.”
According to Khaled, the “Holy Grail” hitmaker suggested he “walk around this brunch with your head high,” which he gladly did. “Soon as the brunch is over, I’m at his crib, and he played me ‘Shining,’” Khaled shared, adding, “Man, God is great.”
Khaled later emphasized “that’s just one story” involving JAY-Z, since they've also collaborated on “I Got the Keys,” “GOD DID,” and “SORRY NOT SORRY” with Nas.
“Shining” was one of the biggest songs off Khaled’s Grateful, trailing closely behind the chart-topping “I’m The One” and Rihanna and Bryson Tiller’s “Wild Thoughts.” The music mogul later reunited with the Carters on “Top Off,” which landed on REVOLT’s list of all the times Beyoncé outrapped her husband.