Although DJ Khaled’s buffoonery has become a thing of legend over the past couple of years, no one can argue the success that the man has garnered. DJ Khaled has mastered the art of asking for a feature and finagled his way to a record deal along with a third album commemorating this mainstream notoriety, We Global. Whereas Khaled seeks to bask in his international success, the DJ makes little effort to reach past Dade County for his features and conceptually refuses to move to uncharted territory.

We Global is fundamentally the same Khaled album we’ve heard before. There are numerous contrived mash-ups of rappers over generic Runners, Cool & Dre and Co. beats with an R&B hook. How’s this for repetition: of the thirteen songs on the album, ten of them have some sort of sung hook by Trey Songz, T-Pain, Akon or a off-brand knock-off. Furthermore, the big collaborative efforts lack the star power of past Khaled projects. There is no Wayne, T.I. or Jeezy to counteract the lack of substance or stellar production. Instead, artists with substantially less talent and appeal take over. The aforementioned MCs are replaced by the likes of Ace Hood, Blood Raw and Brisco. Look no further than Boosie’s annoying spelling on “Out Here Grinding” and Shawty Lo’s unbelievably horrible verse on “Final Warning” to see that We Global is a lyrical step back from We The Best.

It’s never a good sign when the most detrimental element of an album is the main artist themselves. Khaled’s insanity and exasperation reach a whole new level this go around as he screams nonsensical anecdotes to begin most of the songs. Khaled even begins the album with 16…um…bars that begin with the lines “The internet can’t deal with a nigga like me.” Khaled’s verse seems to last forever as he pauses between each line to add an “is he done yet?” effect. Ace Hood joins the fray soon thereafter sounding like a young Rakim by comparison when, in actuality, Hood is merely the second coming of Yung Wun.

The irony of We Global is that the most successfully listenable songs are generally handled by one MC at a time. Though Kanye sounds lost in foreign territory, his auto-tuned collaboration with T-Pain, “Go Hard,” is as infectious as it is disappointing. Mr. West croons together throw-away bars as T-Pain tries his best to create his earlier “I’m So Hood” magic. Nas on the other hand truly shines on “I’m On” showing an ability to make a radio smash that Nas hasn’t shown in years. The track is almost too good for this album as Nas rides the beat perfectly, syncing his lines to make each rhyme coincide with the snares, managing to (gasp!) make the theme of his song connect with the idea of being global. The Game however, falters while essentially begging for beef with Jigga over a sample that was handled much more masterfully by 9th Wonder on a Memphis Bleek album from several years ago.

A positive sign from the album is that Rick Ross takes more steps to claiming his “Most Improved” trophy for the year as he comes off like a star with his newfound ability to switch up his flow allows him to tear through “Go Ahead” and standout production of “Bullet.”

Since this is a Khaled album though, the overall quality of the album relies on the collaborations – which all fall short. The standard claps, horns and gun cocks that make up most of the production does little to distract from the fact that We Global is teeming of awfully simple bars courtesy of rookies and underperformed songs from established artists. Yes, he may be a globally recognized DJ, but when it comes to truly constructing a great compilation album, DJ Khaled has a world to learn.

2.5 CIGARETTES

DJ Khaled – We Global (Best Buy Bonus Tracks)