-You also are doing this amazing thing,
and it's a sad subject,
but Nipsey Hussle was recently --
It was just terrible tragedy what happened to him and awful.
But you were just with him filming a video for this summer?
-Yeah, so, I have a song with Nipsey Hussle on my album,
and I been blessed to work with the king Nipsey Hussle.
And, you know, it's a blessing
because me and him are excited about the record.
And the record is gospel. It's special.
And the video is so special that it's beautiful.
And like Nipsey Hussle would say, the marathon continues.
Long live Nipsey Hussle.
And when you watch the video, you know,
it put tears in my eyes.
And then also it's beautiful, you know what I'm saying,
to represent him and his legacy and his music and his family
and just -- You know what I mean?
'Cause he's a great. He's one of the greats.
And when we was recording the record,
you know what I'm saying, I was telling him,
"Man, you're one of the greats."
And he know that, and he was talking to me,
and we was having lunch before we made the record,
and he was, you know -- I asked him, "Where you from?"
Because I really didn't know --
I always thought he was mixed with Arabic or something,
'cause I'm American, but I'm Palestinian.
I'm a Palestinian-American. I'm Arabic.
So it's like I thought he had Arabic mixed in him.
He told me where he was from, and I thought it was beautiful.
He told me what his name meant. I told him what my name meant.
I told him what my son's name meant.
My son, "Asahd" means "lion" in Arabic.
You know what I'm saying?
And he was telling me about his kids,
and we were talking about entrepreneurship and property
and just, you know, beautiful things.
And I was just listening like this, 'cause when he spoke --
-Kind of like I am now. -Yeah.
But when he spoke, it's like it was a beautiful spirit.
You know what I'm saying? Pure love.
And then we walked to the studio.
I played him my album, and I was like,
"Yo, every song on my album is the one.
This is my biggest album."
And then I played him the record I wanted him on.
And he heard, and he was like, "Man, this is beautiful,"
and I was like, "Man, this is gonna be big.
This is that big boy rap."
And we created something very special.
And it's called "Higher."
-Do you want to tell everyone
what you're doing special with this?
-All proceeds from me and the co-producers and the writers
and John Legend, all proceeds go to his kids.
You know what I'm saying? You know, for that song.
You know what I'm saying?
You know, I mean, you know what I'm saying?
-What a shame. What a sad story.
But I like that you're doing something.
-Long live Nipsey Hussle. The marathon continues.
You know what I'm saying? -Good for you.
I have to ask you this, 'cause this is out right now.
-Yes. -People can get this.
"Father of Asahd."
Do you have the song of the summer on the album?
-I absolutely do have the song of the summer.
It's the whole album.
[ Laughter ]
It's like I'm not even joking, you know what I'm saying,
because, you know, it's my 11th album.
And I put 10 albums out.
I've been blessed to have a lot of great hit records,
a great catalog.
I've been blessed to make number ones, and I'm grateful for that.
And I challenged myself this album.
I was like, I'm just tired of the traditional rollouts
and traditional things.
I was like, "Why am I gonna give the world just a single
and then another single?"
I was like, "How about I give them seven singles?
How about I give them nine videos?
How about I give them, top to bottom, every anthem?"
I'm challenging radio to play more than one record.
I'm challenging, you know, every platform to do more,
because I did more. -Yeah.
-You know what I'm saying? And not even just that.
What's the quote, you got to lead by example?
I felt like if I'm gonna be a leader in this game,
I got to lead and be great.
So I can't just be doing normal stuff.
I can't just do traditional stuff.
I did that already, so now I'm gonna set the new blueprint.
The bar's set high again,
so if you make an album, it got to be big.
You know what I'm saying? It got to be big.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Cardi B is on the album, SZA, J Balvin, Post Malone.
-Let me help you out.
Cardi B, 21 Savage, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Nas, CeeLo Green,
J Balvin, Meek Mill, Rick Ross, Young Jeezy --
hold on -- Buju Banton. -What?
-Fresh from home. -Buju Banton?
-He's on "Holy Mountain" and "Holy Ground."
-Wow. -You know what I'm saying?
I got everybo-- How about this?
Ask me who's on my album.
[ Laughter ]
Ask me, ask me, ask me.
-Who's on your album? -All your favorites.
-All right.
Guys, DJ Khaled, everybody.
"Father of Asahd" is available now.
I like you.
Catch him tomorrow night
on the season finale of "Saturday Night Live."