‘I Don’t Play the Stream Game’: Why J.I.D Is on a Mission to Get ‘Asses In Seats’ on His Tour

As J.I.D wraps his five-city Dollar & A Dream tour — a warm-up for a larger fall outing — he says his only concern is putting “asses in seats … Just give me 10,000 people a night, 15,000. You would never hear from me again,” he promises. “I would never tweet again. I will never do nothing but drop albums for those people.”

On Aug. 8, the Atlanta rapper released his fourth album, God Does Like Ugly — a title inspired by his late grandmother, which debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200. But first, the 34-year-old set the table with an innovative “preluxe” approach; GDLU: The Preluxe contained four songs, including “Animals (Pt. 1)” on which J.I.D goes toe-to-toe with Eminem. For the full-length, J.I.D went back to the archives for an album he mostly crafted alongside 2022’s The Forever Story, with songs dating back to 2018 (sample clearance issues made the creative process “draining”).

“You could kind of see the chip, it’s still on my shoulder a little bit,” he says. “But at the same time, I just tried different writing styles and approaches to the music.”

A deluxe is also on the way this fall, as J.I.D reveals the GDLU universe could expand to 50 songs when the era’s all said and done (the prelude and album together currently total 20 songs). He’s just waiting on a couple of features, one being a “flute,” which fans hope means an appearance from elusive ATLien André 3000.

But for now, he’s preparing to celebrate the album with a global tour, which will include his first headlining arena show in his hometown — the result of steadily building his fanbase over a decade. As J.I.D says: “It’s no skipping steps.”

The North American leg of his God Does Like World Tours will see support from Young Nudy on all U.S. dates and kick off on Oct. 15 in Virginia Beach, with stops in Cincinnati, Chicago, Toronto, Seattle, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami and Philadelphia before wrapping in Brooklyn on Dec. 16.

J.I.D will then head to Europe in 2026, where Mick Jenkins will serve as special guest while Jordan Ward is slated to provide support on the Australia/New Zealand leg. Asia shows are to be announced at a later date.

You’re touring intimate venues before your first headlining arena show. How’s that been?

That’s all that really matters to me for real, fans and just putting asses in seats, bro. That’s the game I play. I don’t play the stream game, I don’t play the bundles. I just play, “come to the show.”

How was linking up with Eminem again?

Cool, man. Cool as hell. We got a good rapport. It was the first record I sent him, like, “Yo, you want to get on this?” Bro just sent it back. It was calm. It wasn’t even that much conversation. Bro just rock with me, I guess. It was very simple.

Do you have a favorite place that you visited when you performed?

South Africa is always crazy. I love African fans like Cape Town and [Johannesburg]. I dropped [2018 second album] DiCaprio 2 when I was in Africa; it was insane. Asian countries, hearing them rap, you can’t beat it.

With the project being recorded a few years ago, do you ever go back in and change lyrics you don’t agree with anymore?

For sure, [I’ll] change and adjust it. There’s even stuff on there — you know the climate of the industry right now — they gonna think I’m talking about a rap beef. And I made this years ago, before that was even a thing.

You said, [‘F–k a rap beef’] on “Community.”

I said, “I don’t give a f–k about it.” I remember specifically writing that line and my homie Javante had just passed and s–t was just heavy. I saw the beef and stuff like that, but this is real life. I don’t have time to pander with trying to hurt another man, when I just seen my friend murdered in the worst way. Since The Forever Story, I lost a good eight folks.

On “For Keeps,” you allude to having a child. That was your first time talking about him in a song.

I ain’t talk about it, I let him talk. I don’t think I’m gonna do like, a whole dad album. Nobody will probably see him. I wasn’t rolling him out. It was just right. I was talking to him one day, playing some music, and then I just asked him a question. He just responded to me [and I’m like], “Yo, you super cool.”

How has being a dad been?

That changed everything. I’m just like a totally different person. I don’t even know how to explain that, but it just changed my whole foundation of everything.

How many tracks are you envisioning for the deluxe?

I’ve never did one before. I have so much music left over from this project. And I’m talking about like crazy song that did not make this album right here. So it’s like, can I get these cleared? By the time the GDLU era’s over, it should be like, 50 songs out, bro, it can be that many. It’s so much music that I made just for this era. And then I still got lingering music over from The Forever Story. But this specifically, the villain arc, wherever I am right now … It’s thoughtful. I slowed the pace down a lot on here, you can tell, but it’s a lot of thoughts that came around this, and it’s a lot of religious imagery, conversations.

The title will throw you for a loop, but all I’m just talking about is glory to God. I’m a God fearing southern Black man and just dealing with things. That’s all it’s about. I like that people think, “Oh, this is demonic.” I’m really like, “God is good, Jesus is great.” But at the same time, it’s based on my faith.

The second song you hear straight preaching, talking about my brother being back in jail, which is a part of the angst that comes with the project because it’s the same person I was talking about on the first album. I didn’t meet that n—a until I was 16. I’m almost 40, n—a. He went back [to jail]. When one person and y’all close like that, it’s like the whole family in there. Watching my mom go through that s–t, that s–t’s ass.

What do you think was the key to cultivating a die-hard fan base?

I guess it was the foundation we set. Having a foundation is everything. I remember doing tours, maybe 15-20 people a night. I have a vivid visual of opening up for 20 people and building to 100, 300, 500. It takes a lot of time. Just putting the work in and not being afraid to do tours that’s not gonna get you anything.

A version of this story appears in the Aug. 16, 2025, issue of Billboard.