I Do It: Big Sean’s I Am Finally Famous Tour Diary: Week 1

[Editor’s Note: The former XXL freshman journals his first week on the road discussing the experience performing at his tour's first three stops (Asheville, NC, Greensboro, NC, and Richmond, VA) lousy lunch schedule, and balancing tour life and personal life.]

AS TOLD TO RALPH BRISTOUT

[The tour is going] great, man! Can’t even tell you how happy I am [that] it's just happening. I got my brother on the road with me, got all my family and friends out here, DJ Mo Beatz has been with me since the beginning, it's been great. When you’re on the pursuit of happiness [and] you see what you’ve been working so hard for start unfolding right in front of you, it’s the greatest feeling in the world! I remember pulling up in McDonalds, not having no money because I just spent my last $40 on a studio session, and they still gave me my food. Times like that make these times.

[Looking back at] my first ever performance on stage, I was nervous as hell! I had no stage control, no control of the crowd, and didn’t know what I was doing. But, observing great performers like Kanye, to older clips from James Brown, Michael Jackson—the person who put me up on that was Wiz, [who] is a great performer too— I got my shit down packed and now I give a hell of a good performance.

[This week] Asheville was great! Didn’t know what it was going to be like [but] it was fun as hell. They went crazy when I performed, “I Keep It G,” I’m bout to put that out in the next couple of days. [Performing at] Richmond, VA, I liked [their] venue the best— that [was] a great venue. [Overall, all three stops] were really, really, really good shows. The one in Greensboro was a weird venue but [the crowd] was banging. Can’t choose which [show] was the best.

My lunch schedule been fucked up, man. I been trying to eat good. I eat a lot of Chipotle [which] is like my favorite shit. The worst thing I ate this week was this weak ass fish and chips, weak as hell. I threw that shit the fuck away. I go hard every night performing, so I just can’t be eating McDonalds or shit like that because if you fill your body up with bullshit, your going to perform like bullshit; that’s why I got my big bag of vitamins.

Balancing tour life with personal life is a real hard balance, but I learned to try and reach out to the people I love and friends I’ve cared about that have been there since [day one]. I’ve been really working on that because you really have conflicts with homies saying you changed, but we got to just be open-minded and see where they’re coming from. Hopefully, they see where you’re coming from and work it out as best as you can. My friends ain't got nothing but love for me and I ain't got nothing but love for them. I talk a lot of shit in my raps, but I’m the same nice guy I’ve always been because I know how to treat people. I made a promise to myself that no matter how successful or unsuccessful I got, I was going to keep a level of integrity and respect.