Big Sean Return of the Real

The paradox of time affects even booked and busy rappers like Big Sean. The notion that there seems to be plenty of it, but the progress of existence is fleeting isn’t lost on the Detroit native. He’s even mindful in his rhymes that “the easiest time to give up is when it's the hardest.” Good thing for hip-hop he never has. Despite some of the dark skies that have clouded his paradise, Sean Don is currently living the life he deserves. The music industry is only sometimes kind to artists who take a break. The 36-year-old rapper took some time out for inner peace due to feelings of anxiety and burnout. After four years since his last solo album, he’s back with a new offering, Better Me Than You, his sixth studio effort that doubles as a progression of self. No one can be mad at that when the music and the man have elevated.

A little over 24 hours before the Aug. 30 release of his new project, Sean makes his way to New York City for several days of press. He arrives at Sunday Afternoon studios in Manhattan’s Chinatown in the early evening hours of that Wednesday, later than expected and tired, but still ready to work. It’s been one of the hottest summer days in the Big Apple, with a sizzling temperature of 94 degrees. Yet Sean’s cool, calm and collected, and he enters with a smile. Even so, Sean has got a lot on his mind.

“I’m feeling so many different ways,” Sean says of the arrival of his new release. This marks his first album solely on Def Jam Recordings after parting ways with Ye's G.O.O.D. Music. “I kind of have a little bit of resistance when it comes to sharing my heart sometimes. And just because of when I open up like that, it’s open to everything, you know what I’m saying? And so, I’m real receptive of energy, real receptive of all the things, and I’ve definitely built up tough skin. So it doesn’t, it’s not like a make or break. I know I’m a source of my own happiness, my own everything, but it’s just like when you share with the world, it’s like a lot of energy. So I’m just feeling all that energy right now.”

Happiness is central to Better Me Than You, which features guest appearances from Gunna, Kodak Black, Cash Cobain, singers Bryson Tiller and Charlie Wilson, and producers The Alchemist, Thundercat and Key Wane, among others. It’s one of the four emotions Sean says he was going through while creating the 21-track LP: "Pressure," because he was under a lot of it, which led to "Clarity," and then "Focus" on "Happiness." But being content wasn’t always the case.

From the outside, Big Sean was living in a rap fairy tale. He rapped for Ye one day outside Detroit radio station 102.7 in 2005, and signed to G.O.O.D. Music, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings, two years later. A run of Finally Famous mixtapes from 2007 to 2010, and an album of the same name in 2011, the Detroit tape (2012), albums Hall of Fame (2013) and Dark Sky Paradise (2015), joint projects Twenty88 with singer Jhené Aiko (2016) and Double or Nothing with Metro Boomin (2017), plus two more albums, I Decided. (2017) and Detroit 2 (2020), along with What You Expect, a joint project with Hit-Boy (2021), proved he was one of the most consistent rappers in the game.

Three No. 1 albums, critically acclaimed songs like “Blessings” with Ye and Drake and the fan-favorite confessional “No More Interviews," respected feature runs and the I Decided Tour brought more acclaim his way. Despite the occasional critiques from critics and rap fans that some of his bars were corny—causing him to go viral as a result a few times over the years—the punchline master became one of the most impactful MCs to come out of the blog era. More than 16 years dedicated to hip-hop has resulted in a prolific career.

But from 2018 to 2020, Big Sean admitted he was off and had the worst anxiety, leading to feelings of depression. Like he raps on the album single “Together Forever,” Sean “took the time out for inner peace/Then came back with a bigger piece.” To get right within, the rap ace went on trips by himself to reconnect with himself, engaged in meditation and journal practices, went to therapy, connected with God more and started working out. He also had a son, Noah Hasani, with Jhené Aiko in 2022. So, when people ask, “Where’s Big Sean been?” it's simple; he was working on himself and prioritizing his family while still making music, trying to craft Twenty88 part two and writing a book behind the scenes.

“I don’t even know why it took so long between the projects, honestly,” Big Sean shares. “That wasn’t the intention at all. In fact, I think having a baby really was something that took... Rightfully so. I was very present through the pregnancy and through especially our son’s first year. So to me, I guess, that’s almost two years, essentially. Pregnancy’s nine months and then a year. So, it kind of equals out. Not to say I didn’t work the whole time, but it just was like, my priority was family. So, it just is what it is. It was a true pleasure though. I wouldn’t have done it any other way. So that’s one of the reasons, but I’m not blaming, that’s not a bad thing at all. It was all my choice.”

He dropped 12 projects over 14 years. Consistency was key until 2021, when What You Expect was released. Unfortunately, three to four years without new music dropping caused Big Sean to be pushed to the back in many rap conversations. His core fans were still rooting for him, yet the arguments about where he sat among The Big 3 or on rap’s Mount Rushmore weren’t as loud as his peers. Sean addressed the talk surrounding his name on a freestyle unofficially titled "Whole Time Freestyle,” which he dropped in March, just two days before Kendrick Lamar’s “I Like That” verse unfortunately overshadowed Sean’s first Better Me Than You single, “Precision,” since both released on the same day. “I think where I lack most as an artist is consistency/I just haven’t had the energy to compete with enemies or y’all so-called bigger three,” Sean Don rhymes.

“Consistency is an important part of my life,” he expands. “I feel like I haven’t been the most consistent maybe in music as I could be, but I’ve always, especially lately, I’ve been consistent with myself. You got to take care of yourself. And that’s one thing I learned and I don’t even do that enough. But as far as musically goes, yeah, I know that’s one of my biggest things that I lack is consistency and so I would love to… I think I got a lot of momentum and I got a lot of music, so I got a lot to share. I got a lot of ideas. I got a lot of things to offer to the world. Not just the music. That’s why I wrote a book as well.”

Big Sean isn’t keen on speaking on topics like The Big 3 or Mount Rushmore. His music says it all. He even boasts he’ll piss on your Mount Rushmore, then scale it on the vauntful track “Yes.” While status can sometimes make or break rap superstars, Sean pays little attention to where he sits in G.O.A.T. convos. He isn’t focused on competition.

“I think consistency definitely for me in hip-hop, when it comes to those conversations about Mount Rushmore and all these things, it’s like, I got a lot of people who do f**k with me, I got a lot of people who don't f**k with me,” he maintains. “And I can honestly say though, the life that I’ve lived and the impact that I made, even recently when I’m looking back on all that Drake [100 Gigs] footage that’s been dropping and I see all the impact, even that was 10 years ago. Or even with Travis [Scott's] Days Before Rodeo ‘Don't Play,’ you know what I’m saying? And I was already doing it for a long time then.”

“So, when you think about it, that was already 10 years ago,” Sean continues. “I’ve been blessed enough to see so many years being in this music industry that to me, I can’t even pay attention to where my status is to people. It is too much for me to concentrate on. It’s too stressful, it’s too gut-punching sometimes because I have put a lot into it. When you on your path, you just got to stay on your path, and you can look to the left and sometimes they throw roses, you can look to the right, sometimes they throwing rotten fruit and things, rotten tomatoes at you and you just got to stay on your course, because when you get thrown off, that’s when it gets real bad. And I feel like I really got a purpose or else I wouldn’t be able to do it.”

A week before Big Sean’s Better Me Than You dropped, he had his head down, tinkering away at the final touches on the album when he lifted it to find out he was part of another conversation. This time, it was carried out on X, formerly known as Twitter. Sean’s Cole Bennett-directed video for “Yes” dropped on Aug. 20, and a viral tweet with the video clip claimed, “We really live in a world where baby keem has 40 year old sons.” The egregious statement about biting flows sent rap fans into a tizzy. Those who know Sean’s catalog were appalled while Baby Keem fans had no idea Sean Don was doing that same flow a decade ago before Keem—time for a history lesson.

“I saw a little bit of the conversation when the ‘Yes’ video dropped, about like, ‘Oh, he’s trying to sound like him,’ or, ‘He’s trying to sound like Kendrick’ or, ‘He’s trying to sound like Baby Keem,’ or, ‘He’s trying to sound like…’ who knows?” Sean recalls. “And I was kind of confused personally by it, but then when I did some research, I was like, ‘Oh, I see that.’ But also I’ve been doing that since 2014, you know what I’m saying? Since even on a Drake clip that he posted, [where I’m rapping], ‘H*, shut the f**k up,’ It’s really them flows or that ‘Paradise (Extended)’ that I literally listened to when I was making that stuff for… So, I can’t really read into it too much. I saw some of it, but I can’t be all up on the internet because that sh*t’ll have you f**ked up.”

Sean’s signature flows, experimental singing on the magnificent “Black Void” featuring Thundercat and Eryn Allen Kane—a track he made while on shrooms—and introspective bars on “Million Pieces” featuring DJ Premier, Teyana Taylor and Larry June make up Better Me Than You. He’s also bringing back his honesty, truth and versatility. Rhymes take center stage on his latest opus, but there’s a deeper meaning to what Big Sean is delivering.

“The message that I want to be received is that I know everyone’s going through something,” he expresses. “I know it’s not easy at times. Sometimes it is, right? Sometimes it’s beautiful. Sometimes it can be a lot. And to me, this project represents when you are going through those times to remember that the reason you’re going through them is because you’re the one that can get through it, you know what I’m saying? You’re the one who was chosen to even be in that situation. So, you accept it with a sense of pride, better me than you, and really it’s like, I’m a better me than you could ever be. Embrace yourself as an individual as well. So, to me, that’s the whole point of the album. It’s like go out here wholeheartedly and rise above it all.”

The Midwest MC will also rise above it all if Better Me Than You tops the Billboard 200 chart next week. This would mark his fourth consecutive time at No. 1 after Dark Sky Paradise, I Decided. and Detroit 2 topped the chart. However, he could be competing against singer Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet album and Travis Scott’s Days Before Rodeo mixtape rerelease. Both projects have another chance to go No. 1 in their second week after earning more than 361,000 sales each in their first week of release. Nevertheless, Sean has some more surprises up his sleeve for Better Me Than You, which include feeding into the album a bit more with a few additional songs possibly and playing around with an alternate ending.

With consistency in his corner, Big Sean will capitalize on his new momentum as he prepares for what’s next: an upcoming book and a joint project with producer The Alchemist. The book Go Higher: Five Practices for Purpose, Success, and Inner Peace arrives in January of 2025, and includes “free game” from Sean to figure out the pieces, practices and mindsets to get to where you desire to be in your life. As for The Alchemist collab, there’s an Easter egg at the end of the “Together Forever” video that teases what’s to come. “That’s part of a side quest I’m doing with Alchemist that me and him been locked in on,” Sean reveals of the rich raps he’s rhyming in the visual. “So, excited about that. That’s a project that me and Alchemist are working on together, so that’s why that part is not on the album.”

More Big Sean bars are coming, and while that will undoubtedly make fans happy to hear, he has a bigger purpose in life that goes beyond rapping. “If you ask me, what my purpose is it's to inspire any way I can,” Sean conveys. “I don’t know if my purpose is to be the best rapper ever or to be the... I don’t know. Who knows? But I know my purpose is to inspire. I feel like I have one of the craziest stories in hip-hop when it comes to just the fairy-tale rap story of meeting one of your idols, rapping for him, working to get a record deal, and then having to build an organic fan base from there and just go through all these ups and downs. And it’s funny how a lot of the success that I did see was just me feeling and figuring it out. I didn’t even know what I was doing. I really didn’t.”

That’s clarity.

Watch Big Sean Speak on His New Album, Consistency in Hip-Hop and Rising Above It All

Listen to Big Sean's Better Me Than You Album