His debut album, Finally Famous, was released in June 2011 and featured guest appearances from hip hop superstars Kanye West, Chris Brown, Pharrell Williams, The-Dream, Wiz Khalifa, and Lupe Fiasco.
He was raised by his mother and grandparents who worked steadfastly to instill in him the principles of hard work and determination. Sean attended the Detroit Waldorf School, a school of art, from Kindergarten to 8th Grade where he was in 102.7FM, a local radio station in Detroit where he displayed his rhyming skills weekly. There, he met Kanye West after a radio interview in 2005 and got a chance to display his talent by freestyling for Mr. West, giving him a copy of his music and sending numerous tracks for him to critique. After months of submitting songs and numerous meetings, Sean finally got a call from Kanye West himself saying that he wanted to sign him. Two years later, West signed Big Sean to GOOD Music. Sean has cited West, Eminem, The Notorious B.I.G., and J Dilla as his influences.
On September 30, 2007, Big Sean released his first official mixtape Finally Famous: The Mixtape. His hit single, "Get'cha Some", produced by WrighTrax, attained media attention and led to articles in The Source and the Detroit Metro Times. He also recorded a music video for "Get'cha Some", which was directed by Hype Williams. Sean released a second mixtape hosted by Mick Boogie on April 16, 2009, called UKNOWBIGSEAN. It featured the songs "Million Dollars", "Get'cha Some" and "Supa Dupa". This mixtape includes 30 tracks. Sean released a third mixtape hosted by Don Cannon on August 31, 2010, called Finally Famous Vol. 3: BIG, which features include major artists like Bun B, Chip tha Ripper, Curren$y, Tyga, Drake, Mike Posner, Chuck Inglish, Asher Roth, Dom Kennedy, and Chiddy Bang. The mixtape includes 20 tracks.
Finally Famous, Sean's debut studio album, was released June 28, 2011, and spawned three hit singles; "My Last", "Marvin & Chardonnay" and "Dance (Ass)". The album featured guest appearances from Lupe Fiasco, John Legend, Pharrell, Kanye West, Roscoe Dash, Wiz Khalifa, Chiddy Bang, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Pusha T, and included production from No I.D., The Legendary Traxster, Andrew "Pop" Wansel, Xaphoon Jones and The Neptunes. When the songs "O.T.T.R." and "Flowers" were leaked in July 2011, speculation began of a new mixtape. Sean confirmed in an interview on June 28, 2011, that a collaborative mixtape between him and "two other guys in hip-hop that are just killing it right now" will be released "in a couple of weeks". Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y were the suspected featured rappers on the mixtape. However, Wiz Khalifa later confirmed that there would be no mixtape, claiming that the songs were created, "just for fun".
In September 2011, Big Sean confirmed in an interview with the Daily Tribune that he'll be working on his second album during the I Am Finally Famous Tour and plans to release the album sometime in 2012. On October 19, 2011, Kanye West announced on his Twitter plans for a Spring 2012 GOOD Music album release. On April 6, 2012, "Mercy", the lead single from the GOOD Music compilation album, Cruel Summer, was released. The song, produced by newly signed in-house producer Lifted, features Big Sean along with Kanye West, Pusha T, and southern rapper 2 Chainz. Big Sean then announced his fourth mixtape would be titled "Detroit" and would serve as a lead-in to his second studio album. He then began promoting the mixtape, releasing short versions of the songs on his YouTube page. On September 5, 2012, Big Sean released the mixtape Detroit which features guest appearances from fellow rappers J. Cole, Juicy J, King Chip, French Montana, Royce da 5'9", Kendrick Lamar, and Tyga.
Big Sean pushed back the release date of his second studio album Hall of Fame which was eventually released on August 27, 2013. The album has skits to give it a "classic feel", and includes features from multiple artists, including Lil Wayne, Miguel, and Nas. The album's production was primarily handled by No I.D., and Key Wane along with additional production from Hit-Boy, Da Internz, Mike Dean, Travis Scott, Xaphoon Jones, and Young Chop among others. Big Sean also stated in an interview that he was in the studio with fellow Detroit native Eminem. Sean went on to say they made a "Detroit classic" but he is unsure if it will be on Hall of Fame because of "timing issues". Hall of Fame spawned five singles, "Guap", "Switch Up" featuring Common, "Beware" featuring Jhené Aiko and Lil Wayne, "Fire", and "Ashley" featuring Miguel.
A month prior to the release of Hall of Fame, Big Sean told Complex that he had already begun work on his third album due to the inspiration from his new relationship. On September 12, 2014, Big Sean announced that he had signed a management deal with Roc Nation. Later that same day he released four new songs titled, "I Don't Fuck with You", "Paradise", "4th Quarter" and "Jit/Juke". Producers for these songs include, Mike Will Made It, DJ Mustard, Kanye West, DJ Dahi, Nate Fox, Da Internz, L&F, and Key Wane. "I Don't Fuck with You" was released to iTunes on September 19, 2014. In an interview with Sway Calloway, Sean confirmed that Lil Wayne will be featured on the album.
In May 2012, Big Sean founded a nonprofit organization called the “Sean Anderson Foundation,” with the aim of helping underserved children and families in Detroit. Alongside direct donations to local institutions, primarily educational institutions, the foundation has created fundraising programs and partnered with other organizations. In 2016, the foundation launched #HealFlintKids to raise money for the Community Foundation of Greater Flint amid the Flint water crisis - the program raised $100,000.
In 2015, the foundation launched Mogul Prep, which partnered high school students with music industry professionals. During the same year, the foundation donated a recording studio for students at Big Sean's alma mater, Cass Technical High School. Beginning in 2018, the foundation has hosted an annual weekend festival, called D.O.N. Weekend, with free events and performances for Detroit residents and usually by Detroit artists. In December 2018, Big Sean in partnership with Ally Financial, Thurgood Marshall College Fund & the Sean Anderson Foundation, created an annual scholarship competition for HBCU students called “Moguls in the Making.”
On March 25, 2016, Big Sean released a track to celebrate his 28th birthday, "Get My Shit Together". Two days later he announced a self-titled album with Jhené Aiko, Twenty88, scheduled to be released on April 1, 2016, exclusively on Tidal. The album was released on April 5, 2016, on Apple Music and Spotify. A week after the exclusive release of Twenty88 on Tidal, Big Sean and Aiko released a 15-minute short film called Out of Love, which is composed of several recordings from the album. Around the same month, upon the wake of the Flint water crisis, Big Sean tweeted to the city's official Twitter account, asking if he could do anything to help, and later on donated $10,000.
On October 31, 2016, Big Sean released "Bounce Back" as the lead single from his fourth studio album, I Decided, which was released on February 3, 2017. "Moves" was released as an instant-great on December 16, 2016. Sean consulted the advice of Jay Z and Rick Rubin while working on the album. Big Sean achieved his second number-one album on the Billboard 200 chart, as I Decided debuted at the top. It earned 151,000 equivalent album units in the week of February 9, according to Nielsen Music. 65,000 of the amount was in pure album sales. As of April 18, 2017, I Decided was certified gold.
Two months after the release of I Decided, Big Sean was offered the official Key to the City of Detroit for his contribution to his own Sean Anderson foundation.
On November 3, 2017, Sean and Metro Boomin released the single "Pull Up N Wreck", featuring 21 Savage. A month later, it was announced that Sean and Metro were to release a collaborative album titled Double or Nothing. The album was released on December 8, 2017, and included features from Travis Scott, 2 Chainz, 21 Savage, Kash Doll, Young Thug, and Swae Lee, and included the single "Pull Up N Wreck".
On July 24, 2019, Big Sean released his first solo single since 2017 titled "Overtime", produced by Hit-Boy, Key Wane, and the Tucker Brothers. In an interview with Beats 1 Radio, Sean said he was "returning to his roots" with the single ahead of his forthcoming album. On July 26, he released the song "Single Again", which includes background vocals from Jhené Aiko and Ty Dolla Sign. On August 26, he released the single "Bezerk" featuring ASAP Ferg, performing it at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards.
On March 25 (Big Sean's 32nd birthday), he announced that his new record would be titled Detroit 2. On August 25, he released the album's lead single, "Deep Reverence", featuring late rapper Nipsey Hussle. Detroit 2 was released on September 4, 2020, and features collaborations with Eminem, Jhené Aiko, and Lil Wayne. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, marking his third number-one album.
On September 17, 2020, Big Sean revealed in a Reddit AMA that another Twenty88 album is "in the works". A track attributed to the project appeared on Detroit 2. He has also announced that he plans on launching his own record label. On October 29, 2021, Big Sean announced on Twitter that after 14 years, he has stepped away from Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music label, saying "That's a forever brotherhood, but business-wise, I had to start getting a bigger cut! I worked my way out that deal." West also claimed during a November 2021 Drink Champs podcast that signing Sean was the 'worst decision' of his entire career.
Starting in 2020, Big Sean has appeared in the Showtime series 'Twenties' in a recurring role as Trsitan, an anti-social media character who learns the value of online connection. In October 2021, Big Sean, in collaboration with rapper and producer Hit-Boy released an EP entitled What You Expect.
In February 2022, Big Sean and singer Queen Naija released a single entitled "Hate Our Love". The song will appear on Naija's upcoming album. In that same month, Big Sean confirmed the Twenty88 album and revealed that the album would include a collaboration with his then-girlfriend, Jhené Aiko. In September 2022, Big Sean re-released Detroit to streaming platforms, in honor of its 10th anniversary.
In 2019, the foundation partnered with Boys & Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan, donating a second $100,000 recording studio to the club during that year's D.O.N. Weekend. Since 2012, the foundation has participated in the annual All-Star Giveback on Thanksgiving, where it distributes turkeys, trimming, and canned goods to Detroit residents.
In May 2021, Big Sean, via his Sean Anderson Foundation, released a video series on wellness and mental health. The series was released during Mental Health Awareness Month and featured a conversation between Big Sean and his mother, educator Myra Anderson, about the intersection between wellness and mental health, including topics like meditation, sleep, and emotional freedom techniques.
No More Interviews
Big Sean Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴
Somebody gotta do it
Look, no more interviews
I'm not talking about this on a song, feature or interlude
Reporting live from Hawaii with my girl
I brought sand to the beach
Working on vacay in the booth, sand on my feet
I'm coming from the underground like it's Groundhog's Day
I'm talking so underground that when I talk about J, nigga
I might mean J Dilla, R.I.P. real niggas
Lately I only do the shit that inspire me
Lately niggas treat the Shade Room like a diary
Oh yeah, is that what you heard?
Believing everything that you hear without confirming it first
And you know the funny thing about it is my ex wanna write a tell all
Fucked up thing about it is she ain't even tell all
Like how I introduced her to meditation, positive thinking
And the books she probably read in daily rotation
I learned when people lie on you not to return the favor so
I won't get you embarrassed
I won't tell them all the other parts about you that's plastic
This my last time putting my ex in a song even though the last one went triple platinum
I'd rather put that energy into what's worth having
Like how I got a platinum album with no solo tour
Niggas say it's over for me I go overboard
Back against the wall like my poster but I'm the poster boy
Not from the city if you let THEY tell it
Greatest rapper of all time if you let YE tell it
You ask me, I don't got the resume
But, shit, I can go bar for bar for niggas who talking off
And getting egged on by A&Rs who, soon as your shit fallin' off, they walkin' off
And if you rappers diss us and ours just know that you dead and you know it
My career been moving perpetual motion
I'm not impressed with the whoopty woop, I don't know who is who
And can't pretend like I'm hip to it, no hula hoop
And I can't lie like I like this shit like I usually do
And I'm just not impressed by you niggas rapping fast
Who sound like one big asthma attack but trash when I'm rapping it back
Who you put in your top five and claim they the savior of rap
So many friends turn to enemies, they frenemies
I don't know why I act like I'm surprised or it's offending me
I'm saying, though, I should have learned from Hov and Dame
From Stunna and Wayne, Cudi and YE
What happened to our family ways, though?
When I put you on that song with Nas, you had told me that you was forever grateful
And now we brothers, so it hurt to hit the internet to find out that me and you don't fuck with each other
Over a miscommunication that probably could be fixed with a 5 minute conversation, I'm still praying
For ya, though, I guess I charged it to the game
How much it cost? Around Twenty88
Going off like Kobe when he wore the 'crazy eights'
All y'all niggas looking like my kiddos wearing Bape
Shot my first video in the Harajuku store
With Nigo in the background, that's a picture that you can't take
With YE and Hype Williams directing each take
And God directing each step that we take
I'm a king, a legend, man, you niggas ain't worthy
10 years in and a nigga still under 30
I'm feeling like an old man that failed at life
Got reincarnated to do it all again right (That's how I feel)
So I'm treating every second like it's an investment
Time is money, every second I'm collecting
Don't ask me no stupid questions
"Are you still signed to YE?" questions, no Roc Nation questions
Or who I'm dating questions, look, no more interviews
Unless you wanna talk about the music or something that has a different view
And not the shit that's getting the hits and views
Words misconstrued with no credit, but you niggas approved
My mistakes are my biggest professors and learning life lessons
I realize it ain't what you have, it's what you feel, that's what true success is
I am the one of one, after me there's no successor
DON
"Interview" by Big Sean is a introspective and self-reflective song where the artist addresses various topics and experiences in his life. He starts off by asserting his determination and confidence, comparing himself to Don, referencing the iconic figure Don Corleone from the Godfather movie series. This sets the tone for the song, as Big Sean positions himself as someone who is ready to take charge and lead.
From there, he speaks about not wanting to do any more interviews, implying that he doesn't want to publicly discuss certain topics. He then mentions how he brought sand to the beach, metaphorically referring to his work ethic by saying he is working even on vacation. He further emphasizes his dedication to his craft by saying he is from the ground up like a ground-ball play, indicating his humble beginnings and hard work. He also mentions being from the underground, likely alluding to his early years in the music industry and paying homage to the late producer J Dilla.
Big Sean then addresses a personal relationship, hinting at his ex-girlfriend wanting to write a tell-all book about him. He suggests that she didn't reveal everything in her previous attempt, and highlights the positive influence he had on her life, such as introducing her to meditation and self-improvement. However, he chooses not to retaliate or expose any negative aspects about her, indicating his maturity and growth.
Throughout the song, Big Sean asserts his position in the rap game, mentioning his success and his ability to rap at a high level. He dismisses rappers who rap fast but lack substance, and challenges anyone who claims to be the savior of rap. He also addresses conflicts with friends turning into enemies, expressing his disappointment and longing for the unity he witnessed in other successful friendships like Jay-Z and Dame Dash, Birdman and Lil Wayne, and Kid Cudi and Kanye West.
In the final verses, Big Sean reflects on the passage of time and the value of each moment. He recognizes the importance of making the most out of every second and treating time as an investment. He also acknowledges his mistakes and the lessons he has learned, emphasizing that true success lies in how one feels rather than what they possess. He ends on a confident note, referring to himself as one of a kind and insinuating that there is no successor after him.
Overall, "Interview" serves as a candid reflection of Big Sean's journey, highlighting his growth, resilience, and determination to stay true to himself.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Sean Anderson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Accent Beats
DAMNN!! beat lyrics flow perfect combo!
ericsGOOD
respect to sean for actually questioning the disses by Cudi and wanting to be friends still AND praying for him. that's real love. any other rapper would've dissed him right back
Alex Avila
Cudis fan base is a basically a Cult compared to Big seans fan base lmao big sean played it smart by not dissing cudi
Alex Avila
Big sean wouldve held the L if he dissed Cudi. Just like he took tge L by Kendrik
Alex Avila
@sims4610593 DOT produced Day n Nite. CUDI CONSIDERS DOT AS HIS BROTHER.
ObaRich
Just A Black Atheist Imagine not accepting and liking the gender you are “Us heterosexual men are disgusting as a group with how sexually aggressive, and selfish we are.” Feminist? You targeting the whole gender also turn gay aint nobody gon care but wishing you were a woman just invalidates your whole comment
Sheja Bryce
Difference between Drake and Sean
Light Iverson
People who been with Sean since 2010 know how much he grew as a rapper
GRVMBINO SCOTT
Been rocking with Sean since TI$A Snapbacks man i miss those. 😔😥
XSHARXVIBES
I've been listening since then 🎶😂😂 I was 4 years old