Fighter: Big Sean
Trainer: Kanye West
Cut Men: Key Wane, Lex Lugar, Don Cannon, Hit-Boy, BP, Young Chop, Million $ Mano, The Olympicks, Rami and Dez, Da Internz, Southside
Weight Class: Rising Star (I liken this to the rap equivalent to the Welterweight/Junior Middleweight divisions. Big Sean is currently trying to separate himself from a deep and talented group of younger MCs. Plus, I really don’t think he weighs more than 154 pounds.)
Notable Fire: Higher, 24K of Gold (Feat. J. Cole), 100 (Feat. Royce Da 5’9″ and Kendrick Lamar)
Notable Trash: Do What I Gotta Do (Feat. Tyga)
Tale of the Tape: Big Sean had built up quite a name for himself on the mixtape circuit prior to the release of his first solo project, Finally Famous, in 2011. But Finally Famous had a bit of a commercial feel to it; a little bit too much of a commercial feel in this listener’s opinion. Even though it was a decent project, HHSR was interested to see if Sean could regain the mixtape swagger that put him on the map.
Big Sean came through in a major way with one of the better mixtapes of 2012. The lyrics were there, the content was there, but more importantly, the hunger was there. We all know Sean’s career has been on the uptick ever since teaming up with Yeezy and the G.O.O.D. Music team (including recently joining up with The Throne on the “Clique” record, off of the Cruel Summer album). However, the Motor City MC used this project to illustrate some of his shortcomings and to show that he is an unfinished product, both as an artist and an individual.
On a personal level, Sean talks about his struggle with staying connected to his grandmother and his own imperfections on the song Once Bitten, Twice Shy. “Coming from a city where dreams get shredded/Recording off credit/Cuz niggas need debit/Made mistakes but it made me what I am, what I am, what I am/And I don’t regret it/And I found the girl that I’ll marry/The only curse/Is that I keep running into the girls that I fuck first.”
Sean also shows, albeit briefly, that he possesses some social awareness (I’d like to see a little more of this from him)when speaking on the flawed school systems of today in the song 24K of Gold. “Why don’t schools teach more mathematics?/Less trigonometry and more about taxes?/They at the chalkboard, teaching us ass backwards/How bout preparing us for life instead of lab rat us?” But it’s the songs like “Life Should Go On”, “I’m Gonna Be”, “100” and “Higher”, which featured the line, “Tomorrow never seemed so close/And life ain’t what it seem no more/’Til I was standing next to Puff and Hov off the French coast, a million dollars never seemed so broke,” that indicate Sean may be finally famous, but he’s forever famished.
Fight Night: Tenth round KO
Detroit was reminiscent of last week’s Andre Ward/Chad Dawson fight. Big Sean (aka S.O.G. Ward) went in with high expectations and he did not disappoint. It was clear in the early rounds that Ward was the superior pugilist, and by round 3, he was just practicing his craft before he closing the show in impressive fashion.
Big Sean shows on this mixtape that he does believe he’s made it, but he’s not about to let complacency set in, nor is he going to forget about his hood. He brings in Jeezy, Common and Snoop Lion to discuss their past experiences in The D, which added some character to the project. And with solid contributions from Wale, Wiz Khalifa, Chip Tha Ripper aka King Chip, Juicy J, French Montana, J. Cole, Royce, Kendrick and others (never once does this large number of high-profile features overshadow Big Sean, which is quite an accomplishment), it appears as though Big Sean has the bulk of the rap game in his corner and he may soon be poised to move up in weight.