Big Sean. Big fucking Sean. Where do I even begin with this man. Well, Big Sean is a rapper that got a lot of buzz in 2011 when he got signed to Kanye's label. In that same year, he dropped his first album "Finally Famous", which included the infamous hilarious track "A$$", which I do indeed like. Then over the years, he proceeded to get bigger and bigger, with more and more features (fuck, he was able to get on a JUSTIN BIEBER track!). 2013 he dropped his 2nd album "Hall Of Fame", which included the phenomenal track MILF, one of the funniest rap tracks of the decade. The Big Sean hype train was huge. But I, like everyone else I know, wasn't on it.
Yeah...did I forget to mention those 2 albums were fucking horrendous? Because dear lord were they. Bland beats, horrific bars, and was just overall annoying to listen to. It was clear as day: Big Sean flat out shouldn't be a rapper. But, in 2015, he surprised me with Dark Sky Paradise, the album where he decided to dip more into his serious side, and I liked it! Had some excellent stand out tracks, and was overall enjoyable. So when I heard he was releasing his new album "I Decided" this year, I was ecstatic. I dug the singles enough, so I did have a bit of expectations into this. So, did Sean deliver?
I'd like to say he did. When you listen to this, the first thing you'll notice is how much different this album is to his past projects. There are 0 corny straight up dumb songs on here. No MILF, no I Don't Fuck With You, no 10 2 10, no A$$. Just Big Sean genuinely trying to spit deep shit. And on some tracks, he delivers well. The album closer "Bigger Than Me" with the Flint Chozen Choir is a very pretty & sweet track, as well as "Sunday Morning Jetpack", where The-Dream gives one of the best hooks he's given while Sean raps about how blessed & appreciative of the position he currently has, and it's a lot sweeter then you'd believe. Or take "Light", by far my favourite track, with a killer hook from Jeremih and a very atmospheric and holy sounding beat, with some pretty dope content as well. Sean is talking about how people will try to stop you from reaching your dreams & just straight up put you down, and how you gotta just keep doing you. I adore the titular line
"No matter how much they gon' shade you (no)
Man they can't fuck with the light"
It really clicks with me for some reason. Fuck, I'd even call it clever, damn near cute too.
Sean has quite a few of cute lines on this album, like in "Jump Out The Window" where Sean is talking about how great this girl is & all the great shit they've done together, like playing Mario Kart when she always picked the princess, so Sean refers to her as a princess too. Yeah that's some soft Drake-esque shit, but it's framed really well to me and comes off more as adorable and sweet then corny. But, speaking of Drake...
Big Sean really likes Drake, and on this album, you can tell, because he takes a lot of his content & flows. Bounce Back, Owe Me, & Moves are very obviously picked from Drake, and I'm really not a fan of that. I've never been a huge fan of Sean's run on sentence type of flow, but I like it more than him jacking flows from fucking Drake of all people. But the most obvious cases of me is on the worst track of this album: No Favors with Eminem. Yes, you heard right, Eminem. His verse is fucking horrendous. Sean himself does fine, he's got a couple of cool lines (ex. "Thought I had the Midas Touch but then I went platinum too), but Em drops the ball HARD. Firstly, his voice. Not sure WHAT the fuck is happening there. It's the exact opposite of what he did in Berzerk. It's deeper then Foldin Clothes by J. Cole, and about as corny too. Secondy, his bars. Never have I been reminded THIS much of Encore. With left field shit like...pissing on Fergie? Beating women until they're laying out bleeding, medium-sized welts and pale faced and oh my god why is he so specific? And what the fuck is he saying? I get Eminem is a character, he makes really wild jokes that are meant to cross the line, make you feel uncomfortable, I get it. But there's no joke here at all! He's just going "Yeah, fuck women, amiright?"
And, because I've done it for all of his albums, here's a small collection of every time Big Sean spat some bullshit (NOTE: Big Sean is a much better rapper than he was on his former projects, so there are significantly less lines for me to choose from. Nevertheless, enjoy.)
WACK LINES
"Flows on flows, I might drown in this bitch" - Light
"Ye found a pro, I guess I'm profound in this bitch" - Light
"Look, I cut that bitch off like an edit" - Bounce Back
"Look, I woke up in beast mode/With my girl, that's beauty and the beast though" - Bounce Back
"I'ma always lose my temper/You cannot "count to ten" me" - Bounce Back
"Damn, Sean, what happened to the humble attitude?" - No Favors
"Have you cummin' faster than The Flash, yeah" - Owe Me
"I realized when it comes to girls/That chemistry means way more than anatomy" - Halfway Off The Balcony
"But I still crossed the line like I'm blind (damn)" - Voices in My Head
"Worth more to me than striking oil" - Inspire Me
"Forward thinking yeah my mind is ahead of me" - Sacrifices
"I'm the one at the end like I count backwards" - Sacrifices
Despite all of what I just mentioned, what makes a lot of this work better than expected is the production. The more slower paced tracks I mentioned earlier (Light, Bigger Than Me) sound gorgeous & so atmospheric, especially those ghostly backing vocals on Bigger Than Me. I dig the more plinky and haunting beat of "Sacrifices" that Migos are known for (Offset kills it by the way), The more upbeat bass heavy tracks like Bounce Back and Moves sound pretty solid as well. I thought the jazzier hotel lobby music of "Same Time" sounded awesome & complimented Jhene Aiko really well. Fuck, I'm actually looking forward to more tracks from this duo!
But what puts the album over the edge for me is the end of Bigger Than Me, the closer of the album, where Big Sean has a conversation with his mom. She says how proud she is of Sean, and Sean feels his career is "a second chance" as if he's lived another life before, which is where the whole "Rebirth" theme he originally stated finally pulls together. And THAT is what "fuels his hunger". The reason he's been constantly not only gaining buzz, but also becoming a better rapper and better person in general, is because he feels it's his 2nd life of someone who fucked up. He doesn't want to fuck up again. Ignoring the first 2 or so tracks off of Dark Sky Paradise, Sean never really told you or showed you how he feels, or who he is. And this convo at the end of the album really puts everything into perspective for me. I'm probably thinking too hard into the same dude who made a deep 40 second interlude only to end it about fucking Harambe, or the same dude who once told his girl that she should "do like the solar system and planet (plan it) out", OR the same dude that doesn't understand the difference between his index and middle finger, but fuck it. Big Sean was sick of being the goofy corny dude on GOOD Music, and now he fits better with the pack. Guess Desiigner will take his place huh.
Overall, it's a solid album. Big Sean is evolving into a less corny and more serious and consistent rapper, but also a more boring one at the same time. I hope to god the latter doesn't plague him, because I really believe he has a great album in there somewhere. Maybe don't get Eminem next time, ok?
OVERALL: Light 7/10
BEST: Light ft Jeremih, Bigger Than Me ft The Flint Chozen Choir & Starrah, Sunday Morning Jetpack, Jump Out The Window, Same Time Pt. 1
WORST: No Favors ft Eminem
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