Big Sean dropped his third studio album Dark Sky Paradise today, and in support of its release, he stopped by The Breakfast Club for an interview. During his appearance, he talked about where he stands among his rapper peers, the stories behind the songs, his family, his girlfriend Ariana Grande, signing to Roc Nation, collaborating with other artists, his relationship with Kanye West, Naya Rivera showering, how he's improved on this album, and much more. Here's some of what we learned.
On Lil Wayne's "Deep" verse where he raps, "I feel like Sean don't get enough shine / Is it because he ain't got the tattoos, he ain't throwing up signs?":
"Man, I remember when he did that verse he called me right after like, 'Yo I meant every word of that.' I respected him for that because I ain't signed to Lil Wayne. For him or another artist really just to big up another artist like that, somebody like him, I [appreciated that]."
On not being considered part of the first tier of rappers:
"I don't know. I think I'm first tier. I'm bringing it. I hop on a song with Eminem with Jay Z with Drake with anybody, and I hold my own."
On the story behind "Win Some, Lose Some":
"'Win Some, Lose Some' I wrote in 2012. I wrote the first verse in 2012, I wrote the second verse in 2014. So I had that song for so long. To keep it real, it was just too like fresh — not that it was too personal, but it was just too fresh for me to touch on that and put out, so I held it. Then I felt like the time was right ...like in 2014, I was like, 'All right, I'm gonna drop it.' I redid the second verse on it and just had it in the stash. It just fit this album so well that I was like, 'I'm gunna roll with it.'
"That's what I was going through at the time. Not necessarily that specifically, but I was questioning, you know I was confused, getting used to a certain life after you're used to something else. I ain't have nothing in the D. I wrote that song when things were starting to get real, when I was starting to have some money, and people was looking at me for handouts, and it's like, 'You got to get it just like I got it.'"
On not going to college and being patient about his career:
"When I graduated high school, I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to get to this music. I wanted to be a rapper. You know, I graduated with like a 3.7 [GPA]. I was on my way to Michigan State, but I just didn't go because I had just rapped for 'Ye, and the deal was supposed to be in the works. But it took a couple years.
"So for those couple of years, I was going through craziness. I was like staying in the same crib I grew up in, obviously, at my mom's house, in the same room I grew up in. And you get frustrated when all of your homies calling you from college like, 'Yeah man, I just hit this, and I just did this.'
"And my grandma had saved up her whole life for college money, tuition, and I'm blowing it on studio sessions. It was something that was frustrating, and in that video I was talking about that and just saying that you realize everything in your own process. Success can't be measured in nothing but happiness, and also you just gotta know that you're on your own path."
On the story behind "One Man Can Change the World":
"That was one of the most songs I'm proud of on the album not only because I rapped about my grandma, but just because the whole meaning of the song. You can do a song like that, and it can be corny as hell quick as f**k.
"On the second verse I talk about my grandma who was one of the first female black captains in WWII; she was one of the first female cops in the D. She was a councilor, a teacher and the best grandma. She used to cook homemade meals every day after school, had our special birthday cakes. So I wrote the song before she passed, and I was telling her about it. And she was like 94 years old. I was just finishing the album around Christmas, and I was going to go play it for her, but she passed Dec. 20. It was a sad thing, but I still felt her consciousness there — it was weird. I still felt like she heard it and was there with us.
"Even at the ceremony, everybody was emotional, crying and stuff. But then I kinda felt like man, she was 94, in pain and in a wheelchair. So it kind felt like when your homie or when your family member graduates school, this was on a bigger level. I was happy for her that she was somewhere in heaven. She lived her life. I bought all of us a house in Michigan, and I remember when she moved in, she was like, 'Thank you.'
"She's seen so much man. She's seen Hitler and she's seen Obama in the same lifetime. That's like OG right there. If one person showed me that you could change the world, it was her."
On his father's "Win Some, Lose Some" cameo:
"He didn't know we was recording that. He didn't realize he was on the album until it was finished. I remember I was in the D, just kicking it with my family, and we went to that Wiz Khalifa concert. [My father] sounded high, yes. So he was off that vibe. He might've had some champagne. He was just going on for like the whole car ride, and my brother was recording the whole situation.
"It was crazy all the stuff he said. It's crazy how you don't hear some stuff until you listen back to it. That's like for real for real because he was talking like, 'Man, you know I just wish we could go on a vacation, me you and your brother. You know, no interviews, no cameras.' I'm sitting there while he was saying like, 'This n***a sound crazy, whatever.' But then when I listened back to it, it was like breaking my heart because it was like this is what needs to happen. I need to be a better son. It's just hard spreading yourself when it comes to the people you love and all these things.
"And he was just like, 'Yo, man, people will hear you. You talk with your brain, but they hear you from your heart.' And he just went on and on. It was like cool. [He said that] life is a feeling process — like they can feel when you authentic, when you not. They can feel when you on your bullshit. They can feel your pain. They can feel your stories, you know what I mean. That's how I took it.
Ariana Grande's influence on him:
"I'm still the same me. I'll still be in the same spots. Her influence, she only just been a positive influence, just supportive. What I liked about ["Research"] is that we were able to put our situation to the side. She was just about to be an artist, and we just rap about some stuff that's real, whether it's real to us or not.
On signing to Roc Nation:
"They show love, and they just handle they business. That's what I need. Make sure my money straight; they boss up. I work way too hard to have my business not right. So I feel like for management, at least for my situation, they the best management. You get to a certain point where you want to try new things, and that's what I did. I tried new things, and it ended up working out best for me.
On Kanye West taking care of his artists:
"I can tell you, he's been all in on this one. Obviously you hear him on 'Blessings,' you hear him on 'All Your Fault,' you hear him on 'One Man Can Change the World.'
"I just think one person can only do so much, you know what I mean. I think he had stuff he had going on with himself. I think he in a better place. That's just my opinion though, you gotta ask him.
"I just feel like his wife, his kid, he's getting out what he's been working on, and it's inspiring to see ... it's good to see things going well for him, and he's the happiest person I know. He lightens to the whole room up with his vibe, and he'll come help you with whatever you got going on."
On improving to be the best in the game:
"I feel like I've seen a progression in myself as an artist and as a rapper, and I can see in myself that I've been getting better. I remember when I was sitting down with 'Ye in the studio, he was just like, 'This is clearly your best work. You're clearly getting better.' And he's was like, 'That just goes to show you still at the beginning of your career and ...that's tight to see.'
"That's how I feel, and I'ma show improve[ment]. I'ma just keep going. I'ma keep bodying. I'ma keep reppin' my city, and I'm just gonna keep focused.
"[Playing with the flows], it's like we spend time on it. We be in there thinking of how to come up with the new flows. And that's what it's all about, that's what I want to learn from 'Ye. You gotta push the envelope, man. Some people just caught up with being successful and getting that money managed, but I really want to push the envelope.
"I really want to be great. I want to be not only in the Top 5, I want to be on the Top 5 all time list, like we saying on 'All Your Fault.' I'm going for it. And if you ain't going for it, man, then like what the f**k you doing then? That's how I feel. I'm going for it. I want it.
Check out the rest of the interview below, and don't forget to listen to Dark Sky Paradise, out now.
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