Sean Anderson, better known as Big Sean, is finally famous and is bringing the lyrical aspect back into rapping with his witty wordplay and promising punch lines. With a swagger that some might identify with a younger, immature Kanye West, Big Sean is not your average rapper from Detroit.
Not only is he not your average Internet-buzzed rapper, but he is also a GOOD (Getting Out Our Dreams) rapper. GOOD Music is a music label started by none other than Kanye himself. Kanye is proving himself as the head honcho in the hip-hop scene as a protégé of the self-proclaimed "best rapper alive," Jay-Z.
No wonder why Kanye has created a label and surrounded himself with some of the more talented young artists in the game, including John Legend, Common, Kid Cudi and Mr. Hudson.
Because of the names associated with great (GOOD) music, Big Sean could always make an album just by name-dropping, or Kanye could co-sign here and there on a song or two and he'd be an average rapper.
But Big Sean is so much more than that. Sean, carrying the weight of Detroit on his shoulders, gained a reputation with his hometown's local radio station, 102.7 FM, by winning rap battles weekly, defeating opponents using an unmitigated flow and a unique delivery.
At the age of 21, how did he do it so early?
As Mr. West left a Detroit radio station after an interview, Big Sean, using his resources, was able to freestyle - that is, deliver a rap that's not pre-written - for Kanye. After sending song after song and attending meetings after meeting, Big Sean was signed two years later in 2007. In the opening scene of this cinematic, rap mixed tape, Big Sean asks, "Do I really need an intro?" After making it through the first song on the mixed tape, anybody can answer the question Sean poses. The answer is "No, Sir Sean, you definitely don't need an intro."
With the producer for this song signed by Kanye as well, WrighTrax takes us into the perils of anticipation. The sounds of the beat take time to please the aural tendencies of the ears, but when the beat finally drops, we are graced by a unique voice.
"Do they really need my info / To show 'em what they in fo' / I'm recognized by kin folk even when my brim low."
Real recognizes real, and if Big Sean isn't a mirror image of talent, then what else is? Most young rappers today are fashion oriented and attribute most of their success to their fashion senses; however, Big Sean is recognized wherever he goes, with a hat covering his face or riding shotgun with Kanye to perform at a concert. On the song "Desire, Want, & Need," we see a certain side of Big Sean that Kanye probably saw when he first heard the youngster.
EvolutionZ Music Group is the reason for this song. Just turn this song up to the maximum volume in the shower and you're guaranteed to stay in the shower 3 minutes and 44 seconds longer than you normally would.
"I got goals, got dreams / I'm infatuated with nice things / I love money, might seem / This is my desire, want, and need." Sure, this may be your normal, everyday chorus about what rappers like in life; however, Sean talks about a personal struggle and the dedication it takes to get those things that he desires.
"And my girl look better than yours / And I'm the only thing lookin' better than her / I'm just trying make a mill' off recordin' / A psychic read my fortune / Told me I'd be worth a fortune." That psychic must have been completely correct because when the second verse begins, Sean sounds like he really wants to make that fortune.
"Race to success and I'm like where the competition at / GOOD Music run this b-- and ain't never tore a ligament. N-- run up to me like, 'Sean I beg ya pardon / B-I-G, but how much is you chargin?'"
On another note, we see a wide range of songs that Sean is capable of making, from written work to freestyles. On this mixed tape we also see appearances by such artists as Santigold and Pharrell. Want witty wordplay?
The song "U Know Big Sean" will have you pressing the rewind button with such lyrics as, "They like, how he make something / When they ain't give him nothing / How he stay proactive and kept this s-- bumpin'," and "Missed church service / My grandma say I'm wreckless / She mad that I'd rather rock Jesus on my necklace."
But if you truly want to experience music at its finest, this would be the best $3.99 you'd probably ever spend on iTunes. (Or, you can download it for free on Big Sean's website, uknowbigsean.com)
Either way, as Big Sean says, he is "on the grind / skateboard or scooter / 'til he is the king of his castle - Koopa."
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