Big Sean returned to the music world with a chip on his shoulder and his spike in activity continues with his latest single, “What A Life.” The track is produced by Hit-Boy and it finds the Detroit rapper reflecting on his best moments and the hardships he got through over a quick-paced beat supplied by Hit-Boy. It marks the latest collaboration between the two as they last connected on the rapper’s fifth album, Detroit 2, which was released towards the end of last year and was executive produced by Hit-Boy himself.
The track also seems to be a sequel to the rapper’s 2015 track, “What A Year” which features appearances from Pharrell and Detail with the latter responsible for the song’s production. Big Sean released the song two days after stopping by Power 106’s LA Leakers to deliver a sharp freestyle over five songs that include Kanye West’s “Hurricane,” which he originally had a verse on, Drake and Jay-Z’s “Love All,” Nardo Wick’s “Who Wants Smoke??” and more. A day after it was released, Big Sean took to Twitter to explain his intention behind the freestyle.
I’ll do a hype song, a conscious song, a love song or strip club song and will hop on a song with anybody and hold my own. That’s why I rapped on 4 different styles of beats on the LA Leakers cause I embrace being versatile, love to everybody who listened as well and sharing
— Sean Don (@BigSean) October 21, 2021
“I’ll do a hype song, a conscious song, a love song or strip club song and will hop on a song with anybody and hold my own,” he wrote. “That’s why I rapped on 4 different styles of beats on the LA Leakers cause I embrace being versatile, love to everybody who listened as well and sharing.”
Listen to “What A Life” above.