Big Sean has a new album, Better Me Than You, coming out soon, and this week he announced that he also has new representation to go along with it, leaving his old management company after 10 years. Sean was previously managed by Roc Nation, but from now on he’ll be represented by S10 Entertainment’s Brandon Silverstein, according to Billboard. The rapper told the trade, “Brandon shares the vision, understands where I’m headed, and I’m incredibly excited to work with him and the S10 team.”
Meanwhile, Silverstein said, “Big Sean is an incredible talent who, even after topping charts, breaking records, winning awards and headlining across the world, is just getting started. I can’t wait for fans to hear the new music.”
That new music is due in early August, but some fans were able to hear it early after it was allegedly leaked online by a Kanye West fan who was angry about Sean’s recent freestyle for the On The Radar Radio show. While some fans think that the music was leaked by Kanye himself, Sean dismissed that theory as “bullsh*t.” He appears to be taking everything in stride and forging ahead with the new album, as well as features on songs from DJ Premier (“Ya Don’t Stop“) and Eminem (“Tobey“).
Better Me Than You is out 8/9 via FF to Def Entertainment. Find more information here.
As a year full of hip-hop heavyweights linking up for chart-topping diss tracks, DJ Premier’s latest song “Ya Don’t Stop” proves there is still unity in the culture.
The record with features masterful bars from Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, and Big Sean is hip-hop at its purest. All emcees put on their best showing and demonstrated just how they’ve earned their stripes — one verse at a time. From Ross’ breezy Miami flow to Wayne’s clever wordplay and Big Sean’s triumphant storytelling, DJ Premier’s production finds a way to spotlight the best of each rapper’s lyrical worlds.
Yesterday (July 25), in a behind-the-scenes vlog captured by Poe, DJ Premier opened up about how the massive collaboration came to be. “[I reached out to Ross. He said, ‘Send me the joint.’ The same night he sent it back,” he said. “Boom, I reached out to Lil Wayne and said, ‘I have two songs.’ The same night, he says, ‘Take ’em both. Do whatever you want with [the verses].’ Done deal.”
As for how Big Sean came into the picture, that was a surprising turn of mutual admiration. “Big Sean hits me up,” he said. “He says, ‘I need a scratcher. What can I do in return?’ I said, ‘Do a hook for me on this [record].’ He sends it back, and I’m like, ‘That’s it. As a producer, and a DJ, you just know when its cooked. And now, we’re serving it.”
Dating back to the end of 2023, DJ Premier has been on a prolific run, releasing singles with Common, Russ, Snoop Dogg, Chance The Rapper and Nas. When Premier and Nas released “Define My Name,” in April, they also revealed that their long-awaited and landmark collaborative album would be released later this year.
Now, DJ Premier has brought more legends and icons together, or as Rick Ross asserts “It’s the biggest in the game”, as Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, and Big Sean join him on “Ya Don’t Stop.” Premier’s cyclone of strings sets the stage for Ross, Sean and Wayne’s distinctive styles and vivid storytelling from three of the genre’s most influential artists.
“I’ve been on a run, and releasing singles more consistently. I had an idea and wanted to initially get Wayne and Ross on the same track” DJ Premier recalled. “I reached out to Rozay first and he sent me back vocals the same day. I sent two tracks to Wayne to choose from and he sent both back the same night and told me to keep them both. Big Sean called me to do a scratch hook for him. In return, he hopped on as well. Cipher complete!”
DJ Premier can still bring out the A-list. The legendary producer confirmed that he’ll be dropping a brand new single on Friday, July 26. Big Sean, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne will contribute bars to the song, which is titled “Ya Don’t Stop.” We can practically hear the DJ scratch chorus already. It’s a stellar roster of talent, but the thing that caught most people’s eye has nothing to do with the song itself. Rozay has spent all of 2024 dissing one Aubrey Drake Graham. Lil Wayne, on the other hand, has been one of the few who has stayed in the 6 God’s corner. Is this not a conflict of interests?
Rick Ross and Lil Wayne have a working relationship outside of Drake, of course. The two rappers have been collaborating for nearly two decades. The thing is, Drake has served as the glue on their biggest hits. “I’m on One,” “No New Friends” and “Pop That” are anchored by Drizzy bars, and in some cases, Drizzy hooks. Ross has made it clear that he wants nothing to do with the Toronto rapper, dropping a diss record and making numerous jokes over social media. Ross has been blasting Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” all summer. Lil Wayne, on the other hand, has tried to rework the lyrics of “Not Like Us” and was booed for it.
DJ Premier is a name that commands respect, so one can assume that Ross and Wayne are going to set their differences aside. Ironically, the only rapper of the bunch who’s landed a DJ Premier beat on their album is Drake. The Toronto rapper enlisted Preemo for 2018’s “Sandra’s Rose.” To be fair to Ross and Wayne, the rappers have been in similarly tense circumstances in the past. Both men have had issues with Cash Money founder Birdman, and even taken out their frustrations on record. There was also the “Splash Brothers” drama in April.
French Montana planned to release the posse cut “Splash Brothers” with Drake, Ross, and Wayne. Then, at the last minute, French removed Drake from the final version. There was speculation that Drake was to blame for the change, but there’s been no proof either way. It seems like Ross and Wayne have been able to maintain their friendship in light of recent beef. We’re eager to hear them over DJ Premier production, especially with Big Sean thrown in for good measure. We’ll also be listening for any subliminals on Ross’ part.
Big Sean included some mysterious graphs at the end of the recently released trailer for his new album. Now he’s explaining their significance. Sean is in album mode and wants to make sure that everyone has the same understanding ahead of its release.
The trailer for Better Me Than You, Sean’s upcoming album, came on July 18. He released the video a day after a version of his album was leaked online following his freestyle on the On The Radar show. The psychedelic clip was also a venue for Sean to preview an unreleased song. The trailer ended with four pie charts. Now, we have a better idea of what they’re meant to represent.
Big Sean Explains The Charts In His New Album Promo
“When I was making this album, I was going through I felt like the same four emotions, really,” Big Sean explains in the video. “And I remember I sat down and I drew this chart one day that just represented how I was feeling. I hand-drew it and I was like ‘man, I never really saw this chart before.’ I ended up getting it animated. And it’s four different charts that represent four different feelings, four different moods of the album, four different emotions that I was going through personally […] First of all, I was under a lot of pressure. But going through that pressure led to clarity. Which led to me being able to focus on happiness and living in that happiness briefly, and then going right back to the pressure. But I drew these graphs out and it really just brought the album to life for me.”
A version of Better Me Than You leaked after Big Sean dropped a freestyle on the On The Radar show. Sean’s verse reportedly takes aim at former boss Kanye West, after fans initially thought his words were for Kendrick Lamar. The person who leaked the album said he did it on Ye’s behalf. Sean took the leak as an opportunity to move up his album’s release date and start his rollout now. The album is now releasing on August 9, and he shared the lead single, “Yes” on July 19.
Recently, Big Sean has been having to deal with some setbacks following his upcoming album, Better Me Than You. A person online claiming to be close with Kanye Westleaked the tracklist following assumed sneak disses from Sean on a previous freestyle. However, it appears that those songs were for a separate body of work called Feelings & Random Thots. Sean expressed that he does not believe Kanye was behind the leak even though he admitted “it did f*** me up”. Ultimately, though, we will see what songs drops when the LP arrives on August 9. Seeing the Detroit native so calm through all of this should not be a surprise though. Big Sean has dealt with things like the infamous Nintendo Switch photo that allegedly leaked from his private IG Story.
It happened in February 2022, a few months after the OLED model of the popular gaming console was released. Somehow, someone that was not supposed to see it did, and the ran with the opportunity to post it. The image was allegedly Big Sean measuring his privates next to the Switch. For context, the console in 9.5″ long with the two controllers attached on the sides.
Sean shut down the claims that it was him back then, but now he seems to be coming clean. In a recent street interview around the time of “Yes” releasing, the “Tobey” MC was asked what he does for a living. He wittingly replied, “I’m actually a p*rnstar, google Big Sean Nintendo switch”. There is a chance he was just yucking it up for the camera. But if this is true, you better believe the internet is going to go wild again.
What are your thoughts on Big Sean seemingly confirming he was behind the Nintendo Switch leaked photo? Is this the wildest image you ever seen associated with a rapper, why or why not? Are you looking forward to his next album Better Me Than You? We would like to hear what you have to say, so leave your thoughts in the comments. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding Big Sean. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.
Big Sean has proved time and time again that he’s going to ride with his home team. This brother of musical bandits, still includes Kanye West (Ye). Yesterday (July 19), the “Precision” rapper made that clear.
During a livestream, Big Sean shutdown online fan theories that Ye was the person behind his supposed Better Me Than You album leaks.
“I know he didn’t do that because look at this,” he said. “You see this plaque right here? That’s 185 million records sold under GOOD Music. I love GOOD Music. He done made more money off my music than I did.”
Although Pusha T, GOOD Music’s former president, has hanged up his public support of Ye, Big Sean surely hasn’t. In fact, Big Sean stood by Ye’s character while doubling down on the rejection of rumors that he could have professionally betrayed him.
“I had access to a lot of exclusive [things],” he said. “[And it’s] not just him—other people too. I would never leak nobody’s sh*t. So I know he ain’t do that. Whoever started that rumor, y’all on some bullsh*t.”
While Kendrick Lamar’s thrashing of Drake may have taken top billing so far this summer, it’s not the only feud the Compton rapper has been involved in — or, at least, that’s what some fans want to believe. While Kendrick was whacking owls and dragging the good name of OVO through the Hub City mud, another blog era veteran, Big Sean, was quietly releasing new singles as he prepared to release his sixth studio album (and first in four years), Better Me Than You.
This sucked for Sean, whose new releases got overshadowed by all the commotion — a common theme for the Detroit rapper, who arguably deserved to be mentioned in the same tier as Drake and Ken at one time, if only because his output matched theirs for both quantity and quality for a while. But when he wasn’t being drowned in the deluge of new diss tracks, his own releases were being interpreted as bids to insert himself into the beef, with mentions of the so-called “Big Three” turning into sneak disses in the minds of fans who were by now primed to demand bloodshed (metaphorically speaking).
Starting with the kickoff of Big Sean’s album rollout, “Clarity,” fans seemed determined to find jabs in Sean’s lyrics. “I think where I lack most as an artist is consistency / I just haven’t had the energy to compete with enemies / Or y’all so-called ‘Bigger Three’,” he rapped. While more reasonable readings would consider this Sean’s generous assessment of his own career — that he could have been bigger with a more consistent release schedule — others saw an eagerness for war with his more popular counterparts, especially when, just two days later, Kendrick dropped “Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin, declaring, “Motherf*ck the Big Three — it’s just big me.”
This might not have seemed like that big of a deal, but before either track came out, an old version of Kendrick Lamar’s 2017 DAMN. track “Element” leaked online, revealing a scrapped verse that dealt with apparent friction between the two rappers. “Big Sean keep sneak dissin’, I let it slide / I think his false confidence got him inspired / I can’t make them respect you, baby, it’s not my job / You’re finally famous for who you date, not how you rhyme,” Ken spat acidly on the old verse. While that version of the song never made it to retail, well… everything is forever on the internet (unless you wrote a post for MTV.com)
So why all the animosity to begin with? To find the answer, you’ve got to go back into blog rap lore about 10 years, when Big Sean was preparing to release his album Hall Of Fame. During the rollout, Sean shared a promotional single called “Control” on which he and Kendrick teamed up for a display of lyrical virtuoso that turned into something else entirely thanks to Kendrick’s penchant for playing with fire. As he would later do on “Like That,” Kendrick utterly stole the show on “Control,” naming names of those artists he considered his peers — and competitors — inviting them to catch his fade if they dared.
“I’m usually homeboys with the same n****s I’m rhymin’ with,” he allowed. “But this is hip-hop, and them n****s should know what time it is / And that goes for Jermaine Cole, Big K.R.I.T., Wale / Pusha T, Meek Millz, A$AP Rocky, Drake / Big Sean, Jay Electron’, Tyler, Mac Miller / I got love for you all, but I’m tryna murder you n****s / Tryna make sure your core fans never heard of you n****s / They don’t wanna hear not one more noun or verb from you n****s.” The results were entertaining, but ultimately unsatisfying for those who wanted to see some high-level rhyme combat. It seemed like every rapper on the internet couldn’t help dropping a “response” — except for the ones Kendrick actually named.
Look, you can only get so far battle rapping. That’s been a truth of hip-hop since the ’80s. And you don’t get that big if you aren’t focused on making the best music and being about your business. So, it’s not surprising no one answered the call. However, Big Sean, who arguably suffered the worst from the verse (“Control” was cut from the album due to sample clearance issues) since he was basically “Renegaded” on his own track. He’s prickled a bit when asked about it; in 2017, he denied being “washed” by Kendrick on the song — an accusation he’s had to refute numerous times since then — although he denies being salty about it.
So, between getting overshadowed on “Control” — and in his career in general — by Kendrick and Drake, then Kendrick’s original “Element” verse taunting him for perhaps being understandably miffed about the situation, Sean does have reason to want to prove himself against Kendrick once and for all. That’s why fans think that, like with Drake, Kendrick has long-brewing friction with the Motown native that they could both be itching to resolve. And it’s why fans took Big Sean’s On The Radar freestyle admonishment about “finding someone to beef with” as a slight of Kendrick rather than its actual intended target: Sean’s former benefactor, Kanye West.
But there’s one other reason that they want to see a battle between the two: Because Big Sean could very well be one of today’s few upper echelon rappers who could hold his own in a rhyme fight with Kendrick Lamar. Drake got served. J. Cole bowed out. There are few other MCs at Kendrick’s level of mainstream popularity and commercial viability fans believe has the motivation or the skill to stand toe-to-toe with the Hub City native. Now, whether that’d be in Big Sean’s best interest is debatable; the scales are already tilted in Kendrick’s favor, Sean’s reputation as a rapper is respected but far from ironclad, and as Cardi B once said, “beef is bad for business.” But that won’t stop fans from clamoring for the next battle.
GRAMMY®-nominated multi-platinum artist Big Sean has released his new single “Yes,” available now via Def Jam Recordings. This highly anticipated track arrives alongside the announcement of his eagerly awaited sixth album, Better Me Than You, set to be released on Aug. 9 and now available for pre-order.
Big Sean first announced the album on social media with the debut of the Better Me Than You trailer, setting the tone for the forthcoming project. Fans can expect a compelling blend of Big Sean’s signature style and innovative new sounds on this latest album.
The 𝙋𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙎𝙐𝙍𝙀 of life (being a new Dad, being a artist thats growing, being a human in development etc) and embracing it all led me to a lot of 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐘 on what i needed to 𝐅𝐎𝐂𝐔𝐒 on to find a piece of 𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑷𝑰𝑵𝑬𝑺𝑺. The past few years making this album have… pic.twitter.com/A3D9HQkM80
Big Sean has got enemies. His forthcoming album was leaked online by a user claiming to be following Kanye West’s orders. It’s about as dubious and unsubstantiated a claim as one can make, but whatever plausibility it does have stems from the fact that Sean and West are on the outs. The two rappers had a falling out after a decade plus of working together. Big Sean threw subliminal shots at someone thought to be West during a recent freestyle. He seemingly did the same thing on his latest single, “Yes.”
To be clear, Sean Don does not mention any rappers by name. He keeps it vague, so his bars could apply to anybody and everybody. That being said, the specificity of the insults make it seem as though he has a certain person in mind. The second verse on “Yes” sees Big Sean address someone he knew from way back. Someone who, evidently, has been talking bad about the rapper. “Stupid lil’ b*tch want reminisce about some sh*t from way back,” he spits. “N**gas really think they cutthroat ’cause they talkin’ off they necks. Get out your feelings, middle fingers to these n**gas.”
Big Sean Targets Rappers Talking Reckless About Him
Big Sean closes out the verse by claiming his enemies won’t change him. Regardless of what’s done to him or said about him in public, he vows to remain the same positive person that he’s always been. “They wanna see me turn to the villain,” he adds. “Either way though I’ma kill ’em.” These critiques do apply to Kanye West if they are indeed intended for him. West was the one who put Big Sean on over a decade ago. He’s also, infamously, gone from being a beloved figure in the hip-hop community to being viewed as a villain within popular culture.
There’s also the bar about “talking off they necks.” Kanye West absolutely ruined his relationship with Big Sean when he went on a 2021 episode of Drink Champs. The Chicago artist claimed that signing Big Sean to GOOD Music was the “worst thing” he’d ever done. He lamented helping the rapper, and worried aloud that Sean’s career would be emblazoned on his tombstone. Sean was understandably bothered by these comments, given how close him and West have been over the years. There are likely more subs to come on Sean’s new album. What do you think? Is the rapper shading his old label boss? Or are fans looking too far into his lyrics?
JULY 26TH
