By Jaylyn Gonzalez & Tyler Banks

With his previous album, Double Or Nothing, dropping in 2017, Big Sean — a long-time Hip-Hop artist — recently made his three-year debut by releasing Detroit 2—an album that many fans have long-anticipated from him.

Being his fifth album to date, Sean made a decision to take steps back in 2017 and put himself and his mental health into focus—putting into the perspective that he was dealing with an abundance of loss, hardships, and a lack of stability. 

“I felt broken inside. It felt like I was maxed out, wiped out, and burnt out,” he said in a recent interview with Apple Music.

In doing so, he willingly broke himself down and built a new, and stronger, foundation for himself. Going through therapy, he started taking his mind, brain, and feelings into account—setting it as a priority and taking time to explore himself again in the process. 

After pushing aside music for a while, Sean then decided to place his career back into scale—rediscovering his long lost love of music. In doing so, it was clear that not only was this album a love letter to himself, but it also became a love letter to Detroit—Sean’s hometown and a city that has developed deep and early roots in music.

“I want people to feel the roots of Detroit — the undeniable soul, that unbreakable spirit,” said Sean of his new album to the Detroit Free Press newspaper. 

Taking time to construct his album, Sean spent a lot of time back home and made the decision to make a sequel to his Detroit mixtape from 2012, a work of his that never got the recognition he believes it deserved. 

“Detroit gets slept on sometimes, but I don’t think there’s any greater or more impactful city, especially musically throughout the decades. I couldn’t let that die. I had to do my version of the impact all that music had.” he continued.

With a total of 21 songs—including a total of three special interludes in-between—Detroit 2 features over 24 artists. Ranging from Anderson. Paak to Eminem, he brought in artists from all from different musical backgrounds and in return, added in a different musical effect to the table. 

Deep Reverence ft. Nipsey Hussle

Starting off after the first two songs of the track, “Deep Reverence” showcases a lot of the musical techniques that made Big Sean such a notable rapper to this day. With his hard-to-match bars and banging beat, those who listened had themselves strapped in for quite the ride. However, what truly makes this song unique is his feature with the late Nipsey Hussle.

“Ever since Nipsey died, it affected me so deep because me and him kept talking and texting and be like ‘Man, let’s get up soon…’ it really shows you that nothing is guaranteed so you gotta go for it and do it right now,” continued Sean in his interview with Apple Music. 

The moment Nipsey gets on the track, there’s a wave of emotions as listeners are immediately reminded of such a legend—reminiscing how great he was and how his passing affected them. Both of their great talents culminated into a four-minute song, one that will more than likely get him many accolades, possibly a Grammy nomination.

Body Language ft. Jhene Aiko and Ty Dolla Sign

In the track’s song, Big Sean introduced two well-known artists — Jhene Aiko and Ty Dolla Sign — that brought in soulful vocals and range of harmonies, leading the song into just the right directions.

Before the release, Big Sean even took to Instagram to tease this new single. He wrote in the caption of his post. “When it’s just me n you cruising on the PCH, the days I wish I could put on loop. This a classic Detroit song I flipped, (Soulful Moaning) and Jhené n Ty took it to that master level!”

In the song, Sean tackles disloyalty within his inner circle and Jhene and Ty Dolla Sign tie together the bridge and the hook with their silky smooth vocal performances. Leaning towards a smoother R&B/Rap sound, the result creates a layered yet light love song that many will come to enjoy.

Interludes: Dave Chappelle, Erykah Badu, and Stevie Wonder

When artists include interludes in their albums, it’s generally to help change the pace of the tracks. Especially with a lengthy tracklist, like Big Sean’s, it definitely helps to include two to three interludes to give listeners a break from all of the heavy content they’ve been listening to—leaving them refreshed and ready for the rest of the album. Although they were a noticeable change in pace, these interludes still worked with one of the overall themes of the album—being that it’s a love letter to Detroit.

In the first interlude of the album, Dave Chapelle essentially tells the listeners how the city of Detroit turns into such a unique experience every time one visits through his descriptive imagery. Erykah Badu—the second interlude—voices how Detroit is “creative, deep, rooted, organic, cosmic, fantastic, futuristic, ancient, and musical” to her. In the third, and final, interlude, Stevie Wonder—a blind musician— responds to details of how living in Detroit he managed to “see” past the hurdle that was blinded to succeed in life.

In listening to all three, one starts to feel more intertwined with the Detroit culture through these monologue type interviews—accomplishing exactly want Big Sean wanted to convey through them.

Friday Night Cypher

In this cypher, Big Sean puts together some of the biggest names from Detroit into what feels like the ultimate showcase of the Detroit rap scene—creating a battle that pitted local rappers into a battle of wits and technique—bringing in that peace of celebration Sean needed into his hometown. This song simply works to show what Detroit is truly about.

Surprisingly, Big Sean was the first artist from Detroit to bring together all the different styles of artists from there on one track with Friday Night Cypher. Included, but limited to, in this cypher is Kash Doll, Cash Kidd, Big Sean, Royce da 5’9, and Eminem. 

When speaking about those who came and showed out, Sean made a statement: “I appreciate Eminem — being the (greatest of all time) that he is — for being willing to be on a song not just with me but with people from Detroit who don’t have close to his platform, and giving us some of his light,” Big Sean says to the Detroit Free Press local newspaper.

When listening, one needs to keep in mind that this is not a song, instead, it’s a ten-minute cypher—meaning that one shouldn’t expect structure and a chorus, but more of lyrics and rhymes. 

By the end of the album, fans are left with a total of 21 songs, each with a distinct vibe, into their playlists—appreciating Detroit’s culture as if it was their own.