When it comes to carrying the torch of true school emceeing while still being rooted in modern-day ethos, there is no debate in naming Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole and Chance The Rapper amongst the culture’s frontrunners.
So where does Big Sean’s name fall on the ballot?
If we were still living in the days when calling yourself took so much more effort than copping a microphone from Sam Goody and creating a DatPiff account, 2015’s Dark Sky Paradise would have been the Detroit representer’s debut album. The shelf life of an artist has never changed, no matter their strengths or potential longevity. Humans get older, flows weather and the subject matter becomes equally senile. It’s the level of prematurity that is being placed on the shelf that has become the norm. Imagine if the NBA had never put a restriction on recruiting high school players and they became the overwhelming favorite come Draft Day. An upside would be healthier players who would be more liable to bounce back from injury, having skipped a year or three of intense collegiate play. But seeing that level of growing pains across the league would have ultimately weakened the level of play. (Kwame Brown anyone? Or better yet, what Michael Jordan did to Kwame Brown, anyone?)
That’s essentially what happened with Sean Don and his top-of-the-decade generation. They flashed enough initial talent to be put on various watch lists, but having their best* material sparsed out on free mixtapes and not meeting the lofty ideology of what being an XXL Freshman supposedly means, had them being developed right in the public eye. The internet age blurred the process, as said developed can equate to slow growth by rite of perception.
None of Sean’s aforementioned contemporaries are exempt. Kendrick has several projects a bulk of the listeners who lap up his every word have never heard, it took Cole World “come ups” and “warm ups” just to go platinum with songs about poppin’ cherries, and while it may seem like so long ago, Chance isn’t too far removed from “NaNa” screeching all the track.
But Sean stuck with it. After missing out on the My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy wave, he rapped his way up the ranks, beasting on tracks with impenetrable guest lists in “Clique” and “Mercy.” He conquered depression through the music: giving scorned exes everywhere a #IDFWU hashtag of empowerment and learned what platinum looked like with his name etched on it.
And yes, that happened without a solo tour to call his own. Wait a minute…
Last month, Sean made a glorious return and impact on the net with not one but two impromptu songs for our unsuspecting asses. It wasn’t his first appearance this year. His musically sound joint effort with Jhené Aiko, TWENTY88, came and went without much a blip on the rap radar. (A couple that records together has a better shelf life than most.) It was far from the direct follow-up the soul-baring Dark Sky Paradise deserved but a couple that plays together — can typically stay together for a few more album cycles.
Flexin’: For a song about not doing any press, this joint is very telling.
The first of the pair — the signed, sealed and hand-delivered response to Kid Cudi, Naya Rivera and pesky writers who make innuendos about him dating Jhené Aiko — “No More Interviews,” has all the makings of an underdog who’s tired of having his punchlines overanalyzed and getting christened as clever or corny at the flip of a coin. The second of the bounce, the aptly titled “Bounce Back,” is by no means a future Billboard smash, yet any in the need of a playlist booster need not look any further.
“And I’m just not impressed by you niggas rapping fast/Who sound like one big asthma attack but trash when I’m rapping it back/Who you put in your top five and claim they the savior of rap”
The internet wanted that line from “No More Interviews” to be about Kendrick Lamar so bad but how about the theory he was addressing all the blippity blippity mumble rappers out there? How about we’re witnessing a 28-year-old-really-40-years-old-in-rap-years MC maturing right in front of our eyes. An elite MC? Maybe so. We (as in the Hip Hop community) will milk the shit out of the Kendrick angle if turns out to be a real thing.
Finally, Finally Famous
Respect is earned, never given, in the Hip Hop game. And record sales have never been a credible measuring stick for one’s talent when it comes to the Hip Hop game. But going platinum, whether its sales, streams or a combination of both, is no accomplishment to scoff at like it’s 1999 where that was the case just because a release occurred. Sean Don earned a couple of shimmery plaques with both Dark Sky Paradise and its monumental lead single “IDFWU” (it went three times platinum but nobody’s counting right now).
He has the bars. He has the following. Now where’s the damn respect? Boy.
This article was lame
Elite? That’s Probably premature but I find him more and more tolerable every year so he’s definitely progressing….
Short answer No.
this is what i hate about the current state of hiphop: little hipster kids acting like they understand hiphop. Chance the rapper makes great music but an elite MC? Chance is a terrible rapper. He is a wack rapper. love his flow etc but lyrically he is really bad. Even Drake, for instance, is much more skillful lyrics wise than both Big Sean and Chance.
Please re-think these editorials
Nahhh. You must not listen to Chance often. If you have time listen to his verse on How Great. Chance is very lyrical when he wants to be.
I haven’t used the word retarded for years, but you’re retarded if you believe that Drake is more lyrical than Chance “What’s good good?
And what’s good evil?
And what’s good gangstas?
And what’s good people?
And whys God’s phone die every time that I call on Him?
If his son had a Twitter wonder if I would follow him
Swallow them synonyms like cinnamon Cinnabon
Keep all them sentiments down to a minimum
Studious Gluteus Maxim models is sending him
Pics of they genitalia tallied up ten of em
I slurped too many pain-kills, downing em off a lot
I got a lot off days but it ain’t often that I’m off the clock” Drake just rides beats better with his lyrics.
Editorials like this materialize when the game becomes saturated with pure sh*t…..I like Big Sean, dude has skills and he deserves respect having come this far. But the term “elite” can be easily thrown around when the “rappers” coming up are so lyrically inept that everyone in hip hop for 15-20 years prior are considered that much more talented. My analogy?
I’d rather have a talented driver in a shitty car than a shitty driver in a suped up car. Is Big Sean elite compared to lil Uzi….Young Thug, and the rest of these talentless jokes being called “hip hop?” Hell yes!!
Is he elite compared to Royce….Joey…..Em….Tech….Crooked…Common….Talib….Mos Def….Pharoah….Scarface…Ghostface…Styles P….Nas….Jada….Redman….
No.
Well said. Props.
Well said indeed. He’s not much of an elite when compared to the older dude but when you compare him with his generation, he definitely is. Especially since there’s only like 10 or so non mumble mainstream rappers in his generation (Drake, K.Dot, J.Cole, Meek Mill, Asap Rocky, Wiz Khalifa, ScHoolboy Q, Mac Miller, Big Sean, etc.) So yeah he isn’t that much of an elite when compared to older guys but he is an elite of his generation.
he’s improving but elite?…beign elite means you can judge on his lyrics alone and he will still stand. With that beign said, Big sean ain’t elite.
Having one eye might make you a king in the land of the blind, but what does it worth when you’re surrounded by farseers? He’s barely TOP3 in GOOD Music alone, and that’s not counting Yasiin and Q-Tip as the part of the roster. Imagine if they still had Common and Consequence too… As for IDFWU, it has one of the wackest hooks I’ve ever heard from him, not to mention E-40 dominated the song in an effortless fashion. That’s not saying it wasn’t effective or popular, but that’s exactly the case with Sean too: he’s not where he is due to his ability as a so-called MC. He’s a decent songwriter, has ear for beats, he can put a cohesive project together and a lot of people can relate to the topics he’s rapping about. Although that package is more than what most mainstream rappers offer nowadays, this doesn’t make him elite in any sense. Strictly skill-wise he’s average or maybe slightly above that, it’s the rest what elevates him above the others. Especially that he has Ye’s support, plus his style is casual enough to appeal to the masses.
This article is PAID FOR by Big Sean and his label. This is a joke of a site. 1st of all he’s not even an MC, he’s an average Rapper with the same flow over and over again. He got that “talking” flow which is lazy as hell and you really dont need talent for that. Rappers that are just beginning to rap, rap the way Big Sean raps. No diversity in his flow, no lyrics that catch your attention or make you say WHOA that was dope. ELITE? What does that even mean? That word does NOT exist in Hip HOp, did you mean to say God MC? He’s definitely not any of them, especially an MC. Hey DX Staff, just bc your black doesnt mean you know Hip Hop. You learn a few Hip words and use them all in the wrong way, we call you in HIp Hop “WACK”. Wack is the right word for Big Sean too
Compared to Kendrick, J Cole, Lupe, etc… Big Sean is wack as fuck. Now how about you write an article how black imbecile rappers are destroying Hip Hop on a daily basis? Oh thats right, blacks dont do self-criticism!
You should self criticize that dumb ass statement you just made
Haha, yes Shsisudb, irony is lost on this hip hop loving racist.
Big Sean is probably the most overrated and bubble gum so-called “MC” ever. Dude is like baby powder. I don’t get how DX got the nerves to write an article bout him as an “elite MC”.
DX should not let Trent Clark approach a keyboards after such an awful article.