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Big Sean Spills About His Collab-Heavy New Album

The 25-year-old rapper is about to drop the buzziest hip-hop record of the season, and we have the scoop.

Big Sean Spills About His CollabHeavy New Album
Photo: Gomillion & Leupold

He's worked with everyone from Jay-Z and Lil Wayne to Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber, and Big Sean continues to soar this summer with the release of his highly-anticipated sophomore album, "Hall of Fame." The Kanye West-discovered rapper, who hails from Detroit, opened up to us about why his ex-girlfriends inspired the new record and how the star-studded, chart-topping track "Clique" came to be (a year later, people still stop him in the streets singing it!).

Tell us about the new record!

I'm really excited about it; it's a really heartfelt, meaningful album. With Finally Famous, I was just figuring out what type of artist I wanted to be and I wasn't completely comfortable with myself. I think it was a good, successful album, and I still had great singles and platinum hits on it. But this time around, I feel really comfortable in my skin and I know what I want to talk about, how I wanna talk about it, and what kind of music I want to make. I'm clear on what kind of direction I want to go in.

What do you rap about?

I like to rap my life, from depression to crazy relationships. People will be able to take something away from it, and connect with it in their own ways.

Tell us about the amazing lineup of artists on your album.

There are great features on there, from new artists to more established artists. We got Lil Wayne and Jhené Aiko on the single "Beware." We got Ellie Goulding on there, and Nas, Kid Cudi, and Common. There's a lot of risk-takers. I had producers like Kanye West, No ID, and Pharrell. I was fortunate enough to have the greatest minds involved, and I'm really, really excited for people to hear it. I think it's going to surprise a lot of people.

We love Jhené Aiko. How did you meet her?

I was introduced to her through the producer, No ID. He's my mentor, he's Kanye's mentor, and he's produced for everybody from Rihanna to Jay-Z. He's somebody who I worked closely with on this album and he signed Jhené Aiko to Def Jam, so I ran into her in the studio. I thought she was cool and was really intrigued by her music. We became friends, and when you're friends and you both make music, you're going to work together.

In your own words, what's your new single, "Beware," about?

It's not 100% true, but I did pull inspiration from past relationships I've been in—just going through dysfunctional relationships, and being immature and with someone when you're not ready. You know how young love goes. It was originally just me and Jhené Aiko on the track, but I was playing my album for [Lil] Wayne, and he instantly fell in love with it. He was like, "Let me do a verse." He added some perspective that wasn't already there, so I appreciated it.

Why did you start your foundation, The Sean Anderson Foundation?

People really respect what I'm doing for Detroit, but then I stood back and thought, "What am I really doing for this city?" I'm bringing more attention to it, but I wanted to come up with a way to really give back. We launched the The last year and started out by paying for less fortunate families to have Thanksgivings and Christmases. The city is depressed right now. This year we've been working on artistic aspects, too. I'm really passionate about music, and that's probably one of the last things on the school boards' minds, so I hooked up with P'Tones Records, a non-profit that shows kids how to maneuver in the music industry and keeps them out of trouble. We're going to expand to bigger and better things. I want to do something positive for my hometown, and for the entertainment industry.


Have you been home recently?

I have! I just bought my mom a house there, so I got to chill out for a couple days, eat some good home-cooked food, and take care of my grandma. I come from the hood in Detroit—in a bad neighborhood, living next to drug dealers. It was just craziness. I moved my family out of there into a better environment. It was cool to make that happen. It was on my life-long bucket list.

Your parents were on your Teen Vogue shoot. Do they travel with you a lot?

Oh, yeah. They were the ones supporting me when nobody else was. It's cool that they get to see parts of the world with me. I just went to Dubai with my mom, and St. Tropez, too. It's cool because she's always wanted to go to different places and I can make that happen for her. She deserves it.

Where are your favorite places to go on tour?

Of course Detroit. That's the best. And then all over, from L.A. to N.Y., Atlanta to London. Germany, too. They've got a big love for hip-hop in Germany.

Everyone is still singing "Clique," the song you did with Jay-Z and Kanye. Do people quote it all the time to you?

All the time. People come up to me and say "Ain't nobody messin' with my clique." It's just cool because I randomly came up with that song one day, not thinking it would be a big song. I didn't know Jay-Z and Kanye would end up on it. While I was working out in London, I had the idea for the track, and then all of a sudden, it just became this big song.