Big Sean’s
Detroit 2 was immediately a huge topic of conversation when it was released in September 2020. Fans had been waiting on a project of this magnitude from Big Sean since 2017, and he truly delivered. From start to finish, there is not one song on this 21-track project that we would consider skipping. Overall, the project felt personal — like we were listening to an evolved Big Sean rediscover himself. His mature, reflective lyrics, melodies, tone, cadences — even the features sounded intimate and carefully chosen.
On this album he invited both familiar, A-list artists, like Eminem, Lil Wayne, Travis Scott, Ty Dolla $ign, Post Malone, Anderson .Paak, Diddy, Young Thug, and of course, his girlfriend, Jhene Aiko. The first song, “Why Would I Stop?” sets the tone from the jump, dropping the clever one-liners we expect from him as well as deep, complex, thought-provoking ones that we hear throughout the rest of the album. From there, Big Sean takes us on a bit of a sonic journey. The tracklist, if listened to in order, almost feels like one long story. While that might sound mundane on paper, he managed to pull it off perfectly, using an eclectic variety of style changes throughout — each song is a completely different vibe from the last. He is arguably one of the pioneers of his style of rap — one that has inspired the next generation of artists —