The career of the Detroit native – Big Sean – has seen the rapper feel the pressure from his label and peers to try to produce the music that resembles his culture. With past obstruction by his label to make songs that would mostly appeal to the masses, Sean has now earned the creative freedoms he deserves and releases his best album to date, Dark Sky Paradise.
Last year saw the album’s major single ‘I Don’t Fuck With You‘ dominating the radio and the start of his high-profile relationship with Ariana Grande. Although this period of time saw Sean’s fame reach new heights, he still remained grounded and loyal to his city, especially with his much-loved grandmother passing away.
By balancing his life experiences, Sean has been able to pin-point the album’s atmospherical feel with gothic sounding instrumentals and storm-like sounds to give a dark, literal sound of the album’s title. With luxury references, gloating and double meaning wordplay in the lyrics lies a narrative of Big Sean’s mission to penetrate the dark cloud over his city and pull everyone through to paradise.
Pressure from family, friends and fame result in Sean’s rapid lyrical bursts that gives the listener no time to think about the clever wordplay in tracks ‘Dark Sky (Skyscrapers)‘ and ‘Paradise‘. The mood set by Sean’s lyrical ability then improves when Travi$ Scott helps produce Big Sean and Kanye West’s back ‘n’ forth styled track ‘All Your Fault‘ which leaves this impressive interlinked flow as a highlight of the album.
Unlike previous releases, he imposes more food for thought with his lyrics holding more meaning. In tracks such as, ‘Win Some, Lose Some‘, he questions people in his life and the rap scene. In ‘One Man Can Change The World‘ – featuring Kanye West and John Legend – we see a song inspired by advice given from his grandma.
The album seamlessly flows from track to track as Sean takes us on a journey of ups and downs felt through his flows intensity and instrumental mood. Dark Sky Paradise perfectly showcases where Big Sean is right now in his career as he shows great form and finally makes the album of his career.
