Big Sean tearfully shared a moment when he almost gave up his dream of becoming a rap superstar because he was deeply depressed.
Stopping by Charlamagne Tha God’s “Out of Context,” the Detroit rapper opened up about fatherhood, new music, and his roller-coaster journey in the rap industry. Sean revealed, “I had found this list before I rapped for Ye that I wrote down. I was lightweight into it, but I was just busy. I was in high school. I saw this list that said ‘G.O.O.D. Music, No.1. No.2 Roc-A-Fella. No.3 Shady Records. No.4 Grand Hustle. No.5 Interscope.’”
He continued, “I just had a list of, these are the top five labels I wanna be signed to. G.O.O.D. Music was number one, and I saw that and I was on that path. It was one of them omens, it was just one little thing I needed to realize, ‘I can do this, bro. I met Ye and rapped for him. He said he wanted to sign me.'” Despite the positivity, he admitted, “In that time, bro, in that one year, I was so depressed that I just wanted to give up bad.”
Charlamagne asked if he wanted to give up on rap or life. Sean clarified, “Just on the rap. Of course when you depressed you always think about killing yourself. I wasn’t being that dramatic then, but I was just like, ‘Okay, I’m done.’ I remember I applied for community college. I remember my grandma was like, ‘Just apply for community college.’ I just remember my mom being like, ‘What are you doing?’ It was a moment, dawg.”
Sean grew emotional recalling his mom’s encouragement to continue pursuing his dream. The Detroit native, now confident and focused, dropped a trailer last month for his upcoming album, “Better Me Than You.” The psychedelic clip, featuring an unreleased track, included animated graphs representing the four emotions he experienced while creating the album.
He explained, “When I was making this album, I was going through I felt like the same four emotions, really. And I remember I sat down and I drew this chart one day that just represented how I was feeling. I hand-drew it and I was like man, I never really saw this chart before. I ended up getting it animated. and it’s four different charts that represent four different feelings, four different moods of the album, four different emotions that I was going through personally.”
Sean stated, “First of all, I was under a lot of pressure. But going through that pressure led to clarity, which led to me being able to focus on happiness and living in that happiness briefly, and then going right back to the pressure. But I drew these graphs out and it really just brought the album to life for me.”
Big Sean’s story is a powerful reminder of the struggles faced even by those who seem to have it all. His upcoming album promises to encapsulate the emotional journey he’s endured, turning pressure into clarity and eventually, happiness.
