It’s funny that Big Sean’s most compelling (and successful) single to date showcases the rapper at his pettiest—honing spite and indignation over a failed almost-marriage into a relatable breakup anthem—because since then, he’s gone out of his way to be one of the most sensitive entertainers in the hip-hop A-list. Plenty of rappers these days have bars referencing their therapists; with all of his talk about unlearning behavior, setting boundaries, and achieving purpose, only Sean sounds like he actually sees one every week. In recent interviews he talks candidly about burnout, past depressive episodes, and his shortcomings as a man, partner and son.
It’s an attitude that’s slowly but surely crept into his music the more he’s embraced it as a lifestyle, which is not to say that his earlier albums lacked introspection. But you’ve never heard a playboy rapper sound so believably over being on the scene the way Sean does on his 2016 loosie “Living Single.” And that path is how you go from the guy who blew up impishly tongue-wagging about “Ass (ass ass ass)” and building a house on top of an ass to make an “ass-state” (two different songs) now rapping about how a comparison to Brad Pitt’s dating record intended as a compliment instead left him feeling self-conscious about being perceived as shallow.
That bar comes early on his new album, Better Me Than You, which he just released today, on a soulful cut with Charlie Wilson called “Break the Cycle.” On wax it doesn’t come off as cloying as it reads. In fact, the new project finds Sean somehow threading the needle, making the saccharine soar more successfully than he has on some of his past albums. Sean usually approaches his albums like a four-quadrant blockbuster—always aiming to have something for the ladies, the radio, and the lyrical heads—but he’s so locked into his feelings here that he’s stopped striving as hard for balance. The closest he comes to a real barfest is over an atypically excellent Alchemist beat on “Together Forever,” tellingly relegated to a bonus track. And on first listen, “singles” like “Yes” and “Precision” are the least interesting songs on here.
Sean’s always been supremely talented—his early flow was paradigm-shifting, and if you forgot about him outrapping an imperial-phase Drake on his own track, there’s new BTS footage to remind you—but he’s struggled when it comes to putting something beyond skills, charm and sophomoric humor on wax. And as he’s gradually developed a personality built around mental health, wellness and spirituality, he struggled with translating that into consistently compelling music. Better Me Than You suggests he’s finally cracking the code. Sean can still talk shit and kick impressive double and triple-time flows with the best of them, but I’m finding myself more awed by how he managed to make one of the least corny and genuinely affecting New Rap Dad tribute songs maybe ever?
