Life and career

1988-2003: Early life and career beginnings

Sean Michael Leonard Anderson was born on March 25, 1988 in Santa Monica, California to Myra and James Anderson. When he was 3 months old, he moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he was raised by his mother, a school teacher, and grandmother. He attended the Detroit Waldorf School and graduated from Cass Technical High School with a 3.7 GPA. Big Sean is often heard saying "west side" in his songs; he is referring to the west side of his hometown Detroit, Michigan. In his later years in high school, Sean gained a valuable relationship with Detroit hip-hop station WHTD; he would show his rhyming skills on a weekly basis as part of a rap battle contest held by the station. In 2005, Kanye West was doing a radio interview at 102.7 FM. Hearing about this, Sean headed over to the station to meet West and perform some freestyle. Initially West was reluctant to hear him, however he gave Sean 16 bars to rap for him. According to Big Sean, West enjoyed his freestyle: "As we get to the entrance of the radio station ... we stopped in the middle of the doorway. He starts looking at me and bobbing his head,". After the freestyle, Sean left West his demo tape. Two years later, West signed Big Sean to GOOD Music.

2007-10: Mixtapes and internet following

On September 30, 2007, Big Sean released his first official mixtape Finally Famous: The Mixtape. His hit single, "Get'cha Some", produced by WrighTrax, attained media attention and led to articles in The Source and the Detroit Metro Times. He also recorded a music video for "Get'cha Some", which was directed by Hype Williams. Sean released a second mixtape hosted by Mick Boogie on April 16, 2009, called UKNOWBIGSEAN. It featured the songs "Million Dollars", "Get'cha Some" and "Supa Dupa". This mixtape includes 30 tracks. Sean released a third mixtape hosted by Don Cannon on August 31, 2010 called Finally Famous Vol. 3: BIG, which features include major artists like Bun B, Chip tha Ripper, Curren$y, Tyga, Drake, Mike Posner, Chuck Inglish, Asher Roth, Dom Kennedy and Chiddy Bang. The mixtape includes 20 tracks.

An unauthorized leak of his collaboration with Drake, called "Made" made its way onto the internet on April 30, 2010. In an interview with TheHipHopUpdate.com on May 1, Big Sean expressed his disappointment over the leak, calling it an unfinished version both musically and lyrically. Big Sean's official Facebook page confirmed that his debut album Finally Famous & Consequence's Cons TV would be released on September 14, 2010. On August 31, Big Sean tweeted that the album was not coming out on that day, but it would be coming out sometime in 2011.

2011-12: Finally Famous and Detroit

In an interview on Conspiracy Worldwide Radio, Sean discussed the role Kanye West and No I.D. have had in the development of his first studio album's sonic direction as well as the challenges of being inside the studio with West. The album's lead single, "My Last", features vocals from Chris Brown and was produced by No I.D. According to Amazon.com, Big Sean's Finally Famous was delayed by a week, with a tentative release date set for June 28. Big Sean has revealed the cover art for his G.O.O.D. Music debut and explained that the one-week pushback was to be blamed on sample and feature clearance issues. The official tracklist was revealed on June 7.

Finally Famous, Sean's debut studio album, was released June 28, 2011, and spawned three hit singles; "My Last", "Marvin & Chardonnay" and "Dance (A$$)". The album featured guest appearances from Lupe Fiasco, John Legend, Pharrell, Kanye West, Roscoe Dash, Wiz Khalifa, Chiddy Bang, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Pusha T, and included production from No I.D., The Legendary Traxster, Andrew "Pop" Wansel, Xaphoon Jones and The Neptunes. When the songs "O.T.T.R." and "Flowers" were leaked in July 2011, speculation began of a new mixtape. Sean confirmed in an interview June 28, 2011 that a collaborative mixtape between him and "two other guys in hip-hop that are just killing it right now" will be released "in a couple of weeks". Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y, were the suspected featured rappers on the mixtape. However, Wiz Khalifa later confirmed that there would be no mixtape, claiming that the songs were created, "just for fun".

In September 2011, Big Sean confirmed in an interview with the Daily Tribune that he'll be working on his second album during the I Am Finally Famous Tour and plans to release the album sometime in 2012. On October 19, 2011, Kanye West announced on his Twitter plans for a Spring 2012 GOOD Music album release. On April 6, 2012, "Mercy", the lead single from the GOOD Music compilation album, Cruel Summer, was released. The song, produced by newly signed in-house producer Lifted, features Big Sean along with Kanye West, Pusha T and southern rapper 2 Chainz. Big Sean then announced his fourth mixtape would be titled "Detroit" and would serve as a lead-in to his second studio album. He then began promoting the mixtape, releasing short versions of the songs on his YouTube page. On September 5, 2012, Big Sean released the mixtape Detroit which features guest appearances from fellow rappers J. Cole, Juicy J, King Chip, French Montana, Royce da 5'9", Kendrick Lamar and Tyga.

2013-present: Hall of Fame, Dark Sky Paradise, and TWENTY88

Big Sean pushed back the release date of his second studio album Hall of Fame, and was eventually released on for August 27, 2013. The album has skits to give it a "classic feel", and includes features from multiple artists, including Lil Wayne, Miguel, and Nas. The album's production was primarily handled by No I.D., and Key Wane along with additional production from Hit-Boy, and Da Internz, Mike Dean, Travis Scott, Xaphoon Jones and Young Chop among others. Big Sean also stated in an interview that he was in the studio with fellow Detroit native Eminem. Sean went on to say they made a "Detroit classic" but he is unsure if it will be on Hall of Fame because of "timing issues". Hall of Fame had spawned five singles, "Guap", "Switch Up" featuring Common, "Beware" featuring Jhené Aiko and Lil Wayne, "Fire", and "Ashley" featuring Miguel.

A month prior to the release of Hall of Fame, Big Sean told Complex that he had already begun work on his third album due to the inspiration from his new relationship. On September 12, 2014 Big Sean announced that he had signed with Roc Nation. Later that same day he released four new songs titled, "I Don't Fuck with You", "Paradise", "4th Quarter" and "Jit/Juke". Producers for these songs include, Mike Will Made It, DJ Mustard, Kanye West, DJ Dahi, Nate Fox, Da Internz, L&F, and Key Wane. "I Don't Fuck with You" was released to iTunes on September 19, 2014. In an interview with Sway Calloway, Sean confirmed that Lil Wayne will be featured on the album.

On January 25, 2015 various artists who worked on Big Sean's upcoming third studio album such as Kanye West, Ty Dolla Sign, DJ Mustard, Drake, Travis Scott and Ariana Grande posted the album cover to Twitter or Instagram. The next day, Big Sean posted a trailer to his new album which revealed the album's release date as February 24, 2015. The album, Dark Sky Paradise debuted atop the Billboard 200 making it his first No. 1 album. He would lead with Video singles for songs entitled "IDFWU", "Blessings", "I Know", "One Man Can Change The World", and "Play No Games." As of February 1, 2016, Dark Sky Paradise was certified platinum. On December 31, 2015, Big Sean released a track recapping 2015, "What A Year (Ft. Pharrell Williams & Detail)" and On March 25, 2016, Big Sean released a track to celebrate his 28th birthday, "Get My Shit Together". Two days later he announced a self-titled album with Jhené Aiko, as TWENTY88, scheduled to be released on April 1, 2016, exclusively on Tidal. On April 5, 2016, the Album became available on Spotify and Apple Music. A week after the exclusive release of TWENT88 on Tidal, Big Sean and Jhené Aiko released a 15-minute short film called "Out of Love", which is comprised of several records off the album. Around the same month, upon the wake of the Flint water crisis, Big Sean tweeted to the city's official Twitter account, asking if he could do anything to help, and later on donated $10,000.

Artistry

Influences

Big Sean has listed Kanye West, Eminem, The Notorious B.I.G., and J Dilla as his influences.

Personal life

Big Sean dated his high school sweetheart, Ashley Marie, whom he met when he was sixteen and started dating at nineteen until their break-up in early 2013. He subsequently began dating actress Naya Rivera, whom he first met over Twitter; their relationship became public in April 2013, though Big Sean told Complex that they had been dating for a while beforehand. Big Sean and Rivera announced their engagement in October 2013, but ended the engagement in April 2014. In October 2014, singer Ariana Grande confirmed she and Big Sean were dating. Sean and Grande made their red carpet debut at the 2015 Grammys. In April 2015, the couple ended their relationship after 8 months of dating.

In late October 2008, Big Sean was featured in The Source and headlined the "Style" section of the magazine. In the article Sean talks about his own personal style and states that his favorite clothing brands are 10 Deep, Billionaire Boys Club, and Bape. Big Sean has posed in the Winter 2008 Billionaire Boys Club lookbook, and is a consistent representative of Ti$A clothing and hats, along with Chris Brown and Tyga. He also has an endorsement deal with Adidas through which he has released his own "Detroit Player" line of sneakers and is a follower of the Rosewood clothing style. In 2013, Big Sean launched his own clothing company, Aura Gold.

Legal troubles

On August 4, 2011, Big Sean was arrested for third degree sexual assault at a concert in Lewiston, New York. On October 26, he pleaded guilty to second-degree unlawful imprisonment, and was fined $750. The charges of third-degree sexual abuse were dropped. Big Sean's attorney, Scott Leemon, stated that he "...did not engage in any type of sexual misconduct."

Discography

Main article: Big Sean discography

Studio albums

• Finally Famous (2011)
• Hall of Fame (2013)
• Dark Sky Paradise (2015)

Collaboration albums

• Twenty88 (2016)

Awards and nominations

BET Awards

Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award	Result
2012	Big Sean	Best Male Hip-Hop Artist	Won
		Best New Artist	Won
	"Marvin & Chardonnay"	Best Collaboration	Nominated
2015	Big Sean	Best Male Hip-Hop Artist	Nominated
	"I Don't Fuck with You"	Best Collaboration	Nominated
		Video of the Year	Nominated

BET Hip Hop Awards

Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award	Result
2011	Himself	Rookie of the year	Nominated
	Finally Famous	Album of the Year	Won
	"My Last"	Best Hip-Hop Video	Nominated
		Track of the Year	Nominated
2012	"Mercy"	Best Hip-Hop Video	Nominated
		Best Club Banger	Nominated
		Reese's Perfect Combo Award	Won
	Himself	Made You Look Award	Nominated
2013	Detroit	Best Mixtape	Won
2015	"I Don't Fuck with You"	Best Club Banger	Won
		Best Collabo, Duo or Group	Nominated
	"Blessings"		Won
		People's Champ Award	Won
		Best Hip Hop Video	Nominated
	"Play No Games"		Nominated
	Himself	Lyricist of the Year	Nominated
		MVP of the Year	Nominated
	Dark Sky Paradise	Album of the Year	Nominated
	"One Man Can Change The World"	Impact Track	Won

Billboard Music Awards

Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award	Result
2012	Big Sean	Top New Artist	Nominated
2013	"Mercy"	Top Rap Song	Nominated
2015	"I Don't Fuck With You"	Top Rap Song	Nominated

Grammy Awards

Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award	Result
2013	"Mercy"	Best Rap Song	Nominated
		Best Rap Performance	Nominated
2016	"One Man Can Change The World"	Best Rap/Sung Collaboration	Nominated

iHeartRadio Music Awards

Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award	Result
2016	"Blessings"	Hip Hop Song of the Year	Nominated
	Big Sean	Hip Hop Artist of the Year	Nominated

MTV Video Music Awards

Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award	Result
2011	"My Last"	Best New Artist Video	Nominated
2015	"I Don't Fuck with You"	Best Hip-Hop Video	Nominated
	"One Man Can Change the World"	Best Video with a Social Message	Won

[ Source: Wikipedia ]