It’s August 30, 2024 and Big Sean’s new album Better Me Than You is officially out. The opening song Apologize featuring Eryn Allen Kane is the perfect opener for the album. On the end of the song she sings “Are you sorry?
Or are you embarrassed by the way that you treated me?
Ooh, ooh, is your apology servin’?
Accountability starts with self-observation and I can’t help you with that. That’s a God thing. Go ahead and hit him up for that.”

The second song on the album opens with “Bad news, bad news, I can’t stop dreaming about you”. This song features Thundercat on bass and has a strong jazz vibe to it. Big Sean sings on the beginning of this song and raps “Too much time, I’m done with that
I’m lettin’ go, you crossed the line
It’s no comin’ back, gotta see the signs
I’m not goin’ back ’cause you say it’s fine”. He says his phone is blowing up like Kirby and says she’s trying to “curb-me”. Big Sean’s rapping is bar-none. His flow and lyrics are top notch. The production level of this album is sky high. The drums hit harder than Mike Tyson in the 8th round. The production is really detailed and has a ton of layers.

Moving onto the third track: It starts off with a chill sounding piano. He raps “No one said it was gonna be easy” and he talks about how he needs to start setting boundaries. On this song Big Sean contemplates and questions some of his thinking-processes and actions. He says God doesn’t give you what you want; he gives you what you need. His lyrics are all thought provoking and he says when you cut something off some of that blood was yours. He says he needs to start waking up in the morning and executing instead of trying. The piano on this song is beautiful and the production is really detailed and ambient.

The next song is more uplifting and starts off with Charlie Wilson from The Gap Band singing “Come and lift me up”. Big Sean says that its funny how people tend to believe more than what happened and he asks “Really do we look like Inglorious Bastards?” He says that Lena Waithe called him the black Brad Pitt; Sean raps “I’m climin’ the mountain, even if I can’t see the top of it”. He starts rapping about his mom and says his mom bought a new Benz and bought him one and called them twins. He says he had to get her a red Delta because she’s a delta and used to be a flight attendant on Delta. Charlie Wilson’s vocals really help bring this song to a whole new level.

The end of the song is a voice message from The Rock basically telling Sean to keep his head up and giving him some positive affirmations regarding the birth of his new son. The Rock says that his son at 9 months is already almost bigger than Kevin Hart.

The next song is Certified (feat. NASAAN). The sub bass on this song is extremely dirty and sounds like a distorted 808 sub bass being overloaded on a speaker. The synths on the song sound great. The hook is “Certified, certified, certified, certified’. Halfway through the song these females are laughing saying “I know they better be verified and certified! Verified and certified! Verified and certified” before it goes back to the song. The song has a dark, scary sounding vibe to it and reminded me of Pi’erre Bourne style production.

On the next skit, Clarity, he says mother earth could wipe us out by slightly raising the temperature and contemplates why mother earth still loves us after all we put the Earth through. He gives us some words of motivation and encouragement and wishes everyone clarity to see what is going on.

The following skit is called Focus and his friend is basically tempting him to go to a party to get with this one girl everyone is trying to get with. Sean says “Bro I need to focus” and his friend says “Wowwww focus? Last week you were Magic Johnson and now you have to focus?” Big Sean says “I need to lock in”. His friend proceeds to say “Send me a video and shout me out!” and Big Sean is like “Bro I have to go”.

The next song is called Get You Back (featuring Cash Cobain), not to be confused with Kurt Cobain who was the singer of Nirvana. This song runs at 152BPM and is probably my favorite song on the album. The sub bass, drums, background synths, and vocals all combine to make a classic song. One of my favorite lines from this song is “Acting like my lawyer, she get too defensive. Bringing up old cases, tryna argue in it.” He says he’s an empath and can feel vibes telepathically.

This song delves into the complex dynamics of a turbulent relationship. Get You Back captures the tension between affection and conflict, highlighting how Big Sean navigates emotional challenges through a mix of bravado and vulnerability.

The next song Iconic is a metal trap song. He says “I might just style your stylist” and he says they like to call him Iconic. The song goes into an instrumental avant-garde breakdown section towards the end.

The next song is with Gunna. He says that he needs to get an RV in the beginning of the song. This song slaps hard and the production quality is 10/10. I really liked Gunna’s Wunna album so hearing this was a breath of fresh air. This song is a straight-up banger and the lyrics are on point. Sean says he cut them off and that they don’t have to cut him a check and that it is what it is. In Gunna’s verse he says forget all the critics. He was in the news a lot recently and even went to prison for being connected with the wrong people. He probably dealt with a lot of people thinking he was truly a bad, evil criminal so this lyric is my favorite off this song.

On the next song Million Pieces, Big Sean reflects on his career and talks about the leeches and moochers trying to make money off of him. My favorite lyric from this song is “My dad said it’s his dream to be actin’, but it never happened. And when he talks ’bout back then, it breaks me to a million pieces” This song has a really laid-back feel. The Wurlitzer rhodes piano really add to vibe the song.

The next song is My Life (feat. Ellie Goulding). This song has an upbeat dance groove reminiscent of Mac Miller and Anderson .Paak – Dang! The hook is “I’ve been living my life my life my life”. On this song he tells everyone that thinks they know him that they actually don’t know him. Ellie’s vocals really help make this song shine bright. The song ends with a skit called Happiness with a guy on a talk show bringing Big Sean on his show. Big Sean gives some words of encouragement and his advice is that things will work out on their own time. He says he is trying to live in the moment instead of being stuck in the past or future and that before you know it the pressure is right back on you.

The following skit is called Pressure and it’s basically a ton of different people from his hometown telling him that they miss him and that he needs to come home. At the end of the skit Big Sean says “You don’t miss me”.

The next song is called Something and it features Syd from The Internet. The lyrics on this song are phenomenal. The song changes pitch halfway through the song and Big Sean’s voice almost sounds like Tyler, The Creator’s voice when it’s pitched down. The song goes to another section where its piano and he’s singing “Put some in the air for me”. This was one of my favorite songs from the album.

This N That (feat. Bryson Tiller & Kodak Black) is the next track. This song is really minimal. It doesn’t have a typical beat and is centered around piano, strings, the sub bass, and the percussion. Bryson Tiller belts out his verse with his high pitch voice. After, Kodak Black spits a verse with his raspy, distinctive voice. This was another standout on the album.

The final song on the album is Typecast. He says he has pimping in his blood and that his main girl is in the tub. This track is the perfect closer to the album. It has a really chill vibe to it and the synths on it crescendo down. He raps “My genre isn’t rap anymore, it’s under classics” He mentions that his parents both met working as flight attendants. He ends the album saying “They want me to play my role, but you can’t typecast me”.

This album is a must-listen for any fans of music. Whether or not you’re a fan of Big Sean or hip hop, this album is highly recommended. This album reminded me a lot of To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar with it’s jazz influence and skits. Big Sean really released something special with this album!