G.O.O.D. Music’s Golden Child Big Sean has returned after his critically acclaimed debut album “Finally Famous.” The Detroit rapper gives us a new collection of songs with his sophomore album “Hall of Fame.”
Hall of Fame appears as though there was an in-depth thought process before recording took place. The opener “Nothing Is Stopping You” has Sean rapping and reflecting on his past few years and his new found success. It also has an audio clip of G.O.O.D. Music’s head honcho Kanye and others speaking kind words about the rapper.
“Tell me what you know about having dreams? What you know about having faith in something you can’t see? Tell me how much you believe?”
The Detroit Player loves the ladies and offered them something to sing along with on the LP. “Beware” which features Jhene Aiko and Lil Wayne is the cautionary love story of a broken hearted girl who has been done wrong once before and left with issues.
“When you said it was over, you shot right through my heart, why you let these hoes tear what we had right apart, ooh I was so mad, I should’ve seen this coming right from the start, you should beware, beware, beware of a woman with a broken heart.”
Then there’s the honest and remorseful “Ashley” that features R&B crooner Miguel singing the hook as he raps about his relationship that went wrong due to his litany of woes.
“You Don’t Know” has the sound that will crossover and appeal to all audiences, while “Toyota Music” has a slowed down sample that Outkast used in their song “Da Art of Storytelling.” Too bad the song doesn’t have the same content or message as the Outkast tune. Sean decided to rap about selling drugs, but I guess that’s how the song obtained its title. The beat is perfect for riding around in your Toyota pushing drugs. And if that song doesn’t work, there’s always the easy breezy produced No ID track “Sierra Leone.”
Big brother Kanye went missing from the album verse and production wise. Not one song contains Ye assisting him on a track. And his most talked about song “Control” that features Kendrick Lamar’s controversy verse also went missing from the album. Not saying that features from them two artist will break the album, because there are features from Nas and Kid Cudi on the soulful No ID produced track “First Chain.” And Ninki Minaj and Juicy J on the nasty, perverted, uncomfortable, disrespectful, yet entertaining “MILF.”
You still have the leading single “Fire” that urban radio would wear out if there was an edited version of the song, but a clean version would take away the essence of the song.
“And grandma said when she saw my commercial, stop having people at your shows that wasn’t at rehearsal”
The album closes with the heartfelt and humble “All Figured Out” where the rapper closes with a small spoken word.
“We all start at the same starting part of a woman’s legs, but each have our own finish line”
Big Sean is one of few rappers who can actually make an album that doesn’t need a list of A-list artist to give the album clout. The entire first leg of the album is Sean alone with no assistance at all. He’s one gifted artist who has endless punch lines within a single song. His witty wordplay is like no other and though many try to duplicate it he still stands a cut above the rest. Always able to compliment any artist or upstage them on a song. His verses display confidence, conceit, and humbleness all within a matter of a few words. Hall of Fame is an album that tells the story of a kid from Detroit who had the ambition and vision to foresee the dream they’re currently living. Though many will overlook the transparency of the material due to its guests and great production, one message you will get is that he’s humble and joyous of his life’s current situation. And he loves the city that’s birthed him, Detroit! BOY!