Community Is Care - Detroit 2 Album Review
By Carter Fife
Earlier this September Detroit rapper Big Sean released his fifth solo studio record Detroit 2. This album follows his last project, a collaborative record with Atlanta super-producer Metro Boomin titled Double or Nothing, by almost 3 years, and we haven’t heard much from Sean Don since. A handful of loose tracks were released in 2019, but luckily fans were treated to a full-length project this year, with two of the album’s 21 tracks teased on Travis Scott’s .WAV radio in the late summer. After a long wait, the album dropped, and as fans had their first listen of Detroit 2 it became apparent that Big Sean made a few noteworthy changes to his formula this time around.
Compared to Sean’s last solo studio record, 2017’s I Decided, this record is a lot less personal with a heavier focus on performance and production. This is a good thing, as I’ve always admired Big Sean’s sincerity in spite of how lackluster and inconsistent some of his writing and mixes have been in the past. The themes on this tape revolve around success, power, battling demons while at the top of your game, and perhaps unsurprisingly - community. In many ways, this is something that is woven into every song and every feature, of which there are many; the idea of cultivating energy and wellbeing through personal spaces and family. This is at first apparent when looking at the title and cover of the project, which features Sean literally placing Detroit street performers above him, but this is also seen in the camaraderie of the people involved with the project. Behind the scenes, producers like Hit-Boy, Boi-1da, Travis Scott, No I.D., Mike Will Made-It, and even Take a Daytrip are all over this thing. On the surface, Sean pulls out all the stops to get guests like Dwele, Diddy, Jhené Aiko, Lil Wayne, Anderson .Paak, Ty Dolla $ign, Post Malone, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Eminem, and even the late Nipsey Hussle on the record. There are even little interludes from people like Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu and Dave Chapelle peppered throughout Detroit 2 as well. While I was worried that they would collectively overshadow Big Sean on an album that clearly has been a long time coming, each one does a great job at not overstaying its welcome, and lending its energy to help amplify Big Sean’s. This time around, Big Sean also seems to be doing a lot better than we last heard in 2017, as his self-doubt has seemingly turned into a sage kindness despite the fact that we’re all trapped in quarantine for the foreseeable future.
One of my favorite things about this record is how well Big Sean seems to adapt to this new energy - new energy that is reflected in both the album’s themes as well as its writing and mixes. On a boisterous and victorious album opener “Why Would I Stop?”, Sean says “I don’t complain about life, I adapt” after delivering my personal favorite line of the record, “I don’t jump, I dive in it”. With this new energy, Sean’s raps are more aggressive, more well-thought-out, and composed, carrying a confidence not before seen from the Michigan native. The following track “Lucky Me” has Sean casually flowing over a classic sample before the beat dramatically changes into a fast-paced trap banger akin to Huncho Jack’s Black and Chinese. The intriguing and uncommon nature of many of the mixes is what makes me enjoy this record, mostly because Big Sean makes his job look so easy as we’re being introduced to these tracks for the first time. Something must also be said about the variety of tracks on Detroit 2 as well, as one moment Sean’s steady flow is accompanied by thundering 808s on “ZTFO”, and then the next he’s confidently spitting game with Travis Scott over desolate and metallic guitar and lurching bass signals. Though there are too many tracks to write about each individually, the album has its softer moments on “Body Language” and “Guard Your Heart” that offer a nice contrast against tracks like the nine-minute “Friday Night Cypher” which features a host of Detroit natives trading bars over different beats.
Detroit 2 was a welcome surprise from the GOOD Music rapper, as I honestly did not think that Sean would come as hard as he did on this tape. Between the long list of guests and the overall positive themes of community and love for Detroit throughout the record, this was a welcome change following his last projects. Though it is admittedly easy to criticize Sean for the chronic oversharing and pseudo-intimate moments that have plagued earlier entries in his discography, this time around there really isn’t too much to pick apart with this project. Detroit 2 features Big Sean at his best, or at least the strongest he’s been since his reign in 2015 following the release of Dark Sky Paradise, and with 21 tracks there is certainly something here for everyone. Though the album could have benefitted from being half as long and more consistently subversive with its mixes, I’m glad that we were able to get some new music from Sean before the year was up.
Favorite tracks
Why Would I Stop?
ZTFO
Lithuania (ft. Travis Scott)
Rating: 7
Listen to Detroit 2 here:
Thanks for reading! Make sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter to get updated whenever we post:
-
A year ago we compiled a list of albums to help everyone weather the quarantine. Here we are a year later, still st… https://t.co/fdusHMOSLK -
Happy 6th birthday to Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ one of the best albums ever released 💿🦋 What’s the be… https://t.co/4boKEsxxJM