Big Sean is in full-blown album rollout mode. Marking his anticipated return after a four-year hiatus following 2020’s Detroit 2, the rapper will release his new project, Better Me Than You, on Aug. 9.
In March, Sean reminded fans he’s still a lyrical marksman when he offered up the album’s first single “Precision.”
“I gotta get it, man, shout out, I hit it, I'm fully committed like ayy (mm), I studied the target, I'm never gon' miss it, I call that precision like ayy (ayy), Shootin' my shot like, pew-pew, ayy, Hit the red dot like, pew-pew, ayy, Finger on the trigger like, pew-pew-pew-pew, ayy, ayy, ayy,” Sean raps over the beat for Three 6 Mafia’s “Poppin My Collar.”
However, what could have been a big moment for the Detroit native was quickly overshadowed by the surprise verse Kendrick Lamar offered up on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” from their collaborative album, We Don’t Trust You. The Compton-bred MC-assisted track was released the same day as “Precision” and, unbeknownst to Hip Hop fans, sparked the year’s biggest rap feud.
Lamar’s supercharged lyrics took aim at the game’s “Big 3,” putting to rest any comparisons between J. Cole, Drake, and himself. Cole and the Toronto rap star hit back with records of their own. But, as the world witnessed, Cole dropped out of the war of vengeance, leaving the 6 God to go toe-to-toe with Lamar in a volley of eight diss tracks, including the inescapable summer banger “Not Like Us.” Sean looked on in shock like everyone else.
In an “Out of Context” interview with Charlamagne Tha God, the six-time Grammy-nominated artist agreed that the launch of his album rollout had been somewhat foiled by the back-and-forth between two of rap’s most decorated artists. “It did drown it out, bro,” he said in the chat.
“You gotta think about it, if it’s like Metro Boomin and Future, and then Kendrick addressing J. Cole and Drake on ‘First Person Shooter,’ you kinda involving a whole kind of like—there’s a whole thing. It’s like the whole, as opposed to me, I hadn’t even dropped music in years, bro, and I’m just like a return so I understood. I was surprised too. I was like everybody else, like oh s**t,” Sean explained.
Check out the full interview below, in which Big Sean addresses tracks from Better Me Than You getting leaked, as well as people buying into him being at odds with Kendrick Lamar.