This Friday, Big Sean will unveil his fifth studio LP Detroit 2, which also acts as the sequel to his well-received 2012 mixtape Detroit. Last week, he liberated a new single from the project titled “Deep Reverence,” which featured a verse from late rapper Nipsey Hussle. Now, he follows that with a new cut titled “Harder Than My Demons,” which sees production from Jay John Henry, Teddy Walton, Amaire Johnson, DJ Khalil, and Mike WiLL Made-It. The track speaks on Sean’s determination and faith in God, which all has helped lead him to success:
“No more breaks, dawg, it’s time to break hearts, I don’t take disrespect, I take charge, I’m in the mirror lookin’ at a work of art, hard work don’t mean shit if it ain’t smart/
I’ma run the play up to the max, so if I don’t know you, don’t owe you, I gotta tax, I got enough sense, and I slipped through the cracks…/”
The accompanying visual is directed by Child, with many of the shots showing Sean and other individuals from a mirror’s perspective. One of the individuals is shown playing dice and counting money before he’s inexplicably shot dead, with subsequent parts of the video mixing between angels — perhaps a sign of his transition — and his own baptism.
Detroit 2 will follow 2017’s I Decided., which was released in February of that year and saw various collaborations alongside Jeremih, Eminem, Jhené Aiko, The-Dream, Migos, and more. That project also earned Big Sean’s second career Billboard number one album thanks to 151,000 album equivalent units sold during its first week of release. In the same year, he also teamed up with Metro Boomin for the collaborative drop Double Or Nothing, which scored both talents a top ten on the Billboard 200.
Press play on “Harder Than My Demons” below.