Big Sean is one of the more notable figures in mainstream hip hop, but sometimes, it's frankly hard to see why. The Detroit MC has been around for a while now, as he's on his fourth solo album and does countless features on various albums. My opinion of Big Sean boils down to the fact that he's a bit boring. It's always been tough to find something special, unique, or memorable about Big Sean, and his solo releases thus far have defined that. His last project, Dark Sky Paradise, was definitely his best and featured a slew of great tracks, but ultimately it was still tough to me form a legit identity for Big Sean. Will he separate himself from the pack on his fourth project, I Decided?
When trying to compare this project to Sean's last, Dark Sky Paradise, a lot of roadblocks get in the way. On one hand, I'm pretty proud of what Sean has done on I Decided. I got more personality and individuality from Big Sean on this album than I've ever gotten before. On Dark Sky, he was making good songs but he still wasn't doing much of his own thing and it was still tough to see who he really was. On I Decided, Big Sean got very personal, down to earth, and emotional, which was wonderful to see and gave me a lot of optimism about someone who I've always been indifferent on. This change from him results in some seriously good tracks. For some of this album however, Sean sounds so new to the emotional style that he's working with. In my opinion, not a lot of these songs are executed well, and even though there is hope to be found here in terms of Sean's progression as an artist, he still has some work to do in order to really blow me away with his music. I Decided is just so close to being a great album, but little flaws here and there are still holding Big Sean back on it.
Even though I have my complaints, I can't exaggerate enough how good it is to see Big Sean's evolution on I Decided. The guy is being personal, he's opening up about relationship problems and his family, and he sounds so much more passionate. He may have tried to do this on albums like Hall of Fame, but things seem a lot more polished here. It is always good to see an artist start to open up on his songs, and I think that's what makes this album stand out among Big Sean's projects. The song Bounce Back is great in the beginning of the record, featuring a cool atmospheric beat and super catchy hook from Sean. He gets into failed relationship as I mentioned earlier on the song Jump Out the Window, which is probably my favorite song here. The whole song is melodic in a very subdued, downcast way that I enjoyed. Sean sings well on this track and he croons about love in a way he hasn't done this effectively before. Moments like this song, Moves, Same Time Pt. 1, and Inspire Me show Sean really putting songs together well and making catchy music that is also emotionally strong.
Sadly, I don't think Big Sean kept up the quality of the songs consistently on this album. In contrast with the songs I enjoyed, there were tracks on here that were below average and reminiscent of Sean's weaker albums. Songs such as Halfway off the Balcony kept up the dark vibe that I liked on the other tracks, but here Sean's vocal performance is a lot less passionate and he didn't hook me in at all. Following this was the two part track Voices In My Head/Stick to the Plan, which I felt was a mess entirely. The first part showed Sean doing interesting things lyrically, but I didn't feel the instrumental complimented him and the track was awkward. Once it hits the transition to Stick to the Plan, the song totally falls apart and shows Sean really doing some awful singing. While there were very few outright bad moments on here, a good chunk of this album came off a little boring. I didn't get much inspiration from Sean out of Light, Owe Me, or Sunday Morning Jetpack, the latter of which features some weak singing from The Dream. Speaking of features, it should definitely be noted that Eminem more or less ruined the track No Favors. I was loving Sean's bars here and he was rapping very very well, but Em's flow sounded way too robotic, his lines were occasionally cringe-worthy, and his verse went on for way too long. It was sad to see a track with such potential get thrown away by someone who I expected to kill this feature.
Luckily, this album ended on a high note with its last few tracks. I liked how Big Sean wrapped together the personal narrative of this album by ending this project with these songs that had very strong themes to them. Inspire Me was a song all about his mother, and it came off as a very loving, cute, and catchy track. On Sacrifices, he throws together a banger and talks about some of the things he has sacrificed on his way to where he is now, with the help of Migos who bring some very solid verses. Finally, the album closer Bigger Than Me was sensational, and it sounded like an old school Kanye West anthem as Sean had the Flint Choir singing on the instrumental. Overall, I definitely see the progress from Big Sean on I Decided, and even if he struggles at points here it gets me very excited for Sean's evolution as an artist
Wrap Up
+Big Sean puts together emotional, personal songs better than he ever has
+He does a lot of new things with singing and the production he goes over
+Lots of strong themes and an interesting narrative to the project
-Still has several ugly moments, and a few awful features don't help
-Album drags on from time to time with samey tracks
Favorite Songs: Bounce Back, Jump out the Window, Bigger than Me
Least Favorite Song: Voices in my Head/Stick to the Plan
7.1/10
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