Big Sean

Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan.

Sean Michael Leonard Anderson was born on March 25, 1988, in Santa Monica, California to Myra and James Anderson.

When he was three months old, he moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he was raised by his mother, a school teacher, and his grandmother.

Anderson's grandmother, Mildred Leonard, served in World War II, and was one of the first ever black female captains in the United States Army.

He attended the Detroit Waldorf School and graduated from Cass Technical High School with a 3.7 GPA.

In his later years in high school, Sean showed his rhyming skills on a weekly basis as part of a rap battle contest held by Detroit hip-hop station WHTD.

In 2005, Kanye West was doing a radio interview at 102.7 FM.

Hearing about this, Sean headed over to the station to meet West and perform some freestyle.

Initially West was reluctant to hear him, however, he gave Sean 16 bars to rap for him.

According to Big Sean, West enjoyed his freestyle: "As we get to the entrance of the radio station ... we stopped in the middle of the doorway. He starts looking at me and bobbing his head."

After the freestyle, Sean left West his demo tape.

Two years later, West signed Big Sean to GOOD Music.

Sean has cited West, Eminem, The Notorious B.I.G., and J Dilla as his influences.

He became acquainted with high-profile rapper Kanye West prior to signing with his GOOD Music record label, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings in 2007.

On September 30, 2007, Big Sean released his first official mixtape Finally Famous: The Mixtape.

His hit single, "Get'cha Some", produced by WrighTrax, attained media attention and led to articles in The Source and the Detroit Metro Times.

He also recorded a music video for "Get'cha Some", which was directed by Hype Williams.

Sean released a second mixtape hosted by Mick Boogie on April 16, 2009, called UKNOWBIGSEAN.

It featured the songs "Million Dollars", "Get'cha Some" and "Supa Dupa".

This mixtape includes 30 tracks.

He gained popularity following the release of his third mixtape, Finally Famous Vol. 3: Big (2010).

Sean released a third mixtape hosted by Don Cannon on August 31, 2010, called Finally Famous Vol. 3: BIG, which features include major artists like Bun B, Chip tha Ripper, Curren$y, Tyga, Drake, Mike Posner, Chuck Inglish, Asher Roth, Dom Kennedy and Chiddy Bang.

The mixtape includes 20 tracks.

An unauthorized leak of his collaboration with Drake, called "Made" made its way onto the internet on April 30, 2010.

In an interview with TheHipHopUpdate.com on May 1, Big Sean expressed his disappointment over the leak, calling it an unfinished version both musically and lyrically.

Big Sean's official Facebook page confirmed that his debut album Finally Famous & Consequence's Cons TV would be released on September 14, 2010.

His debut studio album, Finally Famous (2011) peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and spawned the Billboard Hot 100-top 40 singles "My Last" (featuring Chris Brown), "Marvin & Chardonnay" (featuring Kanye West and Roscoe Dash), and "Dance (Ass)" (remixed featuring Nicki Minaj).

On August 31, Big Sean tweeted that the album was not coming out on that day, but that it would be coming out sometime in 2011.

In an interview on Conspiracy Worldwide Radio, Sean discussed the role Kanye West and No I.D. have had in the development of his first studio album's sonic direction as well as the challenges of being inside the studio with West.

The album's lead single, "My Last", features vocals from Chris Brown and was produced by No I.D. According to Amazon.com, Big Sean's Finally Famous was delayed by a week, with a tentative release date set for June 28.

Big Sean revealed the cover art for his G.O.O.D. Music debut and explained that the one-week pushback was to be blamed on sample and feature clearance issues.

The official tracklist was revealed on June 7.

Finally Famous, Sean's debut studio album, was released June 28, 2011, and spawned three hit singles; "My Last", "Marvin & Chardonnay" and "Dance (Ass)".

The album featured guest appearances from Lupe Fiasco, John Legend, Pharrell, Kanye West, Roscoe Dash, Wiz Khalifa, Chiddy Bang, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Pusha T, and included production from No I.D., The Legendary Traxster, Andrew "Pop" Wansel, Xaphoon Jones and The Neptunes.

When the songs "O.T.T.R."

and "Flowers" were leaked in July 2011, speculation began of a new mixtape.

His second album, Hall of Fame (2013) matched its chart position and was met with similar reception, supported by its triple platinum-certified single "Beware" (featuring Lil Wayne and Jhené Aiko).

His third album, Dark Sky Paradise (2015) debuted atop the US Billboard 200 and was led by the single "I Don't Fuck with You" (featuring E-40), which received octuple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); each of the album's singles—"Paradise", "Blessings" (featuring Drake and Kanye West), "One Man Can Change the World" (featuring John Legend and Kanye West), and "Play No Games" (featuring Ty Dolla Sign and Chris Brown)—also received platinum certification.

His fourth and fifth albums, I Decided (2017) and Detroit 2 (2020) likewise peaked atop the chart; the former was supported by the single "Bounce Back", which peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains his highest-charting song.

In the year following the latter album's release, he dissociated with West and parted ways with GOOD Music.