TUNE: There’s nothing quite like stumbling across a song so unconventionally stunning that it stops you dead in your tracks. On Monday night Big Sean unleashed what can only be described as a seven-minute epic that, unfortunately, was cut from his new LP due to sample clearance issues. “Control (HOF),” which features Kendrick Lamar and Jay Electronica, is laid out with extreme precision: Big Sean sets the groundwork, heat rising, and at around the three-minute mark Kendrick steps in, almost unrecognizable, a burn to his voice that commands attention as he name checks in all possible directions, delivering some of his most hard-hitting rhymes with unprecedented ferocity. Jay Electronica leads us out of the song with equal passion, rapping, “Draw a line around some Earth, then put my name on the plot/ Cause I endured a lot of pain for everything that I got.”
BY: Big Sean, an award-winning hip-hop artist hailing from Detroit who’s already got one studio album (2011’s Finally Famous) under his belt, as well as collaborations with artists like Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, and John Legend.
CURRENTLY: “Hall of Fame,” Big Sean’s sophomore album, is due out August 27 under GOOD Music and Def Jam records. With a number of successful single releases (the addictive “Guap” in particular), it’s safe to say that “Hall of Fame” is promising indeed.
—Regina Mogilevskaya
Image courtesy of Big Sean Facebook