Big Sean became emotional while discussing his new album Better Me Than You, which is now set to arrive this week.
The Detroit rapper gave an update on his long-awaited sixth LP on Instagram Live on Monday (August 26), during which he cried and admitted that he’s struggling with “overthinking.”
“I am a chronic overthinker. I’m a chronic, constant worker. And I’ve been having a hard time lately, straight up. It’s not been easy… But it’s worth it.
“The whole concept of the album is like Better Me Than You, so when you go through your shit, it’s like you the one who can handle it […] It gets hard. Your faith gets tested,” he added while choking up and holding back tears.
After going silent for several moments, Sean turned away from the camera and eventually left the room to gather himself.
He later returned and continued discussing the challenges of making his new album and dealing with criticism: “When you make art, you put a lot into it. I definitely am a chronic overworker, overthinker, and I’ve been dedicating a lot of my life to it.
“I don’t try and read into what everybody say. It’s hard because you do care about your shit. I try and stay focused on the path and keep the music focused on what I want to do, no matter what people think.
“Sometimes if you read into too much shit, the internet can suck the fun out of it. Just anything you do. So as an artist, expressing yourself is important to me to stay on that path.”
Sean Don then credited his mother with helping him rediscover his confidence.
“When me and Jhené were giving our son a bath last night, my mom called me and she was just giving me them words,” he said. “And I was just like, Look, I can keep working and make it exactly how I want it and I’ll be pushing it back forever. Or I can believe in the fire-ass work that I got right now and that’s what I’ma do.
“I appreciate my mom for being that guardian angel and always giving me that advice. She really talked me through it, for real.”
The former G.O.O.D. Music MC also revealed that Better Me Than You will drop on Friday (August 30) after it was previously pushed back from its original August 9 release date, with the delay partly due to Sean recently catching COVID.
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Shedding light on the music itself, he said: “This album is definitely all the different layers of me. It’s broken up into four different categories — to me, at least. You got the pressure songs and then you got the focused, the clarity and then the happiness.”
Sean also hinted at tweaking Better Me Than You following its release, including adding an outro that he was still working on.
“I don’t really like doing that type of shit, but at the same time this album literally has a feeling of, like, a living thing, something that can keep growing and growing.”
Following his emotional broadcast, Big Sean unveiled the album cover art on Instagram, which appears to show the rapper’s soul being beamed out of his body, presumably to Heaven.
“BETTER ME THAN YOU Friday,” he wrote in the caption.
Better Me Than You is supported by a handful of singles including the Three 6 Mafia-sampling “Pressure,” “Yes,” “On Up” which is dedicated to his one-year-old son Noah and The Alchemist-produced “Together Forever.”
Perhaps adding to Sean’s tough time is the fact that an unfinished version of the album was leaked last month, allegedly by a Kanye West fan.
The culprit claimed to have released the project ahead of schedule at Ye’s instruction after Sean took a shot at his former label boss in his On the Radar freestyle.
However, the Motor City native was unconvinced that his “Mercy” collaborator would do such a thing, despite their past issues.
“I know he wouldn’t do that ’cause that’s trash. I know he wouldn’t do no shit like that,” he said on Instagram Live. “Whoever did do that, just know that it did fuck me up. I know he ain’t do that. N-ggas talking about, ‘Ye did that.’ I know he ain’t do that.”
He added: “Leaking a n-gga’s shit? I had access to a lot of exclusives — not just him, but other people’s too. And I would never leak nobody’s shit, so I know he ain’t do that. Whoever started that rumor, y’all on some bullshit.”
