A loaded feature list and veteran experience keep Big Sean’s newest record “Detroit 2” afloat. But Sean’s questionable lead over the album and some flat out embarrassing tracks plague “Detroit 2” and keep it from living up to its full potential.

Before listening to “Detroit 2,” I was scrolling through the track list looking for anything to pique my interest. I was excited to find names like Nipsey Hustle, Post Malone, Travis Scott, Anderson .Paak, Lil Wayne and Young Thug in the credits. In my opinion, almost all of these features performed very well. Anderson .Paak had arguably his best feature to date on “Guard Your Heart,” and on “Wolves.” Post Malone does Post Malone things and delivers a heart-felt verse that elevates the song significantly. However, putting Travis Scott on “Lithuania” and not “ZTFO” is very disappointing and a huge misstep by the managers. Scott’s style would fit much better in the bass-heavy aired out beat of “ZTFO,” where he could float in the pocket and create a similar vibe to “Astrothunder” off of his 2018 album “Astroworld.” They even went as far as to tease us with the iconic Travis Scott adlibs throughout the cut, but unfortunately no verse. Instead, Travis is pushed along “Lithuania” by an intrusive drum track which disrupts the flow of the entire song. 

Some of the songs on this project made me ask myself how they made the final cut. Like on “Time In,” Big Sean’s sloppy attempt at a laid back RnB track is so bad it’s comical. Awful lyrics with even worse presentation and vocals combined with a beat that sounds like it was made on Garageband just don’t deserve a spot on an album like this. There’s no getting around it, whenever Sean tries to create an intimate moment on this album it blows up in his face. We see a similar situation on “Body Language.” A sub-par beat paired with uncomfortably detailed lyrics and a Ty Dolla $ign feature is a recipe for a disaster of a love song.  I spent the majority of the song with my face in my palm laughing. With a total runtime of one hour and 11 minutes over 21 songs, Sean could afford to cut back on these faux-RnB exploits and slim down the album. 

Even with the fallouts and forgettable tracks, there are many high points to “Detroit 2.” “Why Would I Stop” is a great way to open the album with pumped-up production and clever lyricism. The fast-paced “Don Life” ft. Lil Wayne is fun and exciting and could have acted as a final victory lap for the project if it were placed farther down in the tracklist. And I enjoyed the different stories told about the city of Detroit by comedian Dave Chapelle, Erykah Badu, and Stevie Wonder that are woven between songs. 

For the most part, Big Sean performs well on this album. He raps energetically and is very technically sound with his flows. But, whenever he’s on a song with a significant feature, it feels like he takes a back seat. Sometimes the star power can overshadow the main act, and I think “Detroit 2” is an example of this happening. Most of the entertainment on this album comes from the features and I feel like that’s the biggest weakness of this album. Other than a handful of dud singles and two EP’s, “Detroit 2” is the only major content released by Sean since 2017. This almost killed his relevance in the music industry. There are very few artists who can take a three-year break of content, for example, Kendrick Lamar, who’s last release “DAMN” was in 2017. The difference is Kendrick has made classic after classic and established himself as one of the most influential rappers of all time. Big Sean just isn’t that. He doesn’t have the legs to take a 3-year break without an album. I think he relied on his features to bounce him back into the public eye in a fit of desperation. And in all honesty, it worked. “Detroit 2” is sitting at number one on the Billboard 200 Chart and Big Sean returned to the Artist 100 Chart peaking at number two. But I didn’t listen to “Detroit 2” because I was curious about what Big Sean has been up to lately, I listened because of the star-studded feature list. Big Sean knew that and anything with Travis Scott or Post Malone’s name on it was going to be hot, and in turn, propel him back into the mainstream. This seems like a calculated move. Big Sean was willing to shell out significant cash and fall into the background of his own album for a fool-proof ticket into the spotlight. Without the guest artists, “Detroit 2” would be a flop album and that’s the harsh truth. 

So does “Detroit 2” mark the beginning of the inevitable cycle of artists in an oversaturated market for Big Sean? Only time will tell, but with the rap industry becoming more competitive by the day

and tastes shifting towards a younger style of rap, keeping up will be difficult for Sean. I like to think back to the saying “it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks”. I would predict that we see a handful of new projects in the next few years from Big Sean with a similar feel to “Detroit 2”. But with every new release, Sean will generate less and less hype until it eventually fizzles out altogether. At face value, “Detroit 2” is just a solid album. There isn’t any real innovation or statement being made. It will be hot on the charts for a month or two and then slowly fall into the shadows of the music industry like the rest of Big Sean’s discography.