Dark Sky Paradise, Big Sean’s newest album, just dropped a day ago. Usually I download all of my music for free and in all honesty have not paid for a single song in several years. However, I have been anticipating this album for months and I had to give Sean some money so he can go on vacation or buy his next $2,000 bottle of champagne—yes, I bought the album. To put this in perspective for you, not even once in 12 blue moons do I give half of a shit enough to buy an album off of iTunes. This time, however, I was feeling different. Big Sean has been putting in a ridiculous amount of time for this new album, and while that alone is not enough to make me buy an album, all of the tracks he released early were straight fire. Even if you don’t know whom Big Sean is, I’m sure you’ve walked past a party and heard a quartet of drunk girls singing the chorus of one his new songs, “I don’t fuck with you!”

To begin, this album isn’t really like any of his previous albums or “Finally Famous” mix tapes. The instrumentals however, are similar to the ones used in one of his earlier albums, Detroit which dropped in 2012. While the instrumentals might be familiar to some fans, his lyrics and the things he talks about are a little different. This is Big Sean’s most real and hard-hitting album he has released to date. He raps about problems and the struggles he goes through despite being incredibly wealthy and Kanye West’s predecessor.  There are also plenty of upbeat tracks and a few bangers to bring up your mood.

I am not going to give a review of every song but I will talk about a few that stood out to me. First off, you may have heard the song, “Paradise”, which was one of his early releases. Sean gave us a special present and made an extended version, which tricks you into thinking the song is ending when all of the sudden the beat picks back up and he goes off on a lyrical murder spree for a minute straight. Give it a listen, I promise you will feel tingly and inspired after hearing it. Another track that I really enjoy is “Play No Games”, which features Breezy and Ty Dolla $ign. This song has a very mellow instrumental and relaxed flow with deep bass, yes it’s a chill song. This is more of a love song, probably targeted at Big Sean’s main chick, the baby-faced Ariana Grande, and Chris Brown’s chorus makes the song an instant hit. One song that hit me like a CyRide with a ramming grill on front of hit was “Dark Sky”; this song is so vigorous and energizing that it actually ended my debate of whether or not to go to the gym. Yes, I ended up going to the gym. I can’t give it all away. You’ll have to go give what I am calling the best album of the year, a good listen.