Deep Reverence

8.25.20

Nipsey Hussle, Big Sean

Big Sean has been quiet from the music scene for about the past two years. In 2018 he cancelled his Unfriendly Reminder Tour, saying that he was in a deep creative space and needed to stay focused in the studio. While the hiatus has been much longer than we expected with that excuse, we know Big Sean was dealing with a lot in his personal life, as well. Finally, the day has come that Big Sean is once again preaching to us through the speakers.

Just yesterday, Big Sean announced that he will be releasing he fifth studio album, Detroit 2, on September 4th. This will be his first album since I Decided in February of 2017. Big Sean has always repped his city hard, so I see this project being very important and meaningful to him. After basically hiding for over two years from the industry, and making a comeback album off of an old project, I can only imagine we are going to see all sides of Big Sean on this project. Dealing with anxiety, relationships, all the craziness that has been going on in the world, his city, and of course plenty of bars to go with it. Big Sean has always shown his incredible lyrical ability, so I hope he stills brings it.

The first Detroit project was a mixtape in 2012. This project featured J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Royce Da 5’9, Snoop Dogg, French Montana, Jhene Aiko, Tyga, Wiz Khalifa, Wale, Chris Brown, Jeezy, Juicy J, Common, and others. Truly so much greatness on this past project, we can only ask if if Detroit 2 will live up to the first. He definitely has better resources, more experience and relationships to make this incredible. Though, hip-hop has changed so much over the past two years, it is possible no matter how great it is that it will not stick for new kids listening, and what the radio is playing.

A new tracklist has already been leaked on Genius, based off of recent singles, snippets and social media. Though not confirmed, these things are somehow usually pretty accurate. If this tracklist holds true, Detroit 2 will include sixteen tracks with features from Nipsey Hussle, Kanye West, Travis Scott, Post Malone, Meek Mill, Nas, Young Thug, Chris Brown, 21 Savage, A$AP Ferg and Hitboy. A pretty solid crew he has on here as well. Though I do wish there was a bit more Detroit love on here.

Singles like Overtime and Single Again have been out for a while and may make sense that they are on the album. However the latest gift we’ve received, is confirmation and early access to the Nipsey Hussle feature. Last night Big Sean tweeted he would drop the single at midnight, it was only right. Nipsey’s birthday was last weekend, this weekend was Kobe’s. We just witnessed another man get shot seven times because three police officers could not properly conduct themselves in a situation with an unarmed black male. Sean said:

How about I drop it tonight. The world needs to hear and feel Nipsey’s presence.

I feel like that a lot of times, and he was totally right. We need this track right now. So this morning, we received, Deep Reverence. Titled rightfully so, meaning a deep respect for someone or something.

Nipsey’s verse is first on the song. Quite frankly I wish it were longer, or that he went in again. However, the verse is pretty shocking. It seems like over and over again, Nipsey is speaking on what is happening now in this current moment. Or speaking on what he had seen others go through, that ended up taking his own life. The verse is about being on the streets, and the lessons he has learned from it. The line that stands out the most is when Nip says

The block love me with a deep reverence.

Nipsey was always great with vocabulary in his rhymes, but I for sure thought this was a Big Sean term before listening. After hearing Sean’s verse, it is clear that he recorded the released verse after we had lost Nipsey, and named the song Deep Reverence, as a nod to his line in the chorus, but also because of the amount of respect and love the world has towards Nipsey. Nipsey is from Crenshaw, but he had love for everyone. The end of the song is a voice clip from Nipsey doing an interview. When asked who he wanted to collaborate with next, he responded:

Payroll, Tee Grizzley, me and Big Sean talked about doing something together.. I’m going to tap in with all of Detroit.

From trying to sell CDs at $100 to make a profit, to really executing the projects and collabs he has set out to do, Nipsey will forever mean the world to hip-hop and community building. A really nice feature to have on Detroit 2, which we can assume will address Big Sean’s community extensively throughout the album.

Big Sean also just has one verse, it is just four times as long. I am going to nod that one at Eminem, his Detroit elder who is known for going in for as long as he can on a track. Em did this one Big Sean’s song No Favors from Sean’s I Decided album. I actually think Em’s verse in No Favors and Big Sean’s verse in Deep Reverence were exactly the same length. Must be a Detroit thing.

This verse talks about the struggles and lessons of knowing the streets too well, but also Sean’s overcoming of dealing with anxiety and depression. It does seem like this time away, Sean has gotten the chance to reflect on a lot, and has become at peace with himself. He mentions that after we lost Nipsey, we reached out to Kendrick Lamar to squash their beef, that had seemingly been ongoing since Kendrick’s Control verse in 2013. It was Big Sean’s track, but everyone remembers Kendrick’s verse, where he called out every rapper relevant that day, including Big Sean. Sean says there was never really anything there, it was all in good writing. However, they took the time earlier this year to catch up and push any negative tension or thoughts aside.

Moving forward a bit, did Big Sean take a hit at someone just a few bars later? On top of his lyricism, Big Sean has always been about his community, and teaching our youth. Whether or not he was a straight A student, I cannot be sure. But it does seem like he is knowledgeable about his history, and educating others. These next few bars seem like a big at someone that does not hold themselves accountable for having knowledge of their past, upbringing, community, etc.

N** is bangin' over blocks that they don't own, thinkin' that's home
Boy, you think that's where you from? You don't really know where you from
You don't how deep your roots is or what your ancestors had done
So, God bless all of the sons and daughters
Who knew they histories so they knew where to take it farther

Instantly, J. Cole pops up into my head. Snow on the Bluff did not go over well with many people in the hip-hop industry, where Cole basically shares that he has not spoken out on the protests and injustices because he never had to deal with matters like this, and does not have the proper knowledge to address the situation. So, is Big Sean dissing J. Cole for being in this industry but not having the proper knowledge of his background and what his ancestors went through to bring him here?

This could be a reach. J. Cole actually commented on Big Sean’s album announcement post, supporting him. Seeing as he is not the best at social media, this is a sign that he at least things they are still friends. I would be surprised if Big Sean went from praising the fixed relationship with Kendrick to dissing J. Cole, but you never really know when you are trying to make a comeback in an industry that is quite judgmental.

The lines could be about Tekashi 6ix9ine, who claims every city he visits. This is someone who definitely would resonate with the first line, and definitely has ancestors who went through a lot for his family to make it to New York. However, there is not rat lines in here, so maybe just a hopeful comparison. Sean could just be speaking in general, but the inspiration has to come from somewhere, right? We’ll just have to stay tuned to see if that line bubbles up at all after the world wakes up and has a listen.

Overall, the song was good. Again, I wish I had more of Nipsey on the track, but the duo paired very well. The album arrives in less than two weeks. I have high expectations for this project. While I hope for some more energy on other songs, I do think it will be a great body of work.

Big Sean was also recently featured on Nav’ new album, on the track Replace Me. Which I highly recommend.

Big Sean FT Nipsey Hussle ‘Deep Reverence’ Released 8.25.20