Big Sean entered 2015 trying to shake the dreaded “sophomore slump.”
Sean had became a burgeoning star in 2011 thanks to his debut album, Finally Famous, which featured hits like “My Last” with Chris Brown and “Dance (A$$)” with Nicki Minaj. But the follow-up, 2013’s Hall of Fame, was widely seen as a disappointment, lacking a breakout hit and receiving lukewarm reviews. So, even though Sean was still killing shit with standout features on Eminem’s “Detroit vs. Everybody” and Rick Ross’ “Sanctified,” fans weren’t sure what to expect when, at the end of January 2015, he announced his new album with a menacing photo that simply featured the title.
And with one social post, a new Big Sean era began.
A month later—on February 24, 2015—Sean released Dark Sky Paradise. Not only is it his best album and a certified classic, it’s also the strongest argument for why he deserves to be mentioned among the top-tier MCs of his era. It became his most commercially successful album, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It’s also the only Sean album with five platinum-certified singles: “I Don’t Fuck With You,” “Paradise,” “Blessings,” “One Man Can Change the World,” and “Play No Games.”
On Dark Sky Paradise, Sean sounds more aggressive and boastful, often rapping with a chip on his shoulder. The album’s opening track, “Dark Sky,” sets the tone for what’s to come, with the rapper delivering some of the most striking bars of his career. Sean raps about the constant grind of trying to level up in life and music, while pushing back against the misconceptions that have followed his journey.
Sean also changed his process. Before recording, he built a studio in his then 4,500-square-foot, five-bedroom, $1.7 million mock-Mediterranean mansion. He named the studio The Trilogy.
“I got to live the music, because it was in my living environment,” Sean told The Real in 2015. “I would wake up at 4 a.m., have an idea, and go down there.”
Not only was the entire album recorded at The Trilogy, but most of the project’s features—including Lil Wayne, Drake, E-40, John Legend, and Jhené Aiko—pulled up to record their contributions in person. Sean also connected with more producers than on his previous two albums, locking in with names like Mustard, Mike WiLL Made-It, Boi-1da, and, of course, Kanye West.
Dark Sky Paradise will always be known as Big Sean’s “comeback player of the year” moment—his Mama Said Knock You Out album—and his most authentic piece of work.
With the album’s 10 year anniversary being this year, it’s a perfect time to look back: here are seven things you didn’t know about Dark Sky Paradise.
“Blessings,” which features both Drake and Kanye West, is one of the most well-known tracks on Dark Sky Paradise. It was actually the last song Big Sean recorded for the album. The track came about organically during a studio session with Sean and Drake.
In a 2015 interview with Hot 97 in 2015, Sean explained that “Blessings” began as a reference track they built on together. “[Drake] had ‘All Me,’ so it’s like, alright, I’ma take this one for my album and it just fit,” he said.
A couple of weeks later, he told Tim Westwood that Kayne West’s verse almost didn’t make it on the album. “The album was turned in, it was already on iTunes, off to the plants, and he did his verse at the very last minute,” Big Sean said. “Iit was exciting. So we put that out for the fans and the people.”
Later on, Sean spoke about how the song caused some complications between the two. In an interview with Complex, he said:
“I remember Ye thinking that I picked Drake over him for some reason when we made the song ‘Blessings.’ And I’m like, ‘What are you talking about, bro?’”
Producer No I.D., who also served as the album’s A&R, knew “I Don’t Fuck With You” was a hit the moment he heard it. On a March episode of Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown’s podcast, he recalled playing the track for the Carters.
“I remember Jay-Z and Beyoncé too. I went to their house and was playing them songs. Beyoncé was like, ‘Umm, it’s a little disrespectful, maybe you should put Nicki Minaj on it for a female voice,’” Sean said. “And then Jay-Z was like, ‘Nahhh, people are going to get it. It’s just you having fun.’”
Big Sean added that after that, Jay-Z began texting him, “Every day you’re not putting that song out, you’re losing.”
Jay was on to something. The song, which features Bay Area legend E-40, remains Sean’s biggest hit, going 9× Platinum. In a an 2015 interview with Power 106 Los Angeles, Big Sean revealed that the tracks “IDFWU,” “I Know,” and “Deep” were all created during the same studio session on one night. He also said that E-40’s addition to the track was spontaneous and unplanned. “As soon as we were in the studio, I came up with a chorus and a scratch verse, and I immediately hit up E-40,” Sean said. “I don’t know why, I just did… E-40 even said, ‘Make sure my voice is poking out like some nipples on there.’”
“Win Some, Lose Some” is the second song on the album with Jhené Aiko. The track features Sean rapping about a particularly challenging time, addressing his 2011 sexual assault allegation. He raps,
“Gettin’ dressed up for court, that’s a lawsuit /Ain’t wearin’ V-necks, but niggas ask what happened to the crew? /Now I’m in court for some shit I didn’t do ‘cause of my nigga /Knowin’ my career just could’ve been through.”
The true highlight of the song is the closing words from Sean’s father, James Andreson. Sean’s brother secretly recorded their father during a car ride back from a Wiz Khalifa and Jeezy concert in Detroit. Neither Sean nor their father knew about the recording. Although the conversation lasted 40 minutes, only a few seconds were used in the track.
“See, the mind is a fucking trickster. It can fuck you around, but your heart will never lie to you. And that’s why people love you, Sean, because you talk to them from the heart,” his dad says on the song.
Big Sean recorded “One Man Can Change the World ” in honor of his grandmother Mildred V. Leonard. At the time, Sean told his grandmother about the song, revealing that John Legend was going to be on it. However, Mildred would never hear the album in full. She passed away on December 20, 2014, right when he was headed home for Christmas.
Mildred worked as a teacher, counselor, and police officer. She was a captain and one of the 855 soldiers who served in the only women’s Army Corps unit of color. At the end of the song a recording is played of his grandmother telling Sean, “Thank you for calling and thank you for thinking about me.”
On “Outro,” Sean closes the album with an exclamation point, rapping:
“Niggas say I changed, how to damn, how to do (Do)/Say I’m hard to get in contact with, oh, is that true? Well, what about now? 313-515-8772. Bitch, call me.”
Big Sean admitted in an interview with MTV that this was his real number. “My phone’s been off the hook. It’s been ringing so much I tried calling and it didn’t go through. I get so many texts and calls,” Sean said. “I’m going to keep that phone on as long as I can.”
Big Sean and Ariana Grande dated from 2014 to 2015. During that time, they collaborated on a few songs, including “Right There” and “Best Mistake.” For Dark Paradise, they shared the mic one more time on “Rehearsal,” a track where Big Sean raps about Grande going through his texts and emails looking for evidence of infidelity.
Big Sean has said in interviews that the song was not about Grande, and he even complimented her professionalism, noting that she was able to set aside her feelings about him to make the song feel authentic. However, the couple called it quits less than two months after Dark Sky Paradise was released.
“Platinum and Wood” samples a beat from “Come Roll With a Nigga,” a song by The Street Lord’z, one of the most influential hip-hop groups in Detroit history.
Big Sean was clear with his homage, with the first two lines—“Come roll with a nigga, get high with a nigga/Count stacks with a nigga, fuck hoes with a nigga”—being the same as Blade Icewood’s lines.
The year 2015 also marked the 10-year anniversary of Blade Icewood’s death. The rapper was murdered on Detroit’s west side at a car wash on April 19, 2005.
In the Dark Sky Paradise documentary, Sean talked about the song, saying, “We sampled this hard-ass Detroit song. This nigga Blade Icewood, he got killed like 10 years ago. That nigga was like Hov in the D.”
Sean has often spoken about Blade’s influence and still considers Icewood’s groupmate, Street Lord Juan, a mentor. In a 2011 interview, Big Sean said, “The Chedda Boyz, Street Lordz, some people you may not even have really heard of—not real celebrities but people like Blade Icewood from Detroit that really have a big influence on my music. You can hear a little bit of me from all those people I just named. I think it’s dope because Detroit is a melting pot of a lot of places.”
