Big Sean Talks Detroit, 'Dark Sky Paradise' & More with 'GQ'

Fresh off the release of his latest LP, rapper Big Sean sat down with GQ for a lengthy interview. Here, the Detroit native discusses his new album, Dark Sky Paradise, working with Kanye West, romance, family, his hometown and more. Check out excerpts from the interview below while the piece can be read in its entirety over at GQ. Big Sean’s Dark Sky Paradise is available now and can be downloaded via iTunes.

What does the title Dark Sky Paradise mean to you?
It means a lot. First of all it is darker than any album I’ve ever done. And I went through some dark times just like we all do, with relationships, personal relationships, romantic relationships, creatively. I feel like I had to dig myself out of a hole creatively and bounce back hard.

So I built a recording studio in my house. I had Kanye and a lot of other people come through. It enabled me to live the music out. Almost every feature and producer came through, and we recorded it mostly at night. But throughout all of it, despite all the dark and crazy times I’ve been through, I still feel this is paradise. I’ve come a long way from that two family flat, and spending my last 40 dollars on studio sessions. That title means a lot to me, and once you hear the album you’ll understand it even more.

The music you’ve put out since late last year sounds like you have less to prove now.
I feel like this time, I wasn’t worried about what anyone was telling me, no record labels in my ear telling me about a radio song or nothing like that. I just went in and did it exactly how I wanted to, and I’m proud of that. Whether it’s my biggest album or whatever, I’m just proud of that. I built my studio, recorded the whole thing at my house, I’ve got my grandma’s voice on there and she just passed, I got my dad talking on there. This album is really my heart. I see people now talking about the leak, and the feedback has been good. I just hope people god damn support it [laughs]. We put a lot of work in to it.