Big Sean
Last project: Hall Of Fame
Next project: TBA
Big Sean had a good 2013, but his momentum wavered more-than-slightly towards the 4th quarter, resulting in his placement on this list. His sophomore album, Hall Of Fame, was looked forward to for quite some time following the release of his critically-acclaimed mixtape, Detroit, in September of 2012. After suffering a couple push-backs, HOF was given a steadfast release date, but the two lead singles from the project, “Beware” and “Fire” failed to resonate with the masses, despite being orchestrated well in the overall scheme of the LP. Sean, one of the few rappers that arose to prominence post-2009 that can still consistently impact mainstream radio–from 2011-2012, five of Sean’s singles charted in the Top 40 on Billboard–could do no better than #38 (“Beware”) and #71 (“Guap”) this time around, resulting in a respectable but meek (by his standards) first-week showing of 72,000 first-week copies sold. We know its not about radio, or mainstream appeal–we awarded Hall Of Fame four out of of five mics–but Sean is an extremely visible rap star, meaning these factors do play a role. We know he can rap his ass off (see: “1st Quarter”), but can he leave a lasting impact on the demographic, a la Drake‘s So Far Gone. We don’t think that’s setting the bar too high, and HOF was certainly a step in the right direction. We’ll see if he can build on that energy this year.
