Big Sean nearly decided to cut one of his biggest hits, “I Don’t F–k With You,” from his 2015 Dark Sky Paradise album, thinking it was a mistake and wouldn’t resonate with audiences. In a recent appearance on the St. Brown Podcast on March 5th, the rapper reflected on the moment he almost left the track behind, even sharing a memorable story about playing the song for Beyoncé and Jay-Z before the album’s release.
Who woulda thunk it?
Sean recalled the initial doubts he had about the song’s potential. “I thought it was a little dumb. I didn’t think it was going to have commercial appeal,” he admitted. However, his meeting with Beyoncé and Jay-Z left him with conflicting advice about the track’s direction.
When he played the song for the couple, Beyoncé had a more cautious take. “Beyoncé was like, ‘It’s a little disrespectful. Maybe you should [get] Nicki Minaj on it for a female’s voice,’” Sean shared. Meanwhile, Jay-Z encouraged him to go ahead with it, offering his full support. “Jay-Z was like, ‘Nah, it’s hard, though,’” Sean recalled. “He was like, ‘People gonna get it that you just having fun.’”
It was. Classic.
Get this: despite his reservations, Jay-Z continued to push Sean to release the track. “Then I remember I was getting texts from Hov. He sent me a text one time that was like, ‘Every day you not putting that song out, you losing,’” Big Sean revealed. “I almost didn’t put it on the album. I thought it was a little dumb.”
As history shows, Big Sean followed Jay-Z’s advice, and the song became a massive success, featuring E-40. “I Don’t F–k With You” climbed to No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and achieved 9x-platinum status, just one step shy of diamond.