Big Sean has used the narrative of a Detroit son who made it for years, but the story never gets old to people in the city. The late J Dilla is revered around the world as a musical visionary, and the recent success of Dej Loaf and Danny Brown is a step in the right direction, but Detroit isn’t used to having rap superstars. For the most part, the city’s hip-hop reputation begins and ends with Eminem. So when Sean wears Detroit garb like a Red Wings jersey and Cartier wood-framed glasses during his appearances around the world, it matters. His Finding Paradise show at Joe Louis Arena on Friday night brought Eminem and Lil Wayne to the stage for a celebration of his career and homage to Detroit.
“It’s an honor to do it this big in my city, and come home to all of this,” Sean said during the show. “I really hope all of my Detroit people know that this is the best city in the world. … If you go out of town, wear that Detroit hat proud.” The message resonates in a city that, despite some positive press surrounding the city’s bubbling rebirth, still deals with a constant underdog perception and has its own issues to deal with on a daily basis.
A big takeaway from Finding Paradise is just how much Big Sean’s music has improved over the years. His cameo verses have always been staples of his career, and performances of his rhymes on Kanye’s “Clique” and “Mercy,” Drake’s “All Me,” and Wiz Khalifa’s “Gangbang” sound just as great as when they were released. But hearing the totality of Sean’s career in one concert shows how much of a quantum leap his latest album, “Dark Sky Paradise,” is ahead of his other work. He breathlessly nailed just about each of the words of his multisyllabic flows, and he and his live band packed energy energy for every song, but even hits like “Dance (A$$)” and “Beware” sound undeveloped compared to the sharp, focused energy of 2015 offerings like “Blessed” and “Paradise,” or the sincere vulnerability of “One Man Can Change The World.” The stark maturation makes being a longtime fan that much more rewarding, and where he goes from here will be telling for his long-term prospects of a hall of fame career.
Friday’s concert comes near the close of a year that saw Big Sean break through into true rap stardom. The Detroit rhyme slinger had shown steady growth since signing with Kanye West in 2007, but many have crowned “Dark Sky Paradise,” his third retail LP, is that the record cements his spot. Fueled by the hits “IDFWU” and “Blessings,” it sold an impressive 173,000 copies in its first week and changed his perception from a singles-driven, show-stealing cameo performer into one of the strongest acts in his class. In October alone, Sean earned gold RIAA plaques for two songs from the album, and took home four victories out of ten nominations at the BET Hip-Hop Awards. He also teamed with adidas to install a new recording studio for students at his alma mater Cass Tech High School, and his Sean Anderson Foundation – the beneficiary of Friday’s concert – contributes to youth causes around the city.
But while the album catapulted Sean’s career to another level, his hometown has supported him for years, and Finding Paradise was just as much about the city as it was about him. His stage setup imitated a Detroit block with a church and a liquor store, and three songs into his set, DJ Mo Beatz began a short tribute by playing Blade Icewood’s “Oh Boy,” K-Deezy’s “In My Hood” and Street Lordz’s “Come Roll,” some of the city’s most recognizable rap anthems from the 2000s. Sean continued the Detroit theme by bringing out Dej Loaf—the pint-sized, gun-toting woman who took rap by storm last year with her viral hit “Try Me”—to perform a few of her own songs and their collaboration “Back Up.” He changed from a digital camo jacket and t-shirt into a Red Wings jersey, and he also smartly dedicated a segment of the show to songs from his free 2013 mixtape “Detroit,” a fan favorite that hailed as his best project before “Dark Sky Paradise.”
Big Sean has brought Kanye, Nicki Minaj and Drake to previous hometown concerts, and Finding Paradise continued his trend of bringing stars to Detroit. On Friday, fans were treated to an appearance by Lil Wayne, who emerged from beneath the stage through a trap door to rap “A Milli” to an erupting crowd. Wayne electrified the crowd with songs like “Rich As F*** and “Love Me” before closing his performance with “Deep,” a song from “Dark Sky” that sees Wayne personally giving Sean kudos and questioning why he doesn’t get the respect he deserves. “I feel like Sean don’t get enough shine. Is it because he ain’t got the tattoos? He ain’t throwing up signs?” Wayne raps. Singer Jhene Aiko also joined Sean for a pair of their sultry collaborations. But in keeping with the hometown theme, most of the guests were Detroit artists. Dej Loaf’s star power was further cemented early in the show, and pop star/songwriter Mike Posner took the stage to perform “Smoke & Drive” and “Cooler Than Me,” two of the friends’ songs together from 2008 when both of them were hoping for a shot at stardom.
And despite years of bringing superstars with him for his shows back home, the biggest Detroit stamp of validation is bringing Eminem on stage. The concert’s penultimate offering was a performance of “Detroit Vs. Everybody” that brought Dej Loaf, Royce Da 5’9″, Danny Brown, and Slim Shady himself, wearing a gray hoodie and bright red sneakers, on stage to spit their verses for the new city anthem. The crowd exploded, and cell phone reception in the building stalled with the excess of connections used to tweet and text photos and videos. Eminem didn’t have his own mini-set like Lil Wayne or Dej, but one song was enough: Big Sean’s place in Detroit rap history was solidified.
