Throughout his Better Me Than You rollout, Big Sean has been getting a lot off his chest. The standout cut “On Up” saw him pouring his heart out about fatherhood, while “This N That” and “Break The Cycle” saw the Detroit artist pushing past life’s hardships.
On Friday (Sept. 6), during his digital cover story with XXL, Sean addressed accusations of him sound-biting Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar, specifically on “Yes.” He told the publication, “I was kind of confused personally by it, but then when I did some research, I was like, ‘Oh, I see that.’ But also, I’ve been doing that since 2014, you know what I’m saying?”
“Since even on a Drake clip that he posted, [where I’m rapping], ‘H**, shut the f**k up,’ It’s really them flows or that ‘Paradise (Extended)’ that I literally listened to when I was making that stuff for,” the Dark Sky Paradise creator added. “So, I can’t really read into it too much. I saw some of it, but I can’t be all up on the internet because that s**t [will] have you f**ked up.”
When “Yes” was originally released in July, many speculated that Sean altered the pitch of his voice to match that of Keem’s music. Meanwhile, others argued it was simply the rapper tapping into the style that made fans fall for him in the first place.
Even though there doesn’t seem to be any beef between him and Lamar, the Compton rapper’s name has come up a lot in recent months. In an August episode of Charlamagne Tha God’s “Out Of Context,” Sean mentioned that “Like That” stole the spotlight from his comeback single “Precision.”
Back in July, Sean shut down rumors that he dissed the “Alright” hitmaker in his “On The Radar” freestyle. He claimed, “Y’all goin’ [with] so many narratives. I’m talking to [the] haters who just keep finding something to point out they don’t like ’bout me.”