It’s hard to believe, but it’s been 10 years since Big Sean released his debut album Finally Famous on Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music record label. The Detroit rapper hit up Instagram this week to reflect on his humble beginnings and the classics the album spawned.
“It’s the 10-year anniversary of my first album Finally Famous. I never experienced this, but obviously, I’m super grateful,” explained Big Sean. “It’s the album that changed everything for me. It took me from being a mixtape artist to going city to city and hearing myself on the radio with ‘My Last’ with Chris Brown to ‘I Do It,’ and ‘Marvin & Chardonnay’ with me and Ye. ‘A–‘ with me and Nicki, I mean that s— still go crazy.”
Finally Famous would eventually sell more than a million copies as a testament to his supportive fan base.
“It was the first for a lot of things. It was my first time getting a plaque. This is before streaming so they was really clicking that buy button on a different level. It was a different level of investing in an artist. My first platinum album…it was all different experiences and my voice was super high, dog. I was just figuring it out, nervous as hell. [I was] relying a lot on No I.D., too. He not only executive produced the album but produced a lot of songs on there, and I was relying on his expertise as a producer. He helped me pull the album together,” Sean Don further stated.
The 10th anniversary of the release of Finally Famous is actually June 28, but Sean revealed that a remix and remastered version will be released on Friday, June 25.
“I’m forever grateful. So for fun, I remixed and mastered the whole album and I added a new song to it. It’s more of a freestyle vibe called ‘Freshmen 10’ and produced by Hit-Boy,” he added. “It’s about the sequence of the day when we shot our XXL Freshman 10 cover with me, Nipsey Hussle, Wiz Khalifa, Jay Rock, J. Cole. A lot of us. Freddie Gibbs. It’s real nostalgic and takes me back to that 2010-2011 moment in my life so it really fits this body of work.”
Check out the video of Big Sean reflecting on his life-changing debut on the next page.
