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Hiptics.com: Just to start things off, we’re about the same age, so I was curious as to who were your favorite rappers/biggest influences before you got your deal with [Kanye West] G.O.O.D. Music and Def Jam?

Big Sean: I came up in the Bad Boy era so people like Mase, [Notorious] B.I.G., Jay-Z, and then more so later some of my influences were like Kanye, Common…Jay has been able to manage, over the years, to be an influence and just stay sweet, like stay lyrically great. So he’s always been one of my influences. People like Lupe later on, even Lil Wayne.

Hiptics.com: Coming from Detroit, what kind of sound can people expect from your album?

Big Sean: I feel like nowadays music is really blending, a lot of genres are blending. I think my album is an advocate of genres mixing and just bringing new sounds to the table… I’m from the Midwest so I definitely have that soulful hip hop sound. I definitely have that futuristic sound mixed with that, and I really got that hard hip hop shit, too. You know, it’s kind of hard for me to answer than question because I touch on a lot of different subjects, from relationships, to being broke, to gettin’ fresh, to wantin’ to be on that grind. I just  really think it’s going to be a project to look out for and I really think it’s going to set the bar, especially for young artists like me, and as a new artist hopefully it’ll set the bar that you have to come with a certain quality of music.

Hiptics.com: You were talking about crossing genres.  I noticed you’ve been doing a lot of collaborations with [singer] Mike Posner. I was wondering as to how that relationship came to be.

Big Sean: Well me and Mike Posner been buddies before he was ‘Mike Posner’ and before I was really ‘Big Sean.’ Me and him used to go over to eachothers houses and work on music and just kick it. We’re really just friends before anything so it’s kind of crazy that me and him are both doing well in music and getting a name for ourselves. I don’t know how many other life stories are like that where people are in the industry and were really friends before. Me and him are just buddies, and we’re definitely going to keep making music together. I just talked to him yesterday actually about some new stuff.

Hiptics.com: I made a post about your recent MTV interview talking about getting Kanye West’s attention with a freestyle. Do you remember any of one-liners, or highlights of the freestyle you kicked for Kanye at the radio station?

Big Sean: I don’t remember any of the freestyle really cause it was so long ago. I know it wasn’t that good. I mean, then it seemed like it was really good, but of course now you know you only get better with time. I do remember one line that I said, “If your girl wanna work out they call me Bally’s, Cause I make her feel good like Halle, Messin with me is a mistake like Big Smalls goin’ to Cali, It’s B-I-G with ferocious bars, I come hard every time like a porno star.” That’s really all I remember, but you got to take into consideration that was years and years and years ago. I was 17 [then] and I’m 21 now…But that was really a moment; that was the groundmaking moment of my life.

Hiptics.com: Yea man, it’s cinematic.

Big Sean: Yea it really was, man. It was like a movie, that whole day. I could sit up here and talk for like an hour about that whole day…It was really like a hell of a story…I sat down and told the story on this five-part series I did [for YouTube]…I told everybody in detail what it was like that day, how I got a chance to rap for him, because I wish I would have heard how some people got on. I wish I would have heard other people’s stories in depth, not to say it would work for everybody else, but just to say ‘oh ok that’s how he found his way and maybe I can find my way in a similar way.’

Hiptics.com: I just got done listening to Wale’s new mixtape, Back To The Feature, and you’re on that. I noticed in your verse you talked about the first time you saw Puff [aka Diddy] he actually came up to you and already knew who you were. Could you give a little more detail to that story cause I thought that verse was pretty intriguing.

Big Sean: Oh man, thanks a lot. I really appreciate it. I met Diddy [when] I was at [a birthday party for a Def Jam exec]. I had never met Diddy and Diddy was there. I told you, I came up during the Bad Boy era, so no matter what people think of Diddy, to me he’s still one of the greatest. So I saw him, and I was like, ‘Damn it’s Diddy.’ Then he turned around and he’s like, well actually someone was about to introduce me to him, and he was like, ‘I know who this nigga is right here, it’s Big Sean, what’s good?…I be on your blog, oh yea I want you to hop on this record…’ He was just showing mad love.

Hiptics.com: The big talk right now is Jay-Z’s “D.O.A.”  Didn’t know if you had feelings on the whole autotune thing. Will there be any autotune on your album or do you co-sign the idea that the whole trend is over?

Big Sean: I personally don’t have any problems with autotune at all. I don’t really use it, but not because I’m not a fan of it. It’s because it’s never really been called for on any of my songs. There’s autotune on my album however, maybe on some choruses. For instance theres’s a track on my album featuring Kanye where he’s singing and I think he may have used autotune for that, but nothing major…As far as Jay-Z’s “Death Of Autotune,” I mean that’s Hov, man. Hov is Hov, man. He’s a king so whatever he says, you know. I think when people use it artistically like T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Kanye, and whoever else uses it in a great way, I don’t think that’s harmful to hip hop or music in anyway. I think it’s artistic, you know what I’m saying?

Hiptics.com:  Yea, absolutely. If people like the music they like the music.

Big Sean: Yea,  as long as it’s good music, that’s all that matters.

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Check out Big Sean’s official website. Sean also has profiles on MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook.

Phone interview conducted by Chris “Cfro” Franco for Hiptics.com. Feel free to use this exclusive interview on your blog/website/online publication as long as credit is given to Hiptics.com in the form of a hyperlink. For all other inquiries email iamchrisfranco [at] gmail [dot] com.

Don’t sleep on Hiptics recent interview with Naledge of Kidz In The Hall.

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