{"id":212988,"date":"2025-12-31T10:50:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T10:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/212988\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T10:50:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T10:50:08","slug":"drake-justin-bieber-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/212988\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake, Justin Bieber & More"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFor over 15 years, Big Sean<\/a> has built a career off of scintillating punchlines and scene-stealing features. From trading bars with rap heavyweights like Drake, Jay-Z and Ye to gliding effortlessly alongside pop titans such as Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, Sean\u2019s pen comes equipped with laser-sharp precision, and has never gone cold.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI take pride in being able to collab with Gucci Mane, Eminem, Young Thug, Justin Bieber, Calvin Harris, and still feel completely natural,\u201d Sean tells Billboard. \u201cNone of it ever feels forced, or else I wouldn\u2019t do it. It\u2019s always been about respecting the music and trusting the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2025, Sean put that skill set on full display \u2014 flexing his lyrical muscles across more than 20 features, and reaffirming why his Detroit-bred motor still runs at championship speed. From lyrical sparring matches with Dave East and Russ to a heartfelt nod to childhood icon Will Smith, Sean\u2019s elastic wordplay and technical dexterity continue to keep listeners locked in, anticipating his next verse.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEarly in my career, it was always a dream to work with Nas, Eminem, Jay-Z, Ye and Wayne,\u201d Sean says. \u201cI\u2019ve been fortunate enough to check most of those off \u2014 some more than once. One of the biggest compliments is when I motivate someone I look up to to rewrite their verse. That\u2019s happened a lot, and I never expected it. I just loved knowing I pushed the music forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBillboard caught up with Big Sean to break down some of his favorite features from 2025 \u2014 along with a few defining standouts from his career.<\/p>\n

\tDave East, \u201cMan in the Mirror\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDave sent me that song a long time ago. For some reason, I meant to do it a long time ago and I didn\u2019t because I couldn\u2019t crack it off the first few listens. Then, one day, I just caught the vibe on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI loved the family approach and the honesty in it. Him just naming off his kids and his family members inspired me. I like the UGK sample in there too. Bun\u2019s on it. He\u2019s always been a mentor of me, as well. He\u2019s always been super supportive of me. My first shows in Houston, Bun would always take me around, and he got me Frenchy\u2019s Fried Chicken. That was some of my favorite fried chicken, and he was always supportive in that way. I\u2019m a huge UGK fan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDave East is def cut from a certain cloth. I respect him as a lyricist and I\u2019m happy for the success of his new project. Being off of Def Jam, I know what that\u2019s like to venture off into an independent bag. That\u2019s something I really, really respect. That\u2019s always my main goals \u2014 to collaborate with independent artists, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tLeon Thomas, \u201cParty Favors\u201d & \u201cVibes Don\u2019t Lie\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLeon asked me to do both of them, and he was just like, \u2018Pick one.\u2019 I picked one and then I ended up catching a vibe randomly in the studio for \u2018Vibes Don\u2019t Lie.\u2019 I sent it to him and he was like, \u2018I need you to do both of them, bro. Why not?\u2019 I was like, \u2018Yeah, alright, cool.\u2019 He played them for his label, and they loved both of them.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m excited for what me and him got coming, too. We got something else cooking up for me. I\u2019m just happy for him, all of his Grammy nominations and his hard work paying off. I\u2019ve known him for awhile now and he deserves it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tDrake, \u201cAll Me\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat was a special moment, because my producer Key Wane produced the song. It was a big moment for him. I remember how excited Drake was when he got the verse. He was very ecstatic. He was very surprised by the verse. It had him hyped up \u2014 super hyped up. That was just a classic moment back then during Nothing Was The Same.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tYe feat. Jay-Z, \u201cClique\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u2018Clique\u2019 is very special to me \u2014 not because it\u2019s just Hov and Ye, but because there were eight other verses on the song, and they all got taken off. We don\u2019t gotta talk about who got taken off, but it was just an honor for [Ye] and Hov to say I gotta stay on it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI did the verse without knowing that was gonna happen. I just did the verse shooting in the dark. I didn\u2019t do it thinking, \u2018Oh, this is gonna be a song with Ye and Jay-Z.\u2019 I probably would have approached it differently then, but I really approached it like hearing a beat, doing a verse, a hook and leaving it in the session.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was there that night in London, and we were recording Cruel Summer. I was there with Hit-Boy, Mike Dean, John Legend, and Don C. People when they heard the song, they were like, \u2018Yeah. That\u2019s cool.\u2019 But when Ye came in, he was like, \u2018Yeah, this is it! This is one of the ones that we needed!\u2019 He was super hyped. Everyone started getting more hyped. Then, when people started adding more color to the painting, people were able to see it for what it is. That was definitely a big moment for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tA$AP Mob, \u201cFrat Rules\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMe and Rocky were going back and forth on the record. Playboi Carti was at my house. It was A$AP, Playboi Carti, and Ferg was on the record too, doing ad-libs. Carti was brand new and very timid. Carti is someone I really respect a lot. He\u2019s a student of the game for real. I saw it back then how he was. He was observant. I also just think he\u2019s brave enough to do it his way. That was a fun moment. I really enjoyed it off of Cozy Tapes 2.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tWill Smith, \u201cBeautiful Scars\u201c<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWill reached out to me and was like, \u2018I\u2019m back doing this rap thing, for real.\u2019 I kind of followed his lead when it came to his vision and what he wanted to do. Bro won the first rap Grammy ever. Bro doing his thing. I just respect somebody that far into their career that\u2019s done that many things, has Oscars and all that.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c[For the video, the chemistry was cool] because he had the same people that did the last Bad Boys movie shoot it. And Will famously passed on The Matrix, so he was like, \u2018I want to do The Matrix one time [laughs].\u2019 So he had all the same cameras. I don\u2019t know what type of bag Will Smith got, but it felt like we were shooting a movie. That\u2019s somebody who wasn\u2019t in my mind when it came to collaborations per se like when I think of features, because he\u2019s so big in other fields, but it was definitely an honor to collaborate with him. He\u2019s been such a big influence in my life in so many different ways with movies, TV, and music. He\u2019s really the Fresh Prince for real.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tEminem, \u201cDetroit Vs. Everybody\u201c<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI appreciated going into the studio with Em and talking with him. That was probably the biggest moments of my personal childhood dreams. It was me and Eminem in studio \u2014 this was back when Eminem took a break, too, so you didn\u2019t really hear that much from him. I don\u2019t know if he took a break or was getting his s\u2013t together \u2019cause I think he was still in the studio everyday, but what I remember most was watching South Park and eating pizza in the studio. We\u2019d debate what was better between Family Guy and South Park. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019d talk about life, and I told the story before how Slim Shady LP was the first album I bought at Costco with my birthday money as a kid. I still have it. It\u2019s at my mom\u2019s house. I went to my mom\u2019s house and we have a family house in Detroit. I had all my CDs there and I didn\u2019t want to be a lame and bring the Slim Shady LP to the studio. At the end of the session, bro took my CDs out. He took out Finally Famous, Hall of Fame and asked me to sign them. That was the last time in my life where I said I would never try to be cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tRuss, \u201cShut Up\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe were just super cool [on tour]. I was recording the whole time and he was recording. We exchanged ideas and \u2018Shut Up\u2019 came about after touring. He caught a vibe with Helluva; he\u2019s a producer from Detroit. He\u2019s goated.\u00a0But with Russ, he just tapped into that Detroit bag and he was just like, \u2018This makes sense to you too.\u2019 That was easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tCalvin Harris, \u201cFeels\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI didn\u2019t know what that was going to be like. I was in the studio with Calvin Harris, and didn\u2019t know who was going to be on the record. I knew Pharrell was on it. I was like, \u2018Oh cool. It sounded like some Pharrell sh-t.\u2019 I was really f\u2013king with the song [\u2018Slide\u2019] Calvin had with Frank Ocean and Migos. I knew it was a part of the same album and stuff, so that was my first U.K. No. 1. I still go around the world hearing that song all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tJustin Bieber, \u201cAs Long As You Love Me\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMe and Bieber got some history. Out of all the features I\u2019ve done with him, \u2018No Pressure\u2019 is probably the latest one, but \u2018As Long As You Love Me\u2019 was a very nostalgic, old record. It was 2011. My voice was super high-pitched. I was just young. He was still Justin Bieber, even back then. That was a great moment for me. That might have been my first top five record on the Billboard Hot 100. I always f\u2013k with Biebs. It\u2019s been great seeing his progression.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t


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