Feb 6, 2015

Or is Big Sean totally jacking Travi$' style?

Ok, so for those who don't know Big Sean that well, these are the types of songs he's known for:



Notice the overall feel-good vibes. Sean was just a plain fun party rapper with admittedly underwhelming albums and occasional dope verses.

So I first started thinking about this when I saw the Hall of Fame cover art


Notice how closely Big Sean's pose resembles his GOOD counterpart's signature "La Flame" pose.


Now, that's not enough to b---- about on its own. Sure, its pretty much the same pose and the whole art style seems ripped out of Travi$' rejected Owl Pharaoh cover arts, but you could just pin that down as influence, not style-jacking.

Last year, it became clear that Big Sean was hanging out with Travi$ more because they were doing songs together, with Big Sean featured on Travi$' "Don't Play" and Travi$ co-producing Big Sean's "1st Quarter". So of course there's gonna be more intermingling of their sounds. But the drastic change from "Guap" to "1st Quarter" is very obvious.

Now, let me back up and show you some Travi$ Scott songs that REALLY showcase his dark, ambient, atmospheric vibe that he nails so well:



Now, compare those to Big Sean's newer tracks such as



They share common traits: Dark, distorted synths, deep growling bass, and hard hitting drums, with occasional random noises (eagle shrieks or thunder rumbling) to add to the menacing ambiance.

In a recent interview with Complex, Big Sean said that he's working with Key Wane to try to find a sound. Key Wane, for those of you who don't know, is essentially Travi$-lite, but more accessible and mainstream-sounding and without the same degree of tone that Travi$' songs have.

More examples: Travi$ most popular song pre-Days Before Rodeo would probably have been Quintana. It was the quintessential b-----r that showcased who and what Travi$ Scott was. At one point, the song begins to break down and over the cries of animals and the hellish beat you can hear A$AP Bari tell Travis "La Flame, don't play no games". Guess what one of the tracks on Big Sean's upcoming Dark Sky Paradise will be called? Play No Games.

Also, one of Travi$' main ad-libs is "Straight up!". And that is something that is unique to him. Only Travi$ Scott said that in the background between verses. But, in songs such as Blessings, you can hear Big Sean going "straight up, straight up".

And I suppose that's the whole point of this post. Big Sean finally evolved from an underwhelming radio rapper to a solid artist, but didn't do it his own way. The stealing of Travi$' "Straight Up" ad-lib perfectly encapsulates this, he's not doing anything bad, he's doing "If Big Sean was Travi$ Scott" instead of just doing Big Sean. There's nothing wrong with the music itself, and in fact I feel like this last year had been Big Sean's best, and his prime is yet to come. It just bothers me, somewhere in the back of my mind when I listen to his new s---, that he's basically turned himself into a more gentrified bastardization of Travi$ Scott.

 

Feb 6, 2015

n----- wrote an essay

 

Feb 6, 2015

Just gonna tag some poeple who I think would be interested in reading this
@Narsh @Sign Language @ChanceTheRapper @BigCountry @Grimace @Jet @helpmefam @LebronFlockaJames

 

Feb 6, 2015

Thats alot of writing... heres a like