Extra Medium Sean

Been a bit since the Pistons were relevant...

This week, Smedium Sean dropped his latest mixtape, Detroit.  For the record, I didn't fuck with his debut album, Finally Famous, nor did I fuck with his Finally Famous mixtape series...he's had some tracks, but for the most part I don't fuck with dude.  His verse on "Mercy" was meh, although "swerve" was probably the best part of the track, lyrics-wise.  Even though I had been aware of dude since his track on Kanye's Can't Tell Me Nothin mixtape, I really never set out to listen to Small Sean.  After hearing Sean P call him "Medium Sean" and hearing Ludacris get at him, I really didn't care about him.  That being said, there's been a relative lack of projects that I've felt like reviewing recently.  I started working on a 2 Chainz review, but at like track 4 I realized I had nothing to say about his music.  I tried working on an A$AP Mob review, but while I liked the tape, I kept falling asleep (or calling my weed guy) when trying to listen to it...it's not conducive to reviewing, hahahaha.  So when I heard that Lil Sean came out with a new project, I decided to listen to it and attempt to get out of this reviewing slump.  Luckily, it wasn't boring or repetitive, so I was actually able to do so...

Could be worse, I guess

1. Higher - I've never heard of keY Wane, but he floated on this beat.  This actually sounds like an A$AP-style beat, or something you could hear Curren$y on.  The "Mercy" sample was appreciated, I was immediately in the zone following that.  This is a laidback intro, and Sean just kinda spits a bunch of punchlines.  It's not meaningful rap, but he's not bad.  We already knew that though...his problem on his debut wasn't shitty raps, it was the overall sound.  This track is a step in the right direction.  "Niggas 7 feet tellin me I'm who they look up to" - the short niggas dream (chyea!) - 4/5


2. 24K of Gold (Ft. J. Cole) - As Big Ghostfase so aptly noted, J. Cole has this bad habit of fucking up every song of his with one outrageously bad punchline.  That trend continued on his feature on Dedication 4 (the only mention of that piece of shit on THIS blog), but overall he's been killing it lately.  "Grew Up Fast," "Visionz of Home," "They Ready," and "Green Ranger" show that he isn't a bad rapper...he's just a limited rapper.  Limited subject matter, limited flows, and limited ways of showing out on tracks.  Rick Ross has the same limitations, yet he managed to climb on top of the rap game (figuratively) because he was aware of his weaknesses and avoided those.  J. Cole basically acts like he's Jay-Z's heir apparent but ignores his weaknesses, and thus makes shitty tracks at times.  Anyway, on to the track itself, it's not the sort of track that Cole thrives on, and it definitely sounds like something off of XS Sean's debut.  Harmonic rap generally annoys me, so the beginning of this was...ugh, but really, it's not a bad track.  Interestingly enough, Sean also visits the 44" waist punchline, but it doesn't come across as weird.  Even though he drops some stupidity with that trigonometry line (trig IS mathematics bruh), his verses aren't bad.  I don't really like it a lot, but I recognize that it's decent - 3/5


3. Story by Common - The first of three "stories" by three rappers about their relationship with Detroit.  The beat on these is pretty nice...on some So Far Gone shit.  Common has a particularly strong connection to Detroit, considering his location in Chicago as well as his work with Detroit's own, J Dilla.  Common comes across as hilariously old while telling his story ("I wasn't all into the strip clubs at the time, so I'm like yo, I'll just be like, I'll just sit there and be like 'I'm bout to write this rap', then one time I was like 'man I'm goin to the strip club wit y'all" lmaoooo) but really, that's kinda Common's spot right now.  Common's still that dude, but man, hearing him refer to the wings at the strip club before talking about the women was fucking hilarious, hahaha - 5/5


4. How It Feel - I'm feeling the Barry White sample.  Not enough of that in hip-hop, in my opinion.  To be honest though, his verses on this aren't worthy of the sample or even the beat.  Standard bragging and pimpin raps...again, he's not bad at it, it just sounds tired.  Maybe I'm just disillusioned, or maybe I really wanted a Common feature, smh...again, not a terrible track, but I don't go out of my way to listen to it. - 3/5


5. Woke Up (Ft. Like 5 people) - This one isn't my speed, but it bumps.  I don't like Mike Posner...at all, but this is an OK generic track.  Around this point of the tape, I was really thinking this shit was gonna be Finally Famous all over again.  Couldn't even bother trying to review this song. - 2.5/5


6. Experimental (Ft. Juicy J and King Chip) - You say no to rapper features, Juicy J can't.  WE TRIPPY MAYNE!  Thankfully Juicy J shows up to drop some ad-libs and add a bit of energy to the tape.  Parts of this remind me of a track that Tyler, the Creator produced, but overall, this is a drug ballad.  I fuck with Juicy J though, so that makes up for how generic the track is.  Would've been nice to have Curren$y or Domo Genesis on this one.  TRIPPY! - 3.5/5


7. Mula (Ft. French Montana) - HAAAANH!  After getting a Juicy feature, we get a French feature?  It's like Tiny Sean could tell that I was about to turn this tape off and do something with my life.  I'll never disapprove of a French feature, so...yea.  "Shorty snorkel for that crab, eating lobster on my dinner plate" hahahahaha you can't say French isn't entertaining.  I'm not going to act like this track had lyrics galore, but it's French, man!  It's got some blasphemy too, so that's right up my alley.  Despite my love for French, I can't really rate this too high, it's not a great track - 3/5


8. Story by Young Jeezy - The second in the "Story" series, we learn about Jeezy's past with Detroit.  I'd have rather had a Jeezy and Freddie Gibbs feature, but it's interesting that Detroit fucked with Jeezy.  When I think of Detroit, I actually think of lyricists and "real hip-hop"...I don't like Eminem, but he has bars.  Royce, Black Milk, Dilla, Guilty Simpson...there's a lot of that sound in Detroit.  Odd that they'd fuck with Jeezy.


9. 100 (Ft. Royce da 5'9" and Kendrick Lamar) - "Speak of the devil and he shall appear." (Fuck what you heard, Bane was a good villain)  Shortly after thinking about Royce, he shows up on this track.  This part of the tape is the best in my opinion, he's got a few nice joints in this part.  This is a standout track on the tape, with all three rappers dropping good verses, but Royce and Kendrick clearly stole the track from Sean (which is fine, we already know both are better rappers than Mini Sean).  Kendrick's on his social commentary/spiritualism shit, Royce is dropping knowledge and love for his fellow Detroit native, and Sean's speaking on where he came from.  The beat is proper, but it's a Don Cannon production, so we were already expecting that...best track thus far. - 5/5


10. Sellin Dreams (Ft. Chris Brown) - Man...I hate Chris Brown and his perpetual petulance, but he floated on this one.  No matter how much I try to hate this track, I fuck with it.  In fact, Micro Sean is the worst part of the track, and his raps are good on this - "we had that independent love, you tried to bring a label in"...how many of us have been caught in that, hahahaha.  Real raps all around.  Just ugh.  It's still fuck Chris Brown though. - 4.5/5

It took me over 2 months to throw some sex appeal on here...

11. I'm Gonna Be (Ft. Jhene Aiko) - I'm not high on the Jhene Aiko bandwagon (yea, she's bad, and...?) but this one is OK.  I hate that harmonic rap shit that Miniscule Sean does on this, but overall it's got a nice vibe to it, so I don't hate it.  I'll never play this one willingly again, but I know some people will like it.  Drake's a lot better at harmonizing, and this would be a better track with Drake on it.  Jhene is aight, I just hate the hype wagon that follows people like that.  There's not a lot of substance to this track (as far as variety, etc.) but again, it's not a bad track - 3/5


12. FFOE - "I got the best drinks, good tree, and bad bitches" - This part of the hook pretty much exemplifies the entire track.  There's a bit of imagery with the different portrayals of the west side and east side of Detroit, but overall this is just a swag track.  I feel like that's not Pygmy Sean's best area, but it's definitely the one he turns to the most.  This sounds like one of those Drake tracks from when he was first coming out, really...it's just missing a Lil Wayne feature.  Pretty dated, but I guess not terrible.  Another one I could never hear again and be cool with. - 2.5/5


13. Do What I Gotta Do (Ft. Tyga) - The other day, I was saying that Tyga really isn't a bad rapper, he just dresses like a dumb fuck and has some wack tracks...apparently I was completely wrong, because his verse on this is wack (kudos for the Milli Vanilli reference though).  This track is wack, but I guess it's supposed to be a club joint.  Meh.  Maybe I'll have a different attitude when I hear it in the club and see the girls twerking :-/ For now, this is another joint I'd skip.  I'll give Bantam Sean props though, he doesn't drag this track out too long; 2 and a half minutes isn't bad at all - 2.5/5


14. Story by Snoop Lion - This is the last of the "stories" about Detroit.  Snoop Lion is on some...what the fuck is this nigga on?  The nigga calls himself Big Snoop Dogg on this shit but he's Snoop Lion now, right?  The story is kinda funny because I know a tall skinny dude who worked the grill at McDonald's, smoked weed, and was about the same complexion as Snoop...but other that that, we've got Snoop treating us to some old bars...better than anything he's dropped in years, but aight.  Crazy that all of these dudes have connections to Detroit.


15. RWT - This doesn't even sound like a fucking Diminutive Sean track, it sounds like a Rick Ross/Waka Flocka joint.  This has the "shots at Drake" that people were kinda hyped about ("I made a mill before 25 and I ain't even no lie"), but since he shouts out Drake on the tape, and raps with Tyga...I can't really see it as shots at Drake.  Not to mention the fact that they shouted each other out on Twitter as well...all of this subliminal shit is pissing me off; I'm blaming Jay-Z.  Anyway, if swag talk doesn't really work for Sean, Rick Ross tracks DEFINITELY don't work for him.  Luckily, once again he doesn't keep this going too long.  - 2.5/5


16. Once Bitten, Twice Shy - I don't know if it's because Drake bit a lot of his style, but Puny Sean really is trying to do this rap/sing thing...I'm not fucking with it at all.  When he's not pseudo-singing, this is actually a good track.  The sound is in tune with the majority of the tape, as do the bars.  The pros of this song outweigh the cons, so I can see myself playing this again (really I played it like 5 times for this review to make sure I liked it).  He REALLY needs to stop fucking "singing" though.  - 4/5


17. Life Should Go On (Ft. Wale and Wiz Khalifa) - The final track on the tape, this is a two-parter (in the vein of "Murder to Excellence" off of Watch The Throne) featuring two rappers who buzzed at around the same time, Wale and Wiz.  Wale floats on this one, which just reinforces my opinion that he's been focusing on filling a role for Ross rather than trying to get his own music out.  The part with Wiz sounds like the sort of rock star bullshit that I could see Wiz gravitating toward...it's also got Dwarfish Sean doing his rap/singing thing, so that pissed me off, but even that half of the track isn't that bad I guess.  Real talk though, Wiz is spitting real weed shit on this; "if I ever hand you some weed, it's free, you don't owe me none" is real stoner life.  I don't think I've ever told someone they owed me weed for smoking my shit...weed brings us together, it's not divisive /weedtalk.  Anyway, this track is a solid end, even though neither Wiz nor Sean need to be fucking singing.  - 4/5





OK, so I got tired of downgrading songs just because Molecular Sean was "singing" on them, which inflated a few of the tracks' ratings.  Overall, I think this was a very solid effort.  Not the best hip-hop release of the year, or even the best mixtape of the year, but a very solid effort from someone I wasn't sure would give us a solid work.  It fucking shits on that lean-sipping skateboarder's shit, which is something I needed after listening to that POS.  I'm not gonna overhype it like Twitter was doing, but this is good shit.  I'm biased toward particular types of rap that don't include fake singing, so if you like that sort of stuff, you'll think it's better than I did.  The real winner on here is keY Wane, in my opinion...I had never heard of dude, but he went off on this mixtape.  This didn't hype me for Cruel Summer, but maybe Sean's next album will be worth buying.   -  3.5/5