Big Sean Drops Official Release Date For New Album Despite Leak

Bad week for Big Sean. The rapper decided to address his haters on a new freestyle, and wound get getting his album leaked as a result. A Kanye West fan interpreted Sean’s bars as a diss towards his favorite artist, and leaked most of Big Sean’s new tracks out of spite. The rapper has taken the leaks in stride, though. A day after the unfortunate incident, Sean dropped an official trailer for his new album, titled Better Me Than You. Fans were treated to cool visuals, a snippet of a song, and finally, a proper release date.

The album trailer sees the camera zoom in on Big Sean’s eye, only to reveal a world of color and trippy shapes. The instrumental that accompanies these visuals is similarly colorful, though the rapper isn’t spitting over it. The album’s official title is confirmed by a neon sign that appears at the very end of the trailer. Better Me Than You had been thrown around as a possible title previously. That being said, the aforementioned leak was released under the name Feelings and Random Thots. It’s safe to say Sean chose the better title. The rapper confirmed the release on Twitter, writing: “album August 9th.”

Big Sean spoke at length about the difficulty he had recording Better Me Than You. It’s his first album in four years, and it coincided with his decision to stop drinking. “I’ve been having a hard f*cking time,” he told fans via Instagram Live. Been in [the studio] trying to finish this album. I’m tired of overthinking… I stopped drinking in 2022 ’cause that sh*t was f*cking me up.” Despite the struggles he’s had, Big Sean maintains that the new album contains some of his “best music” to date. “It’s so many different sides of me,” he told viewers. “[This album] really represents what the f*ck I’ve been going through for these past couple of years.”

The leak could not have been easy for the rapper to deal with. The person who leaked the album claimed that Kanye West urged him to do it, but there’s nothing to substantiate these claims. Despite this display of pettiness, Big Sean is keeping a positive outlook. The internet is on his side, with many believing that he’s due to win after being overshadowed by the likes of Drake and Kendrick Lamar. The rapper actually addressed the leaks on Twitter, taking a light-hearted approach. He teased his upcoming single with The Alchemist, and joked about rushing the rollout to avoid more leaks. “Might as well start droppin, before they leak it all, got damn [crying-laughing emoji].”