If it’s positive energy you’re after, Big Sean’s got your back with a backlog of inspirational thoughts, words, views, songs, lyrics and opinions.
Born 1988 in California, Sean “Big Sean” Leonard Anderson is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. He signed with Kanye West’s GOOD Music in 2007, Def Jam Recordings in 2008 and Roc Nation in 2014. It was the release of his debut studio album Finally Famous in 2011, that saw the rapper rise to fame which has continued to grow ever since. The album peaked at number three on Billboard 200 and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Big Sean’s second studio album Hall of Fame in 2013 also peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and became certified Gold. His next albums Dark Sky Paradise, I decided and Detroit 2 followed suit, all debuting atop the Billboard 200 and receiving Platinum certifications.
While he has become an influencer himself, Big Sean has always considered Kanye West and Eminem as his own inspiration. His talent is now widely known as he has worked with both Eminem and Kanye West, and other artists such as Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Chris Brown.
In summary, he’s made it happen. And his words will inspire anyone chasing dreams to stop waiting for opportunities which may never come, and start going after them before it’s too late.
1. You live and you learn, man. I’ve learned you can’t wait on anybody. You have to raise your awareness yourself.
2. The higher the goal, the harder the climb, but after that the bigger the muscle the, smarter the mind.
3. I work really hard – that doesn’t mean I deserve anything, but it’s really cool to see the positive reaction people give to something you worked so hard on. It’s one of the best feelings.
4. A man that can master patience can master anything.
5. It’s evolution, man. Eventually, the student becomes the teacher.
6. Everything I wanted to do was big. I feel like my music is big, the mark I’ma leave in this world is big, so I feel like that’s the perfect name.
7. Even though it’s tiring, I’m having the time of my life.
8. I’d be a billionaire if I could get a dollar for all the bullsh*t that I hear a day.
9. I want to change the world. I want to be a part of culture. I want to help teach.
10. Acting is a grind, just like music is a grind. Sometimes it takes longer than what you can give.
11. Success is on the way, I feel it in the distant.
12. High ends, high spending. We just trying to end life on a high note.
13. I’m not compromising myself in any way, I love just doing whatever I want and showing people it’s real.
14. In the studio, I always put on National Geographic for inspiration. Looking at lions eating gazelles, all that type of stuff.
15. I want people to feel like they can do anything.
16. I don’t call my people fans, I call them believers because they go above and beyond.
17. When I graduated from high school, the teacher said I was throwing my life away following music.
18. From the inside looking out, you can never see how it looks from the outside looking in.
19. Sometimes you have to let things go so there’s room for better things to come into your life.
20. I get sick all the time because I get no rest and sleep, but it’s definitely worth it.
21. Look, think about it, close your eyes, dream about it. Tell your team about it, go make million dollar schemes about it.
22. Instead of thinking about work the next day or thinking about what you have to do, if you live in the moment you’ll have some of the best times of your life.
23. I hate all the old pictures of me before 2010 – and they are always the first ones to come up. That’s why I don’t Google myself, man.
24. I guess it took ten years for me to be an overnight success.
25. I just always stay honest with myself. All my stuff isn’t boastful, but some of it is. But that’s just the music, the art.
26. My life’s a little luck – and a lot of grind.
27. Man I just ended up on everybody guestlist. I’m just doing better than what everybody projected.
28. Man the life of a workaholic… You either on ya work or just workin on it.
29. I never look at it like I’m wasting money when I’m buying gold.
30. I come from a family of scholars who got their Master’s degrees. To my grandma – and to a lot of people – an education was a way of making it out of the worst parts of their life.
31. I’m just a Westside lover, I leave females in my sheets and all my feelings in a rubber.
32. Patience is the ability to accept trouble, suffering, delay without getting angry or upset, I feel like if you can master patience you can master anything.
33. Fame necessarily isn’t really tied to success at all. Fame is just being recognized for doing what you do, whether it’s good or bad. Osama bin Laden was famous.
34. You win some, lose some, break some, bruise some. Life could be a test, multiple choice, choose some.
35. I turn mistakes into lessons dead ends into exits in the journey of my life.
36. I just wanted to do something that had some meaning that I can look back and be proud of, that my family can look back and be proud of.
37. I think it’s tacky to have chains that go all the way down to your crotch.
38. The underdog just turned into the wolf and the hunger steady grows.
39. Sometimes when you make good stuff and you love it, it gets outdated sometimes, because you’ve held on to it so long, you may not like it like you used to.
40. My mistakes are my biggest professors and learning life lessons.
41. My mom keeps me going, man. She deserves such a good life. I just wanna give it to her. My dad, too. My family, my friends, they keep me motivated. Just knowing my personal legend, just knowing what I’m supposed to do, that keeps me going.
42. Dreams stopped being dreams when I turned 'em into goals.
43. The best advice I have been given is to live in the moment, as cliché as that sounds. It’s crazy.
44. AI'm coming from the underground like it's Groundhog's Day
45. I never want to look back on life and say I wish I did something, and I don’t want anybody else to do that.
46. So I’m treating every second like it's an investment. Time is money, every second I’m collecting.
47. I grew up on the west side of Detroit – 6 mile and Wyoming – so I was really in the ‘hood. And I would go to school at Detroit Waldorf, and that was not the ‘hood. Growing up in Detroit was good. I had a good perspective, a well-rounded one, and not being one-sided.
48. I guess drama makes for the best content. Everything got a bad side, even a conscience.
49. I feel like you should be confident in whatever you do, and a lot of my new music (that’s coming out) I want people to judge more so than the music I’ve put out recently because I feel like it’s really changed a lot.
50. Put a plan together and do what you want to do in life. You are going to get to a point in your life where your dreams are in your hands, where the next step is right in front of you and your next opportunity is on the other side of that door.
51. I’m really vulnerable on stage because it’s just me. I’m not really trying to put up a front or act a certain way.
52. Me and my girl been through so much, that's my partner in crime.
53. I feel like I’m able to relate to all races of people because when you learn to tap into the raw emotion of a person, that goes past color.
54. Make sure you surround yourself with people who believe in you, who are like minded, the people who have a similar energy as you.
55. Cause girls only say "hate you" to the guys that they love.
56. There’s definitely a thin line between being tasteful and tacky. I feel like tasteful is very unique…it’s not necessarily wearing a bunch of chains – that could be either tasteful or tacky. It just depends on how you wear them and what kind of chains they are.
57. I made a promise to the mirror that I’d never go broke.
58. I wanted to make the soundtrack of people’s lives.
59. There are so many people with great work ethics that I’ve been around. I try and take the best qualities from the people I admire and apply it to my own self.
60. I got a dream that’s worth more than my reality.
61. I started from the basement made it to skyscrapers.
62. I know the higher that I go, the harder to climb. But after that, the bigger the muscle and smarter the mind.
63. Spent my whole life tryna find the light that's at the end of the tunnel. I should have realized it was inside.
64. People in college, if you’re getting recognized for getting good grades, you’re finally famous. If you get recognized for playing the drums, if you’re being recognized for making good ass beats, good ass raps, you’re finally famous.
65. I guess when your stars align you do like the solar system and plan it out.
66. I just remember I wanted to make my own dynasty and not keep following trends. I wanted to make my own.