REVIEWSBig Sean, ‘Finally Famous’

5

• SPIN Rating:5 of 10

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    Spotify

Release Date: June 28, 2011
Label: Def Jam

Big Sean's new home Def Jam leaves nothing to chance in trying to keep this Kanye West protégé from getting Wale'd in the marketplace like so many mixtape-circuit graduates. His major-label debut proceeds efficiently, offering cloying Chris Brown choruses, canned guitar solos, and plodding beats that fail to highlight Sean's nimble flow or provide shameless pop pleasure. Except for a few asides -- like a shameful remembrance of stealing from his grandmother's purse -- Finally Famous remains stuck in a lyrical ouroboros, with Sean pointing out that he's so hot that he had to getfamous, which is why he's so hot, ad infinitum.