[Album Review] Big Sean - Hall of Fame

I was very excited for Big Sean's new album.  I'm from Detroit, so I'm always excited when someone from the hometown is doing well.  Also, I think he a tremendously improved with each body of work he does.  I'm a huge fan of the Detroit mixtape, which I still listen to often.  I also thought he had some of the best verses on Cruel Summer where he was against many heavy weights in the game.  I also liked many of the singles that he has released in anticipation for the album, including "Guap," "Beware," and "Fire."
 
I wasn't disappointed.  Hall of Fame is a great album that tells the stories, passion, and underlying reasons for all that Sean does.  However, there is one damp section of the album that throws me off when I listen to the entire album.

I've listened to the entire album several times, and tend to have the same experience.  The first two tracks, "Nothing Is Stopping You" and "Fire" really bang and set up the album to be fantastic.  Then "10 2 10" and "Toyota Music" comes up.  I doesn't give me the same energy, but I still like it and think they will sound great live.  I also liked the Ellie Goulding assisted track "You Don't Know" and how it rolls into "Beware."  I'm not a huge fan of "First Chain" but then the theme of the album changes drastically and the results are bad.  I'm not a huge fan or "Mona Lisa," "MILF" is just terrible and the skits "Greedy Hos" and "Freaky" should just be deleted.  This section really dampens the album.

The album takes a major turn for the better with the song "Sierra Leone."  The album picks up the same energy and excitement it had in the beginning with "It's Time" and "World Ablaze," which have the same themes of the albums first tracks; anthems and soundtracks for the city that raised him. He takes a personal break with the song "Ashley" which I think its beautiful and a very nice gesture to a person he loves.  He finishes the album out "All Figured Out," where he closes out the album with these words:

Today I woke up and realized every day gets shorter
Every minute turns into the longest second, yet never ending
Age is nothing but a reminder and it doesn't tell you
How old or young minded someone is
Cause we all started at the same starting point of a woman's legs
But each have our own finish line
Understand it never ends, and the only way to be immortalized
Is to be remembered, hopefully from right than wrong
Better to be in the hall of fame than shame
Whether it exists for what you do or not
We create this world so we make what exists
It isn't about the award, it's about the award of being immortalized
And remembered for all the right reasons
Mistakes are forgotten, no footprints of any missteps
So when it's so late that it's early
And you need a drink even though the bar's closed
Remember why you do what you do
For the coldest drinks, the fastest cars, luxury
The adrenaline rush of creating what you think about
With who thinks about you:
Your family, your team
The joy of looking back and saying that you did it
Winning the game: hall of fame

Sean is at the point where he can reflect on why he does what he does, why he wants what he wants, and his underlying ambition.  He can also use what he discovers about himself to approach everything with a more focused mindset and to enjoy it all with no guilt.  That's what Hall of Fame is about.  Your inner spirit, soul, and energy.  Of course he has a few missteps with some of his club songs on the album when he had better ones on his previous works, such as "Marvin & Chardonnay," and "Dance A$$," the album still show the inner soul of himself at the point of time.  And this is what makes albums classic and notable.  Why albums like good kid mAAd city and Born Sinner will be talked about for years is not only for the delivery, but the vulnerability and the ability to show the things that stress you, worry you, drive you, and make you who you are.  Many artists, and people in general, never get to the point where they are comfortable being this honest, and Sean is successful with this album because he takes that risk. I am excited for what's next.