During his appearance on the latest episode of Complex‘s fan-favorite interview show Hot Ones, Big Sean weighed in on one of the music industry’s most controversial topics — between bites of ridiculously spicy chicken wings, of course. When Hot Ones host Sean Evans asked the Detroit rapper why so many of his peers and contemporaries seem to hate their labels so much, Sean Anderson had some interesting insights.
At around the 5:20 mark, Evans launches into the question, specifically making reference to the recent kerfuffle between Megan Thee Stallion and her label, 1501 Certified Entertainment. “For those of us who are naive to the inner workings of the music industry, can you explain the role of a record label in 2020?” he asks. “Sometimes, to listen to hip-hop, you’d almost think that labels are the sworn enemy of the artist.”
“I love my label,” Big Sean jokingly replies. Having been signed to the same labels — Def Jam and GOOD Music — since almost the very beginning of his music career over a decade ago, Sean acknowledges he has had a different experience than most. Although early in his career, he too experienced a few bumps in the road, since then, he’s put out numerous hit singles and No. 1 albums, including I Decided and Dark Sky Paradise.
“I think musicians are expressive, too,” Big Sean continues. “We have the voice… That’s what we do: We express ourselves. We’ll go on rants. Our heart is wide open. I make music to hopefully inspire people, to help them get through something — or to get to the next level, to get to that better version of themselves. I can see why artists — especially musicians — are passionate and talk they sh*t, to get it off their chest.”
In other words, everybody hates their “boss,” but because recording artists specifically have a platform to speak out, it just seems like they complain more as a function of the art form. Sean seems pretty zen about his situation though, likely because he’s been given a lot of leeway on the upcoming release of his comeback album Detroit 2, and supported for the majority of his career. He’s also pretty zen about those hot wings, although he does have a moment on the eighth one that may enter the annals of Hot Ones meme history.
Watch Big Sean’s full episode of Hot Ones above.
