Big Sean Defends Jhene Aiko And Talks Kendrick Lamar Beef In New Interview With Joe Budden
As part of his promise to be more social for his fans in 2020, Big Sean has been busy making his promotional rounds ahead of the release of his anticipated follow-up to 2017's I Decided.
Most recently, Sean Don sat down with Joe Budden for the hip-hop veteran’s YouTube-based podcast series, Pull Up. For two hours, Joe and Sean chopped it up about the Detroit MC’s imminent return, the new realizations of his mental health, and his long-rumored beef with Kendrick Lamar. Towards the end of their free-flowing conversation, Sean and Joe were speaking about originality in hip-hop, with a special mention for fellow Detroit MC Dej Loaf, when Sean took a moment to praise R&B songstress and longtime beau Jhené Aiko for being a big influence on the new wave of alternative R&B.
“I feel like with R&B music she really helped drive that sound. She's one of the pioneers of that style of R&B,” Sean raved. “When I'm with her I see the respect that her peers give her.”
“I wish she would unblock me,” Joe interjected, to which Sean playfully hit back with, “You shouldn’t have been talking all that s**t, I guess.”
The two men laughed it off with Joe acknowledging that Sean did have a fair point. “I’ll live with it,” Joe conceded.
If you’ll recall, Joe previously expressed on his podcast that he did not feel Jhené had shown musical growth as an artist after she jointly released “None Of Your Concern” with Big Sean back in November of 2019.
“I love n**gas that keep the same content for a long time and I love n**as that keeps the same sound for a long, long time. You just have to be [good at both and grow within that],” Joe said at the time according to Capital Xtra. However, the New Jersey-native felt that “with every song that Jhené Aiko releases, in my opinion, she falls lower and lower on the list of the women that make that type of music.”
Jhené did not publicly respond to Joe’s criticism, but it’s clear she heard him. Sean finished his sentiments with praise for Dej Loaf and Jhené’s impact, adding that he feels “blessed to be around that.”
“People like her [and] Dej Loaf…’cause Dej Loaf in another way she created a little wave as well. I’m just blessed to be around that and see that too. I appreciate being around that,” Sean told Joe. Elsewhere in the conversation, Sean segued into speculation of beef with K-Dot.
Rumors of tension between them first came up after Kendrick took competitive aim at multiple rappers in his freestyle verse on Big Sean’s “Control” in 2013 — including Sean Don himself. Suspicions rose even more after he dropped “No More Interviews” in 2016, which many interpreted as a return volley to K-Dot. However, in his conversation with Joe, Sean says there was never any bad blood between him and the Compton MC.
“I was not beefing with nobody. I’m just rapping, n***a. It wasn’t like a specific person or else I would’ve said his name,” Sean explained. “I [saw] people saying that...I believe what you give your energy to, you attract and it grows. So, I see that and I’m like, ‘That’s some bullshit.’ So I didn’t even give no energy to it.”
Furthermore, when Kendrick dropped “The Heart Part 4,” Sean immediately hit up Top Dawg Entertainment CEO Top, who assured him that the song “ain’t about you at all.” In hindsight, Sean also admitted he should have said spoken up to quell the rumors. However, he felt the internet also had a hand in making the situation out to be bigger than what it actually was.
“Every verse I do, people be like, ‘Oh is this a response? Is this a response?’ And I’m like, ‘Damn I can’t even show no aggression, people think it’s a damn response,’” Sean explained. “It got to a point where somehow it was just a weird tension between me and him even though it was already said it wasn’t no beef. People made it that way.”
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Meanwhile, Jhené and Sean have seemingly rekindled their relationship following their “None Of Your Concern” collabo. The two spent an adorable Valentine’s Day at Disney World and posted flicked up pics at dinner together the following day.
We stan a supportive and protective king!
See how Sean checked the Jhene commentary below.
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