I Decided doesn’t push boundaries — instead, it’s a skilled synthesis of the many strains of rap currently flourishing, from nods to Drake and Future to the Chance-tinged gospel of “Bigger Than Me.” But that means it’s a supremely listenable album, loaded with comfort-food hip-hop fit for booming club sound systems and earbuds on the subway alike.
If naysayers didn’t necessarily find themselves appreciative of Big Sean’s work after Dark Sky Paradise, this definitely isn’t going to get them on board now. However, he does maintain his ability to probably make better widespread songs than his peers that can travel from the club or radio to core rap heads.
I Decided. may be more sentimental than boisterous, but that doesn’t mean that it’s without the prototypical club bangers that we’ve come to know Big Sean for.
It's an album that has a handful of memorable tracks, a nice variation in production techniques and signs of obvious lyrical improvement from the 28-year-old emcee.
While I Decided. may not light up the club like his past efforts, it shines a different, more nurturing light onto deeper parts of his soul.
Big Sean exhibits growth and wisdom on I DECIDED., and that's definitely worth a listen. This is a solid effort.
While it's undoubtedly a solid addition to Sean's catalogue, at the end of 'I Decided.' it's the flows and instrumentals that are left with the listener, having upstaged what Sean is actually trying to say.
His fourth record treads the same moody path he blazed on 2015’s Dark Sky Paradise, and moves further away from his earliest work. The Detroit rapper trades in puerile punchlines for harder-hitting lyrics and powerhouse beats to bolster him. Sean’s sense of humor and hooky raps aren’t absent from these tracks, but he’s clearly maturing into a more serious artist.
Classic, mom-approved values have always been at the core of his work: hard work, sacrifice, persistence, gratitude ... in rapping about such unassailable ideas, he comes away with uninteresting results.
I Decided. attempts to bury that mean streak, and present the 28-year-old in a mature light. In short: It doesn’t work.
He is not a bad rapper, simply an average evangelist, and I Decided. is the latest chapter in his average brand of hero-worshiping gospel.
Big Sean is still finding himself. On I Decided, a mostly searing collection of introspective rhymes and light trap beats, he comes one step closer to a more self-assured sense of his space in the pantheon of today's most powerful and famous rappers.
With I Decided, Big Sean releases an album that gives me more to say than just "no."
I Decided certainly won’t change the game, but it’s charming and earnest enough to earn Sean some more good will.
One listen to I Decided. (unnecessary punctuation mark and all) suggests that he’s still in that liminal space between just famous and cool-famous.
Best Big Sean album up to date. Great production, confident and a cohesive record.
P.S. It's okay to like something that is not critically acclaimed.
Look - It's not as painfully boring as Double or Nothing, and it's nowhere NEAR as horny as Dark Sky Paradise. Thank God.
That said, my enjoyment of this LP has significantly dipped since my first listen. There are a collection of tracks I truly enjoy - Bounce Back, No Favors and ESPECIALLY Jump Out The Window are a three pack of tracks that I think have some great flows and lyricism from Sean, Inspire Me has a really engaging beat and some awesome harmonizing in the second half, the Migos ... read more
By far my favorite Big Sean record. Standout track after standout track. One of my favorite pop rap albums of all time.
Big Sean's most lyrically cohesive and consistent project.
It just doesn't do anything special.
1 | Intro 1:04 | 65 |
2 | Light 3:30 feat. Jeremih | 74 |
3 | Bounce Back 3:42 | 84 |
4 | No Favors 5:25 feat. Eminem | 79 |
5 | Jump Out the Window 3:33 | 67 |
6 | Moves 2:22 | 77 |
7 | Same Time, Pt. 1 1:29 feat. Twenty88 | 66 |
8 | Owe Me 4:31 | 62 |
9 | Halfway Off the Balcony 3:50 | 77 |
10 | Voices In My Head / Stick To the Plan 4:02 | 85 |
11 | Sunday Morning Jetpack 3:45 feat. The-Dream | 76 |
12 | Inspire Me 3:28 | 73 |
13 | Sacrifices 4:47 feat. Migos | 83 |
14 | Bigger Than Me 4:52 feat. The Flint Chozen Choir, Starrah | 85 |
#43 | / | Clash |