Big Sean Says Eminem Taught Him ‘Dedication,’ Compares Him to Goku

Big Sean has always looked to Eminem as an inspiration.

In a new interview with Zach Sang, Sean reflected on what he learned from Em in the early days of working together.

“Man, of what dedication is. Eminem is the biggest rapper in the world and he be in the studio every day,” Sean said around the 37:00 minute mark. “Every day he can be in there. He’s dedicated to it. He care about rapping like Goku care about fighting. Eminem is in that mug, in that studio, every day, dawg. We were eating Jet’s pizza in the studio watching South Park. It was the first time we worked.”

He also shared that he almost brought his Eminem CDs to get signed, but decided against it because he thought it would be “lame.” To Sean Don’s surprise, Em had the same idea.

“At the end of the session, he breaks out my CD and he’s like, 'Yo, can you sign ‘em?’” Sean remembered. “That was a lesson then. I’m like, ‘Bro, never be too cool to be a fan of who you a fan of.’ … I couldn’t fucking believe it, I was like, ‘Wow.’”

The Detroit natives have worked together on a handful of songs over the last 10 years, the first of which was 2014’s “Detroit vs. Everybody,” a posse cut that also features Royce da 5'9", Danny Brown, Dej Loaf, and Trick Trick.

Sean and Marshall Mathers would later go on to collaborate on “No Favors” from Sean’s 2017 album I Decided, “Friday Night Cypher” from Sean’s 2020 album Detroit 2, and “Tobey” from Eminem’s newest album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), which also features BabyTron.