''Detroit'' is the fourth mixtape by American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

Big Sean Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. He met Kanye West as a teenager, and signed with his record label GOOD Music, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings in 2007. He gained popul ...

. It was released for free download on September 5, 2012, by

GOOD Music GOOD Music (often stylized as G.O.O.D. Music; a backronym for Getting Out Our Dreams) is an American independent record label founded by rapper Kanye West in 2004. The label entered an exclusive long-term worldwide music distribution, distributi ...

. ''Detroit'' features

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

s from fellow rappers such as

J. Cole Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born in a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained attention as a rapper following the release of his d ...

Juicy J Jordan Michael Houston III (born April 5, 1975), known professionally as Juicy J, is an American rapper and record producer. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, he is a founding member of the Southern hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia, established ...

King Chip Charles Jawanzaa Worth (born October 20, 1986), known by his stage name Chip Tha Ripper (also known as King Chip), is an American rapper from Cleveland, Ohio. He is best known for his guest appearance on fellow Cleveland rapper Kid Cudi's 2013 s ...

French Montana Karim Kharbouch (Moroccan Arabic, Arabic: IPA pronunciation, æɾiːm χɑɾbuːʃ born November 9, 1984), better known by his stage name French Montana, is a Moroccan-American rapper. Born and raised in Morocco, he immigrated to New York ...

Royce da 5'9" Ryan Daniel Montgomery (born July 5, 1977), known professionally as Royce da 5'9" (or simply Royce 5'9"), is an American rapper. Best known for his association with fellow Detroit rapper Eminem, they became acquainted in 1997 and formed the hi ...

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...

and

Tyga Micheal Ray StevensonMicheal Ray Stevenson

, along with track narrations by

Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

Young Jeezy Jay Wayne Jenkins (born September 28, 1977), known by his stage name Jeezy (or Young Jeezy), is an American rapper. He is credited, alongside fellow Georgia-based rappers T.I. and Gucci Mane, with pioneering the hip hop subgenre trap music fo ...

and

Snoop Lion Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

Wale Wale or WALE may refer to: Places * Wale, Devon, a hamlet in England * Wale, Tomaszów Mazowiecki County, a village in Poland People * Wale (surname) *Wale (rapper), stage name of American rapper Olubowale Victor Akintimehin Radio and televisi ...

and

Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and actor. Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he signed with the local independent label Rostrum Records to re ...

are also featured in the bonus tracks. American singers including

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

Jhené Aiko Jhené Aiko Efuru Chilombo (; born March 16, 1988) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer and rapper. Aiko embarked on her musical career in 2002, as a backing vocalist and music video performer for the R&B group B2K. She was signed by the ...

James Fauntleroy James Edward Fauntleroy II (born May 16, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Inglewood, California. He is best known for his songwriting work and guest performances on songs by high-profile artists including Travis ...

and

Mike Posner Michael Robert Henrion Posner ( ; born February 12, 1988) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Detroit.For Posner's full name, see He signed with J Records in 2009 and released his debut single "Cooler Than Me" the follo ...

also make guest appearances on the mixtape. Production is by

Hit-Boy Chauncey Alexander Hollis Jr. (born May 21, 1987), known professionally as Hit-Boy, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He first signed with fellow producer Polow da Don in 2007 as in-house production staff for his l ...

Da Internz Da Internz are an American music production team originating from Chicago and currently based in Los Angeles. The duo is composed of Marcos " Kosine" Palacios and Ernest Tuo Clark. Da Internz describe their sound as "gourmet ratchet", meaning ...

808 Mafia 808 Mafia is an American record production and songwriting group founded by record producers TM88, Lex Luger, and Southside. Its other members include Fuse 100, Tarentino, Purps, Swede, Nonstop Da Hitman, and MP808, among others. The group's ...

's own producers

Lex Luger Lawrence Wendell Pfohl (born June 2, 1958), better known by the ring name Lex Luger, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, bodybuilder, and gridiron football player. He is best known for his work with Jim Crocke ...

and Southside and

KeY Wane Dwane Marshall Weir II (born July 12, 1990) is an American hip hop/R&B producer and songwriter, professionally known as Key Wane. Wane has produced for artists such as Big Sean, Jazmine Sullivan, Beyoncé, Drake, Jhene Aiko, Wale, Lil Wayne, ...

, among others. The mixtape primarily consisted of these completed original songs. ''Detroit'' caused the mixtape site

DatPiff DatPiff was an online audio distribution platform that was launched in 2005. It is headquartered in Pennsylvania. It specializes in hip-hop, rap, and urban music. The site was founded in the spring of 2005 by Marcus Frasier. It is owned by Me ...

to crash upon the mixtape's eventual release. It was viewed 1.5 million times on the day of release and was downloaded close to 700,000—with 500,000 downloads within three hours. ''Detroit'' has been downloaded over a million times. On September 4, 2020, Big Sean released a sequel to the mixtape titled

Detroit 2 ''Detroit 2'' is the fifth studio album by American rapper Big Sean, released through GOOD Music on September 4, 2020, with distribution handled by Def Jam Recordings. The album serves as a sequel to Sean's 2012 mixtape, ''Detroit''. It features ...

, as his fifth studio album. On September 5, 2022, Big Sean re-released the mixtape on all streaming platforms.

Background

On August 20, 2012, Big Sean first announced the mixtape via

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

video, titled "Big Sean Mixtape Announcement 2012". Big Sean released three song previews in the shape of short music videos as promotion before the mixtape release; "How It Feel" on August 21, "24 Karats of Gold" on August 28 and "RWT" on September 4. Sean paid for the expenses of the videos himself. The title of the mixtape pays homage to Sean's hometown of

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Reception and accolades

''Detroit'' received widespread critical acclaim from music critics and fans, who hailed it as Sean's best work. The mixtape was named the 26th best album of 2012 by ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'' magazine. It also won Best Mixtape at the 2013

BET Hip Hop Awards The BET Hip Hop Awards are an annual awards show, airing on BET, showcasing hip hop performers, producers and music video directors. The awards ceremony began in 2006; it was held on November 12, 2006 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta and was first ...

. The mixtape arrived on streaming platforms in 2022 for its 10th anniversary.

Track listing

;Notes * On the original release, "Life Should Go On" and "All I Know" are put together on one track but are separated in the table. * "Higher" contains a sample from "

Mercy Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French , from Medieval Latin , "price paid, wages", from Latin , "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, religious, social, and legal contexts. In the social and le ...

", written by

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

, Sean Anderson, Terrence Thornton, Tauheed Epps, Michael Williams II, Ross Birchard, Mike Dean, Anthony Khan, Stepan Taft, James Thomas, Denzie Beagle, Winston Riley and Reggie Williams, as performed by Kanye West featuring Big Sean,

Pusha T Terrence LeVarr Thornton (born May 13, 1977), better known by his stage name Pusha T, is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as one half of the Virginia-based hip hop duo Clipse, which he formed with his older brother No Malice, Malice. M ...

and

2 Chainz Tauheed K. Epps (born September 12, 1977), known professionally as 2 Chainz (formerly Tity Boi), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, he gained recognition as one-half of the Southern hip-hop duo Playaz Ci ...

; and samples from "Prelude", written and performed by

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...

. * "Do What I Gotta Do" does not appear in the streaming version. * "24K of Gold" interpolates lyrics from "

If I Ruled the World (Imagine That) "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)", often shortened to "If I Ruled the World", is a song by American rapper Nas featuring vocals from American singer Lauryn Hill. It was released as the lead single from Nas' second studio album ''It Was Writt ...

" by

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air (S ...

. * "How It Feel" contains a slight change in lyrics on the streaming version. * "More Thoughts (2019)" contains a sample from "Fall In", written and performed by

Esperanza Spalding Esperanza Emily Spalding (born October 18, 1984), sometimes professionally known with the stylized name of esperanza spalding, is an American bassist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Her accolades include five Grammy Awards, a Boston Music Aw ...

References

{{Authority control 2012 mixtape albums Big Sean albums Albums produced by Da Internz Albums produced by Don Cannon Albums produced by Hit-Boy Albums produced by Lex Luger Albums produced by Young Chop Albums produced by Key Wane Albums produced by Southside (record producer) GOOD Music mixtape albums