Album Review: Finally Famous

After four years and three Finally Famous mixtapes, Big Sean and GOOD Music are able to put Finally Famous: The Album on shelves and into CD players. I've listened to the album all the way through, track-by-track, a total of three times. I've listened to select songs more frequently, but I feel you can only truly judge an album by listening to the entire thing in the order the artist intended. Oftentimes, there is no other way to hear the story of the album.

I've been a fan of Sean's since his second tape, Vol. 2: UKNOWBIGSEAN, dropped a couple years back and have since downloaded the rest of his material. I tried to review Finally Famous while keeping his prior works in mind. If you are a Big Sean fan and you know his style, you won't be let down by his debut. If you listen to the radio and you turn up the volume when "My Last" comes on, I'd just pay for the single song on iTunes and stick with that.

Sean doesn't stray too far from what has brought him success in the past: clever punchlines, timely guest features, and a great selection of beats that seamlessly fit his charismatic flow. He's never going to be much of a story-teller and the content of his songs may be limited, but this is his first album and he is still growing as an artist. 

I will say one thing though. Without the impeccable production from No I.D. (the album's producer), The Neptunes, Xaphoon Jones of Chiddy Bang, and Da Internz, this album is mediocre at best. Luckily, Sean got the beats and was able to do just enough with them to not completely waste them.

Album Awards

Best Verse: Verse 3, "Memories (Part II)" feat. John Legend

One of my favorite songs on the album, "Memories" showcases Sean's introspective side as he looks back on the beginning of his career and the people who supported him early on, including his mother, his grandmother, and Kanye West.

Remember the first time I was rhyming for Kan’

                                    Almost as nervous as the first time I rhymed for my mom
                                       Sold out the theater downtown, she said it was perfect
                                                               But I already dreamed it

                                                              So it felt like I rehearsed it

Roll Down the Windows, Turn Up the Volume: "Dance (A$$)"

The content of the song may be next-to-useless, but the slapping snares, booming bassline, and a catchy sample of MC Hammer's  "U Can't Touch This" make this one a certified banger. Twist the knob to the right and let it shake your speakers.

Best Guest Appearance: Chiddy Bang on "High"

Lupe Fiasco may have had the best verse of the entire album on "Wait for Me", but I enjoyed Chiddy Bang's showcase on "High" much more. The duo consisting of Chiddy and Xaphoon Jones were able to spin their style to mesh with Sean's and it just worked. Chiddy's verse was airtight and Xaphoon's production, although the softest beat on the album, can put you in a trance quite easily. In other news, Wiz Khalifa managed to not completely ruin the song.

Bottom Line: Big Sean's Finally Famous is not a classic in my opinion. Punchlines don't make classics. That being said, I think it's as solid as debut albums get nowadays and will definitely be the album of the summer. "My Last" and "Marvin & Chardonnay" are certified commercial smashes and the rest of the tracks will serve as suitable cruisin' tunes. Given Sean's relative lack of exposure, I think anything over 200,000 units moved in the first week can be viewed as a success. Numbers may not affect this album, but they definitely can affect his future work.

Final Rating (out of a possible 5):  1/2

It Takes Two (or more), Baby

Since LeBron left Cleveland for Miami, there has been a lot of talk about him not being able to "do it on his own" and that he needed to team up with other stars for a shot at a title. I think this argument is valid in the sense that I agree LeBron can not win a championship by himself. My argument is...who has? I picked apart the rosters of the past 30 NBA Championship teams (thanks to Basketball-Reference) and came to the conclusion that 27 out of the past 30 champions had at least two Hall of Famer/All Star/top tier players.

The three teams that won it all without two star players are the 1994 and 1995 Rockets, who rode the back of Hakeem Olajuwon during Michael Jordan's two-year hiatus, and the 2004 Pistons, who relied on one of the most suffocating defenses in NBA history.


1980 Lakers: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson
1981 Celtics: Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale
1982 Lakers: Kareem, Magic, and Bob McAdoo
1983 76ers: Julius Erving and Moses Malone
1984 Celtics: Bird, Parish, McHale, and Dennis Johnson
1985 Lakers: Kareem, Magic, McAdoo, and James Worthy
1986 Celtics: Bird, Parish, McHale, and Bill Walton
1987 Lakers: Kareem, Magic, and Worthy
1988 Lakers: Kareem, Magic, and Worthy
1989 Pistons: Isiah Thomas, Adrian Dantley, Joe Dumars, and Dennis Rodman
1990 Pistons: Thomas, Dumars, and Rodman
1991 Bulls: Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen
1992 Bulls: Jordan and Pippen
1993 Bulls: Jordan and Pippen
1996 Bulls: Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman
1997 Bulls: Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, and Parish (in his 20th NBA season)
1998 Bulls: Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman
1999 Spurs: Tim Duncan and David Robinson
2000 Lakers: Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant
2001 Lakers: Shaq and Kobe
2002 Lakers: Shaq and Kobe
2003 Spurs: Duncan, Robinson, and Tony Parker
2005 Spurs: Duncan, Parker, and Manu Ginobili
2006 Heat: O'Neal, Dwyane Wade, and Gary Payton
2007 Spurs: Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili
2008 Celtics: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo
2009 Lakers: Kobe and Pau Gasol
2010 Lakers: Kobe and Gasol

Just a little food for thought for ya.

P.S. How awesome is the Lakers-Celtics dominance? Wow.

Just Spell the Word!

So I wake up today and the first thing I turn on is the Scripps National Spelling Bee. I usually leave it on and watch it with my eyes glued in wonder at the brains on some of these kids. I mean, what 12 year old do you know can spell appoggiatura in front of a hall full of people and many more watching on television? I'm pretty sure I was collecting baseball cards and flicking boogers at that age.

Anyway, as I prepared to be amazed, I quickly grew annoyed.

Uh, can you repeat the word?
Can I have the definition?
What's the country of origin?
Can you use the word in a sentence?
Am I saying the word right?
Can you repeat the definition?
Are there any alternate pronunciations?
You said it was French, right?


Bro just spell the word! Are you kidding me right now? Might as well ask for the spelling of the damn word! If I was in charge of the Spelling Bee, I'd take those questions out of the rule book quicker than you can spell staphylococci.

You want the definition? Should have studied that beforehand, dude. Country of origin? Nope, sorry. Webster's dictionary has all that info for you. Want a sentence? Make one up yourself. Tough luck. What other test have you taken where you can just ask a load of questions to help your cause? Good luck in 8th grade, kid. That type of thing ain't gonna fly there.

Oh, well there's too many words to memorize blah blah blah. Cry me a river, bro. Sometimes winning takes a little luck. If you didn't study the word, you're just shit outta luck. Plain and simple.

Someone needs to take a stand and stick it to these nerds. Might as well be me.

Inside the Cyber Life of an NBA 2K11 Star

Like many gamers out there, I spend much of my gaming time playing NBA 2K11. The game really isn't worth playing if you don't play online so that's really the only aspect of the game I have delved into. Let me make one thing clear before I continue: I am not particularly skilled at this game. That being said, it's not uncommon for me to get absolutely demolished by some nerd that spends 22 hours a day on Xbox Live. However, I can hold my own if I catch rythym. (By the way, my Xbox gamertag is AyeCee16. Add me if you got it.)

I have what I like to call a gamer's conscience, meaning I feel guilty using any of the following teams: Heat, Lakers, Celtics, Bulls. If I had to put a percentage on it, I play against these teams probably around 95% of the time I play. They're just so unstoppable if you really know how to play the game. My team of choice is the Thunder. They have skilled players, but are still bad enough in some areas that I feel somewhat accomplished if I win.

My go-to guy is Kevin Durant and for good reason. He's a lanky, yet smooth, player with a deadly shot. He's rated a 91 in the game, which is right at he bottom of what is considered elite. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Kobe Bryant are all rated 97, to put it in perspective. A 91-rated player should be able to dominate any game if given the right opportunities to do so, right? That's what I thought too, until just the other night.

So I sign in to Xbox Live, I pick the Thunder, set my roster, and get ready for tip-off. The rest of the 20 minute game can be summed up in three words: Pull. Flick. Clank. Those are the pulling of the right joystick, the flick of its release to shoot the ball, and the clank of the ball hitting the rim and bouncing seemingly further away from the basket with each and every shot.

The right joystick has never been and hopefully never will be as fruitless as it was on that night. Durant was ice cold, shooting 2-18 from the field, scoring only 10 points (he was 6-6 from the line). I was playing the Celtics and they are a fine defensive team in their own right, but I was finding KD some prime looks at the basket. Layups, mid-range jumpers, three pointers all falling by the wayside. The game ended, I lost by a considerable margin, and I immediately began to think about what went wrong.

I mean, how could a player SO good be SO bad in a video game? It's not like he has feelings, right? After a moment of self-blame, it came to me. Is it possible that Kevin Durant actually has a cyber life inside the game itself? I know it seems crazy, but hear me out. I bet his cyber girlfriend sent him a text message breakup right before the game, right? That has to be it. Or I know, him and Russell Westbrook got into a cyber tussle in the locker room before warmups. Yeah, that explains it.

Maybe he had a bad plate of cyber pasta. You know, cyber food poisoning. No way he could play through that. Ah, there were probably cyber trade rumors coming from management. What do I know? I don't deal with the brass of the organization, I'm just the puppeteer. He's probably upset with his cyber contract. I'm rated a freakin' 91! Pay me like a 91! He had to realize he's being underpaid sooner or later.

There's nothing to do in Oklahoma City other than drink and watch college football. He probably went on a bender the night before. Yeah there we go, a cyber hangover. Just went David Wells on 'em. That bastard probably threw the game! Someone made him a cyber offer he couldn't refuse and he was able to put a little extra cash in his pocket after bricking up the joint.

It has to be one of those reasons, right? It just has to. It couldn't be my fault. No way.