Big Sean – “Friday Night Cypher” (Feat. Tee Grizzley, Kash Doll, Cash Kidd, Payroll Giovanni, 42 Dugg, Boldy James, Drego, Sada Baby, Royce Da 5’9″, & Eminem)
Today, Big Sean releases his new album Detroit 2, the sequel to his 2012 mixtape Detroit. The new album is huge — 21 songs, 74 minutes, an insane number of guests. We’ve already posted the early single “Deep Reverence,” a collaboration with the late Nipsey Hussle. And as previously reported, the album also has guest appearances out the ass: Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu, Dave Chappelle, Lil Wayne, Travis Scott, Diddy, Young Thug. But the song that immediately grabbed everyone’s attention is track 19, “Friday Night Cypher,” which features 11 different Detroit rappers, including Eminem.
“Friday Night Cypher,” it turns out, is 10 minutes long. It’s a sort of follow-up to “Detroit Vs. Everybody,” the 2015 single that Big Sean recorded with fellow Detroit rappers Eminem, Danny Brown, DeJ Loaf, Royce Da 5’9″, and Trick Trick. (They all performed it live in Detroit later that year.) Right now, Detroit has the best underground rap scene in the country, and Big Sean has been paying attention. On “Friday Night Cypher,” Royce and Eminem return, but most of the song belongs to the loud, hungry voices of the Detroit underground, including Sada Baby, Boldy James, Drego, and Payroll Giovanni, as well as relatively prominent national figures like 42 Dugg and Tee Grizzley.
The track’s beat keeps switching up, with a sample of the Clipse classic “Grindin'” coming in and out. It represents a real logistical triumph, considering that all these guys don’t even like each other. (Tee Grizzley and Sada Baby are not, for instance, currently getting along.) But it’s also a great showcase for a city that’s absolutely lousy with great rappers right now. In fact, it’s a measure of how great Detroit is right now that you can have a big conversation about all the rappers who aren’t on it, including BandGang Lonnie Bands, FMB DZ, Icewear Vezzo, Shred Gang Mone, Teejayx6, Kasher Quon, and the ShittyBoyz crew. Listen to “Friday Night Cypher” below.
If you’re interested, here’s the full Detroit 2 stream.
Detroit 2 is out now on G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam.
