Big Sean goes higher with debut book

Big Sean is easily one of Detroit’s most accomplished music artists and entertainers. Even by national standards he’s done more than 90% of emcees who’ve touched a mic. He’s sold over 185 million records worldwide, starred and done voice-overs in half-a-dozen films, was nominated for six Grammys, and as a fashion influencer has collaborated with Puma and Adidas. Last week, he added published author to that list and released his debut book, Go Higher: Five Practices for Purpose, Success, and Inner Peace.

“You can’t really count on life always being there. That was a bad habit that I had growing up, it’s always counting on things always being there,” Big Sean says during a phone interview on why he chose this point in his life to write the book. “Even when it came to Mac Miller, ‘Oh yeah lets link up soon,’ my boy Nipsey [Hussle] as well. Even Kobe [Bryant], all these people I crossed paths with and had interactions with and it was like, ‘Yeah, we’ll get up soon,’ you know, and thinking that time was always there instead of taking advantage of the moment that you’re in.”

Go Higher is a hybrid self-help book and memoir, making it an outlier compared to similar books written by other hip-hop artists. Sean breaks down his and his family’s journeys into 29 chapters with heavy doses of motivational instructions. Sean says he was against the idea of writing a standard memoir as he felt he was still living out his story. But his publisher nudged him to incorporate personal stories as a way to add context and realism to his blueprint of encouraging ideas.

“That was one of the hardest things to go back and have to think of all these stories and experiences and then tie them into all these practices,” he says. “From accepting, trying and trusting, to manifesting to strategizing, and how they all play a part and how it all comes together.”

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Big Sean’s debut book Go Higher: Five Practices for Purpose, Success, and Inner Peace is out now.

Sean talks about the book in a way that feels more like motivational speakers Les Brown or Eric Thomas rather than a platinum-selling emcee. He uses the words “inspire” and “motivation” routinely and he says he consciously tried to make Go Higher relatable for all readers. The book starts off with the story of how preteen Sean Anderson recited his first hip-hop verse to his mother, who told him it was “very good” and encouraged him to visualize his hip-hop goals. Afterwards Sean wrote in his school notebook that he wanted to be one of the greatest rappers from Detroit, and two years later his 8th grade classmates voted him “Most likely to be a rapper from Detroit.” It was his first introduction into manifesting. Sean speaks on how he’s leaned on that tool along with vision boards, faith, and journaling throughout the rest of the book. It’s not that these are new concepts, but hearing how one of the biggest hip-hop artists on the planet has used them over the years makes a different impact.

“It took a lot of faith to be able to just stick with it, instead of just giving up so easy,” Sean says. “It is something I want kids to listen to. It is something that if someone is at a pivotal moment of development and if it comes across and if the book is attractive to them, it could really ignite them and change their whole trajectory of reality.”

Big Sean has a chapter dedicated to his grandmother. He says he was adamant about the book not just being about his life and sharing his grandmother’s story and words of wisdom adds an extra layer of diversity and storytelling. On December 3 of last year, Big Sean and his family attended a premier of Tyler Perry’s The Six Triple Eight, a movie about the 6888 Central Postal Directory Battalion during World War II. Big Sean’s grandmother was one of the 855 soldiers who served in the only women’s Army Corps unit of color. While Sean mentions in his book that she was in the army, he didn’t know the significance of her service until later on.

“It was one of the most emotional things I had to sit and watch through, because it really felt like I was watching and living a part of my grandma’s life and I just appreciate [Perry] for telling that story,” Sean says. “Our family was watching it, holding hands. We probably cried 10 times watching that movie and I don’t even do that watching movies like that.”

Sean’s most transparent part of the book occurs when he discusses his 2017 battles with Adderall, alcohol, depression, and poor dietary choices, going into detail about how the substance abuse affected his health and how he treated those around him. He wants his openness to push readers who are experiencing similar debacles to take a deeper look at themselves, their choices, and pursue the help they need. Sean has been a champion of mental health therapy for several years now.

“I feel like the benefits of sharing your story has rewards to it, meaning that you can help so many people,” he says. “You can inspire so many people when you are open to share some of your hardest, darkest times.”

Sean wrote Go Higher during a critical time in his own life as he and longtime girlfriend and songstress Jhené Aiko had just welcomed their son Noah into the world. The demands of family and fatherhood prevented Sean from being able to completely devote all his attention to writing the book.

“I had to take breaks and gaps especially when my son was born,” he says. “Him being a newborn, I couldn’t do anything for months. We were just locked in on establishing his foundation and being there for him and making sure the bond was there.”

On January 21 Sean announced on his Instagram account that he was going to donate the proceeds from the book’s pre-orders to those affected by the recent wildfires in Southern California, which have killed at least 28, forced more than 200,000 to evacuate, and destroyed or damaged more than 16,000 structures.

“Jhené lost her house, our family house essentially,” he says. “I don’t really want to speak on it because it’s super sensitive and it’s fresh still. I just know how hard it is to lose everything unexpectedly and some of these families have no help. Some of their insurance policies got canceled on them and it was like one of the most historically Black places in California.”

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Kahn Santori Davison

Big Sean performed at the star-studded gran reopening of Michigan Central in 2025.

Even though Sean is in the midst of a press run for his book, he’s also in the studio daily (he says he was recording until 5 a.m. the day we speak) as he’s preparing to release a lot of music in 2025. His last project Better Me Than You dropped last August debuting at No. 25 on the U.S. Billboard 200. While the album was powered by the single, “It Is What It Is” featuring Gunna, it was the song “Certified” featuring NASAAN (son of legendary Detroit emcee Proof) that had hip-hop heads across the city rejoicing.

“NASSAN is my guy, definitely somebody I’m taking under my wing,” Sean says. “I’m definitely proud of him, I think he’s creative and he has what it takes to do whatever it is he sets out to do in music.”

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Most recently Sean teamed up with heavyweight actor and rapper Will Smith for the song “Beautiful Scars,” which will debut January 29 on iHeartRadio via an exclusive world premier event at 7 p.m. Sean refers to Smith as an “icon” and one of his “heroes.”

“I linked with him on some like mentorship vibes,” Sean says. “Like talking and giving me advice and then he was like, ‘I wanna do this song.’ He sent me the beat first, I did my verse, and then I heard the whole song and he’s actually going crazy on there.”

For Detroit, part of Big Sean’s musical legacy is he’s the knot that ties together two generations of Motor City hip-hop. His debut album Finally Famous dropped in 2011, a year after Eminem’s seventh album Recovery and two years after Doughboyz Cashout’s first mixtape We Run The City, Vol. 1. Even though Sean is six studio albums deep, he regularly acknowledges Detroit’s current wave of hip-hop all-stars on national interview platforms. He says he wants to drop two music projects in 2025 and go on tour, and promises collabs coming with Detroit rappers Skilla Baby, Icewear Vezzo, G.T., and Kash Doll.

“I was around all of them before it was really popping,” he says. “I had Payroll on my second album a long time ago. I always respect it. I was brought up under Street Lord Juan, I used to record at his studio downtown. He was one of my mentors before everything popped off.”

Sean says a few Detroit hip-hop artists expressed interest early on for him to start his own label imprint so they could sign to him, but Sean knew he didn’t have time to take on such a task.

“At the time I just couldn’t give them the attention that it requires,” he says. “So let’s just do a single and go platinum and be homies.”

Last month Sean was one of the guest judges on Netflix’s reality hip-hop competition show Rhythm + Flow where he praised Michigan rappers Detroit Diamond and Yoshi Vintage for their lyrics and stage presence. Sean says he was asked to be on Rhythm + Flow by the show’s creator Jesse Collins, who produced last summer’s star-studded Michigan Central grand reopening concert in Detroit as well as the first-ever all-hip-hop halftime show for Super Bowl LVI in 2021 that featured Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Anderson Paak, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, and Eminem.

“I’m familiar with battle rapping, I’m familiar with performing. It felt real comfortable to be there and just seeing people from Detroit and from Michigan doing so well,” Big Sean says of the Netflix show. “It was all good energy and definitely was a great process and something I could do again.”

Ultimately Big Sean’s most lasting legacy may be the sincerity and how accessible he’s made himself to Detroiters. Even at the heights of his stardom he always gave Detroit equal layers of philanthropy and showmanship. His alma mater Cass Tech has one of the best studios in the state because of him, and he plans on bringing back his Sean Don Weekend community event in 2025. Since 2007 he’s performed over three dozen times in Detroit including performances where he’s surprised attendees by bringing out guests J. Cole, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, and Lil Wayne. On April 1 of 2017 he was awarded the key to the city of Detroit by Mayor Mike Duggan and a few hours later he rocked a sold-out show at the Fox Theatre. At 2022’s Mo Pop Festival Big Sean concluded his performance by bringing out his parents, brother, and Aiko, who was pregnant at the time. No other Detroit hip-hop artist has meant this much to his city.

“Those shows were just moments in time and I’m thankful for them and I appreciate people showing up for me every time,” he says, adding, “It’s been quite a life already. I’m just appreciative.”

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