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Feb 25, 2015A spirited combination of grown-man statement-making and round-the-way bull.
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Mar 18, 2015Artistically, three is the charm for Big Sean as Dark Sky Paradise is much more expansive than previous efforts, sometimes grinding with executive producer Kanye West's love of the dark, and other times bouncing with the snark, swagger, and style that propelled this Detroit rapper to the top.
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Feb 25, 2015“One Man” in particular, which deals with the loss of his grandmother and his acceptance of her passing, really underlines what the entire work is about: dealing with the ups and downs in life and figuring out the best way to accept them and move forward. With Dark Sky Paradise, Big Sean has finally found that balan
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Feb 24, 2015In the last year, he’s made real strides toward lucidity, and on Dark Sky Paradise, his third and best album, he is more human than ever before.
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Feb 24, 2015With Dark Sky Paradise, Big Sean is prepared to leave his mark.
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Feb 24, 2015With sterling wordplay and a consistent melancholy vibe, the Detroit native took all the tension, the highs and lows, and laid it out on wax, compiling the strongest project of his career.
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Feb 24, 2015Occasionally clumsy but wonderfully plainspoken, and impassioned when he wants to be, Sean has advanced (if not graduated) from the tepid mythmaking of Hall of Fame. Here he’s dynamic, and a pretty good rapper.
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Feb 24, 2015Ultimately, only time will tell if Dark Sky Paradise becomes the first Big Sean album that I like more than his mixtapes, but this one probably has the best chance yet.
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Mar 23, 2015Dark Sky Paradise lacks cohesion as an album, but on a track-by-track basis, it positions Big Sean as a wonderfully versatile rapper whose personality and style hold together even as he adapts to a range of contexts.
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Feb 25, 2015Mostly, though, Dark Sky Paradise is an ambitious, tasteful album from a rapper who’s often viewed as neither.
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Feb 25, 2015Dark Sky Paradise is a big leap in the direction of the ideal Big Sean full-length.
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Feb 24, 2015Big Sean has reached a personal high by finding his Dark Sky Paradise, and it's his honesty that takes listeners there with him.
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Mar 9, 2015Of the 12 songs on the album proper, Sean is left to his own devices on less than half of them (two of which are the intro and outro), and the first signs of wear on the album come as soon as one of his solo joints succeeds another.
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Feb 25, 2015More of the same, really, and what same is that anyway? His beats, hooks and musicality tread slightly above water.
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Feb 24, 2015Sean doesn’t have Drake’s brooding soul, but he’s a lot more fun to listen to these days.
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Feb 24, 2015His third and best record isn't that moment yet, but he's one step closer.
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Feb 24, 2015It is an LP with one hit single, some solid album cuts and the rest is genuinely quite forgettable.
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The WireMay 15, 2015On tracks with genuine maverick talents like E-40, his fundamental lack of character appears (or disappears) in sharp relief. [Apr 2015, p.65]
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Feb 24, 2015Twice, he wisely enlists Jhene Aiko, who has become rap’s signifier for bruised emotions. Yet the conflicted despondency throughout (“I Know,” “Win Some, Lose Some”) never yields to enlightenment; the results are more murky than dark.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 127 out of 176
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Mixed: 32 out of 176
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Negative: 17 out of 176
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Feb 25, 2015
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Feb 24, 2015
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Feb 24, 2015