Big Sean had no choice but to step away from music amid “a very deep battle of depression” following the passing of fellow rapper Nipsey Hussle.
The rapper first addressed his struggles with depression and anxiety around the release of Deep Reverence, his 2021 collaboration featuring a posthumous verse from the late Nipsey Hussle. The track arrived as a tribute following Hussle’s death and became one of the most personal moments of Sean’s career.
Now, in a new interview with ABC News, the Detroit star reflected on what it meant to share something so vulnerable.
Host Linsey Davis quizzed him on mental health still being “very taboo in the Black community,” prompting Sean to admit he hadn’t realised the weight of what he was doing at the time.
He said: “I was just sharing what was going on in my life.
“I didn’t realise that I was being so vulnerable. I wasn’t trying to be a spokesperson for mental health per se.”
He explained that therapy became essential during a period marked by “heavy ups and downs,” describing a moment when he felt he had hit an emotional wall.
Sean explained: “I either had to climb over it, or it was gonna fall on me and crush me.
“I had been so about my work that I lost touch with the person that I was. That led to a very deep battle of depression, deeper than I experienced when I was a teenager.”
Sean added that stepping back from the industry was the only way forward.
He said: “I had to take time away from the music industry being my first obligation, and I had to put myself first.”
Deep Reverence originally appeared on his fifth studio album Detroit 2, released in 2020. The project marked his return to solo work after 2017’s I Decided and featured an extensive list of collaborators, including Post Malone, A$AP Rocky, Meek Mill and Diddy.
The album also saw Sean revisit his past, from childhood memories to being diagnosed with heart disease at 19 — a moment he recounts on the track Lucky Me, crediting holistic treatment for helping him recover.
The record arrived after a period of personal recalibration for the rapper, who also used the album to shut down long‑running rumours of tension with Kendrick Lamar.
On ‘Deep Reverence, he raps about reaching out to Lamar after Hussle’s death, calling their supposed feud a misunderstanding fuelled by “wrong information.”
Detroit 2 served as a sequel to his 2012 mixtape Detroit.