After putting out three teasers to his mixtape, Big Sean delivers.Detroit,  a much anticipated mixtape, did not leave me unsatisfied. Personally, I thought this was much better than Big Sean’s debut album Finally Famous. Detroit  is a lead in to Big Sean’s second studio album and the G.O.O.D. Music album Cruel Summer. If you enjoy heavy trap beats and club beats, Detroit is not the best mixtape for you. But having a trap beat on a mainstream rap album/mixtape is inevitable; it is considered a norm in hip-hop.

Even though Big Sean wasn’t born in Detroit (he was born in California), he moved to Detroit at a very young age. He gained popularity by rapping on a Detroit hip-hop radio station, the same station where he met Kanye West. After signing with G.O.O.D Music/Def Jam, his popularity elevated at an extremely quick rate.

The intro track Higher produced by KeY Wane really is the deal breaker. The first time I heard this song, I knew that this mixtape would be good.  Many rappers rap about how he or she got to fame, and a lot of the times those songs aren’t always the best out of the whole album. In this song, Big Sean does it right.

Big Sean and J.Cole is a great match-up in the song 24K of Gold also produced KeY Wane, an up and coming producer who makes remarkably chill beats that induce severe head nodding. J.Cole does his usual job, and murders his verse.

Even though How It Feel, produced by Million $ Mano, is a boast song, Big Sean has all the right to make this song. Its hard  to find a solid flow of good songs from track to track. Big Sean goes hard and has an untouchable flow in this song.

Combo Breaker! I didn’t care much for the song Woke Up featuring Say It Aint Tone, Early Mac, Mike Posner and James Fantleroy. The beat is catchy, but the bars of these rappers were really generic sounding and the hook was boring.

When I first listened to Experimental, I thought I was listening to a Kid Cudi track. The similar sound was probably because of Chip tha Ripper, currently known as King Chip, because of his work with Cleveland representing collaborator Kid Cudi himself. The song itself is good, with the main plot of the song being about drug experimenting; but the part that upset me was Juicy J’s verse. Because his verse was the first in the song, I almost skipped the song without listening to King Chip or Big Sean’s verse. He just does not fit in with the song.

Mula did not settle in my stomach very well. This trap beat track did not impress me at all, especially French Montana. Just another song about money. At least I got my daily dose of “Boi” from Big Sean.

Looking through the track list before Detroit dropped, I saw the features on the song, 100, and was excited to listen to the song. As it was thought to be, Big Sean really did deliver on this song. This song features Royce Da 5’9 and Kendrick Lamar. Both features do an excellent job, and this could be my favorite song in the whole mixtape. The track is about fulfilling the things in life, and looking after family and friends before dying. “As I look up to the sky,thought about a 100 things to do before I die. Wonderin’ if I could live it all in one life, cause it could all end in one night.”

Selling Dreams featured Chris Brown. This song really took me off my feet. This song is pretty emotional, and I don’t even really like Chris Brown. Overall a sweet song.

KeY Wane does it again, another great chill and catchy track with I’m Gonna Be. The smooth synth piano and beats accompanied with Jhene Aiko’s soothing voice really is serene and comforting. It could be the equivalence of floating on clouds.

FFOE sounded like a leftover from Finally Famous. Not saying Big Sean’s debut album is bad, but it wasn’t his best production in his career. This song was very average.

Do What You Gotta Do was obviously supposed to be a club/trap beat. More or less Big Sean’s most popular single Dance… number two.

RWT is another trap beat, but surprisingly I actually enjoyed this very hype song. The only downfall to this song is that it was too short.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy, a sentimental song about how life is tough in Detroit. This song did not catch my eye until I listened to it a couple of times. Big Sean is not the best of singers, but he proves a point in the song.

Bonus Songs: Life Should Go On features Wale and really impressed me. I missed old school mixtape Wale, and this song reminded me of that Wale. Props to Key Wane once again. All I Know incorporates guitar strumming in the background with a drum beat. Wiz Khalifa is not my favorite rapper, but I enjoyed his verse in this bonus song.

In Detroit, some of the most interesting tracks are the 3 “story” interludes from big time rappers Common, Young Jeezy and Snoop Dogg Lion. These stories are from the perspective of the rappers and their experiences in the “D” (Detroit). There are a lot of memorable quotes from each story. Common even name dropped one of hip-hop’s most influential producer, J.Dilla.

Overall this mixtape took me by surprise. I did not expect all of this from Big Sean, I thought he would just go back to rapping about money, women, and substance; but he went back to his roots and made me reminisce to old Big Sean. I enjoyed this mixtape, and it could be one of the best mixtapes of 2012 so far.