Big Sean on whether Kanye West was involved in album leak
Detroit rapper Sean Michael Leonard Anderson, known by his stage name Big Sean, has spoken out on the rumours that Kanye West was behind the leak of his forthcoming album, Better Me Than You. Big Sean used to be signed to West’s label and was his mentee for a while. However, the pair are now reportedly on less than friendly terms.
Despite a degree of ill feeling reported between the two stars, Sean refused to believe that West was behind the leak. “I know he wouldn’t do that ’cause that’s trash,” he said in an address to his fans on Instagram Live. “I know he wouldn’t do no shit like that. Whoever did do that, just know that it did fuck me up. I know he ain’t do that. N*ggas talking about, ‘Ye did that.’ I know he ain’t do that.”
Sean proceeded to walk around his home energetically before stopping at a plaque. He then showed respect to West for nurturing his early career success under the GOOD label. “You see this plaque right here? It says 185 million records sold under GOOD Music,” he said. “I love GOOD Music. Shit, they made more money off my music than I did!”
Maintaining his vehement denial, Sean seemed to suggest that many people have access to exclusive album previews, and so it could have been a mistake by one of several people. “I had access to a lot of exclusives — not just him, but other people’s too,” he added. “And I would never leak nobody’s shit, so I know he ain’t do that. Whoever started that rumour, y’all on some bullshit.”
The rumours began last week when a fan claimed that West told them to leak the album. The culprit, who is a West fan first and foremost, shared the album with the message, “Since he wanna disrespect Ye so much, here’s the album, fuck him and his whole team. Ye told me to leak it.”
The “disrespect” the fan referred to was Sean’s supposed diss on his recent On the Radar freestyle performance. During his lyrical barrage, he rapped, “I had to switch the home team ’cause they committed treason.” Later, he added, “N*ggas looking for engagement like they got their knee bent / I got better things to do than to find someone to beef with.” These lines were a response to West’s previous diss on Drink Champs in 2021.
If, as Sean suspects, someone else shared the album with West’s fan, it was still supposedly in response to the diss. Better Me Than You is scheduled for official release on August 9th. Kanye West has yet to comment on the situation.