The album received generally positive reviews from music critics and was a commercial success. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 103,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.
Release and promotion
Big Sean had originally planned to announce the album on March 13, 2020, coinciding with "313 Day", an annual celebration of Detroit; however, this announcement was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] Sean instead announced the album later in March, with no release date specified.[1] In late August, Sean announced over Twitter that the release date of the album would be September 4, 2020.[2] The album is Sean's final album released under Kanye West's Def Jam-distributed imprint, GOOD Music.[3]
Singles
"Deep Reverence" featuring American rapper Nipsey Hussle, was released on August 25, 2020, as the album's lead single.[4] The music video was released on March 5, 2021.[5] The song peaked at number 82 on the US Billboard Hot 100.[6]
The album's second single, "Wolves" featuring American singer Post Malone, was sent to rhythmic contemporary radio on September 19, 2020.[7] The music video was released on November 20, 2020.[8] The song peaked at number 65 on the Billboard Hot 100.[6]
Promotional singles
The album's first promotional single, "Harder than My Demons", was released on August 31, 2020, as well an accompanying music video.[9][10] The song peaked at number four on the US Bubbling Under Hot 100.[11]
Other songs
The music video for "Lithuania" featuring American rapper Travis Scott, was released on September 4, 2020.[12] The music video for "ZTFO", was released on September 17, 2020.[13] The music video for "Body Language" featuring American singers Ty Dolla Sign and Jhené Aiko, was released on December 16, 2020.[14]
Detroit 2 was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 71, based on eight reviews.[16] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 6.4 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[15]
Fred Thomas of AllMusic praised the album, stating, "The production is clean and engaging, with polished beats and the occasional glossy hook providing a contrast for Big Sean's visceral rhymes and urgently delivered performances".[17] Reviewing the album for Clash, Robin Murray stated, "Detroit 2 has that passion, that willingness to progress. Equal parts entertaining and wide, it finds the rapper coming full circle, only to find himself once more".[19] In a positive review, A. D. Amorosi of Variety wrote that "Big Sean makes Detroit 2 a real and righteous place, even if he has to use a handful of holy clichés to prove it".[25] Rashad Grove of Consequence said, "Undoubtedly, Big Sean's growth as an artist and, more importantly, as a human being is the scarlet thread that ties Detroit 2 together. The complexity of the human experience, as told from the vast experiences of Sean's own life, comes shining through".[20]HipHopDX's reviewer Mark Elibert stated in his review that "Detroit 2 shows when Big Sean opens up and tells his story he's an artist worthy of being in the conversation of the best of his era. He just needs to come back stronger with more airtight songs and not attempt to attract every audience that's out there".[21]
In a lukewarm review, NME's Will Lavin wrote, "Although it can be overblown, Sean's passion is unreserved here, the record peppered with Instagram-worthy captions that urge listeners to take inspiration from their surroundings while keeping friends and family close. This is why Sean's name continues to stay on the lips of rap connoisseurs almost a decade after his debut".[22] In a mixed review, Pitchfork's Drew Millard stated: "On his fifth solo album, Big Sean gets personal, leans on a slate of high-profile guests to provide most of the entertainment, and struggles to deliver anything that isn't fundamentally embarrassing."[23]
Detroit 2 debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 103,000 album-equivalent units (including 30,000 pure album sales) in its first week.[28] This became Sean's third US number-one debut and his seventh top-ten album.[28] The album also accumulated a total of 93.55 million on-demand US streams from all its tracks, in the week ending September 19, 2020.[28] In its second week, the album dropped to number seven on the chart, earning an additional 37,000 units.[29] On October 20, 2022, Detroit 2 was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales, streaming and track-sales equivalent of over half a million units in the United States.[30]
^[g] "The Baddest" contains samples of "Gojira Tai Mosura", written and performed by Akira Ifukube, taken from the motion picture soundtrack of Godzilla vs. Mothra.
