From Finally Famous to the HALL OF FAME: Big Sean Premieres New Single "Guap" & Announces Dec. 18th Release Date for New Album HALL OF FAME

NEW YORK, Oct. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Detroit rapper Big Sean, named Best New Artist at the 2012 BET Awards and GQ's "hottest rookie," is set to premiere his brand new single,"Guap," at 7:00 p.m. (ET) this Thursday (October 25th) across Urban and Rhythmic radio and on his website, uknowbigsean.com. Giving back to the hometown stations that helped launch his career, Sean will give exclusive interviews to WJLB and WGPR in Detroit, as the track blasts off at radio stations nationwide. Ten stations around the world will also premiere "Guap," among them 1XTRA, Choice and Kiss in the UK, Flow in Canada, Skyrock in France, and Jam 6 in Germany. 

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121025/NY00768-a)
(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121025/NY00768-b)

"Guap" - which will go up for sale at iTunes and all digital retailers immediately following the premiere, and impact at radio on November 5th - is the first advance track from HALL OF FAME, Big Sean's official second album, to be released December 18th on his mentor Kanye West's label, G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam Recordings.  In the U.S., the 7:00pm Thursday premiere also marks the launch of the countdown clock leading up to the release of HALL OF FAME.

HALL OF FAME and "Guap" build on the momentum of Sean's participation in two recent smash hit singles from executive producer Kanye West's phenomenal Cruel Summer album: the RIAA platinum "Mercy.1" featuring Kanye West, Big Sean, Pusha T, and 2 Chainz (#1 R&B, #1 Rap, #1 Rhythmic, #13 Hot 100); and "Clique" featuring Kanye West, Jay-Z and Big Sean (#2 R&B, #3 Rap, #12 Hot 100).  Big Sean was also heard on top-charted collabo's during the year with Justin Bieber (the worldwide hit "As Long As You Love Me"), Chris Brown ("Till I Die," also featuring Wiz Khalifa), and Meek Mill ("Burn," one of the summer's hottest street records).

HALL OF FAME is the long-awaited follow-up to Big Sean's major label debut album, Finally Famous (released June 2011), the #3 Soundscan debut that inaugurated Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music joint venture with Island Def Jam Music Group.  Rolling Stone gave the album 3½ stars, and USA Today gave it 3 (out of 4) stars.  The New York Times declared "the fun is contagious," and used the words "clever," and "confident," to describe the best-selling record. Sean subsequently came in #5 on MTV's "Hottest MCs" List of the Year, boosted by his MTV VMA nomination for Best New Artist.  A slew of BET awards nominations last year included Rookie of the Year, CD of the Year (for Finally Famous), and both Best Hip Hop Video and Track of the Year (both for "My Last").

Finally Famous spun off a triumvirate of crossover hits by Sean that drove album sales for most of 2012: the RIAA gold "My Last" featuring Chris Brown (#1 Rap, #4 R&B, #30 Hot 100); the RIAA gold "Marvin & Chardonnay" featuring Kanye West and Roscoe Dash (#1 R&B, #4 Rap, #32 Hot 100); and the RIAA double-platinum "Dance A$$ (Remix)" featuring Nicki Minaj (#2 Rap, #3 R&B, #10 Hot 100).

Big Sean's career has exploded over the last year and a half, with over 2.4 million Facebook fans to date, over 3.2 million Twitter followers, 65,000 YouTube subscribers, more than 38 million YouTube views, and more than 55 million views on VEVO.  He has been in overdrive since 2007, when his Finally Famous: The Mixtape was first issued, followed by Finally Famous Vol. 2: UKNOWBIGSEAN (2009), Finally Famous Vol. 3: BIG (2010) and most recently Detroit (2012) which was certified "Diamond" by host DatPiff with over 1.6 million downloads. 

Coinciding with the release of the Finally Famous album in June 2011, Big Sean has been busy on the road since kicking off an 8-week, 32-city coast-to-coast Rolling Papers World Tour 2011 with Pitts­burgh's Wiz Khalifa and Chevy Woods. On December 1st Big Sean will bring the "Hall of Fame" show – "the biggest show of my life," states Sean - to his hometown at the The Palace in Auburn Hills.  Tickets are now available at http://www.ticketmaster.com.

24-year old Sean Anderson started rapping as a 12-year old at the progressive Waldorf School in Detroit.  In high school, he and a friend formed a duo, then entered and won the "Friday Night Cipher" MC contest at hip-hop radio giant Hot 102.7.  The win earned them a spot to rap live on-air every Friday night for nearly a year.  It was on one of those Friday nights around 2005 that Sean encountered Kanye West (back in the Late Registration era) who agreed to hear the teenager's freestyle.  It was the contact of a lifetime, which led to Sean's signing with G.O.O.D. Music in late 2007, and his subsequent signing to Def Jam in 2008.  

SOURCE The Island Def Jam Music Group