Big Sean Talks Recruiting Eminem, Royce Da 5’9″ & Other Detroit Artists For “Friday Night Cypher”

The nearly 10-minute track also features Tee Grizzley, Kash Doll, Cash Kidd, Payroll, 42 Dugg, Boldy James, Drego, and Sada Baby.

(AllHipHop News) At the moment, Big Sean’s Detroit 2 album is forecasted to debut at #1 on next week’s album chart. His latest musical effort was bolstered by numerous high-profile collaborators.

Hit-Boy executive produced the entire project. Plus, Detroit 2 contains songs with Post Malone (“Wolves”), Travis Scott (“Lithuania”), Young Thug (“Respect It”), Wale (“Guard Your Heart”), Lil Wayne (“Don Life”), the late Nipsey Hussle (“Deep Reverence”), and more. 

One of the standout records – “Friday Night Cypher” – included an impresssive lineup of Detroit-bred rappers. Sean drafted Tee Grizzley, Kash Doll, Cash Kidd, Payroll, 42 Dugg, Boldy James, Drego, Sada Baby, Royce Da 5’9″, and Eminem for the posse cut.

“It’s a part of rap community to do cyphers, to battle rap, all these things. That’s like a part of Detroit culture too,” Big Sean explained to Nadeska on Apple Music 1. “I came up just like how it is in Philly and New York. Detroit is heavy on the battle rap scene and heavy on the open mic scene.” 

He added, “But what’s unique about this is the beats change, so even though it’s one track it feels like it’s a little EP riding too. The beat changes like eight, nine times, different beats. Some classic beats people may remember that got flipped, some new beats. And it’s artists that people may not know and artists that people for sure know. But I wanted to just bring them all together. Some artists that got beef with each other had to resolve their beef… I’m definitely proud of the accomplishment of getting a lot of people on there and doing that for the city.”

Big Sean’s “Friday Night Cypher” samples 2002’s “Grindin'” by Clipse as well as 1978’s “My Music” by Samuel Jonathan Johnson. The latter song was also incorporated into Jadakiss’s “We Gonna Make It” featuring Styles P from 2001. Hit-Boy, Key Wane, Jay John Henry, and Helluva are credited as the producers for “Friday Night Cypher.”