Sometimes, artists’ biggest hits are the ones they don’t see coming. Big Sean doubted the commercial appeal of “I Don’t F–k With You” and thought it was “dumb” while nearly cutting it from his 2015 Dark Sky Paradise album.
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Sean Don joined Detroit Lions star Amon-Ra St. Brown and his brother Equanimeous St. Brown on March 5 for an episode of the St. Brown Podcast, which saw the Detroit native recall playing “I Don’t F–k With You” for Beyoncé and Jay-Z at their house ahead of the project’s arrival.
According to Sean Don, Bey thought the brash anthem was “a little disrespectful” and suggested Nicki Minaj as a feature to balance the track, while Hov loved it and implored him to release the song.
“I went to their house and was playing them songs. Beyoncé was like, ‘It’s a little disrespectful. Maybe you should [get] Nicki Minaj on it for a female’s voice.’ Jay-Z was like, ‘Nah, it’s hard, though.’ He was like, ‘People gonna get it that you just having fun.’”
Sean continued: “Then I remember I was getting texts from Hov. He sent me a text one time that was like, ‘Every day you not putting that song out, you losing.’ I almost didn’t put it on the album. I thought it was a little dumb.”
Billboard has reached out to reps for Beyoncé for confirmation.
Fortunately for fans, Big Sean added E-40 to the mix and kept “I Don’t F–k With You” on Dark Sky Paradise, which went on to reach No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and is nearly diamond at 9x-platinum.
A day before Dark Sky Paradise‘s release (the album celebrated its 10th anniversary in February), Big Sean paid homage to one of his favorite Bey tracks with a freestyle over 2003’s “Me, Myself and I.”
Watch the full clip below.
