After meeting Kanye West at a radio station in Detroit, Michigan, 20-year-old Sean “Big Sean” Anderson used his childhood dreams of being an emcee to motivate him to spit an impressive 50 plus bars. The six-time Grammy Award winning Kanye West loved his work and almost a year later, Sean was a part of the G.O.O.D. Music family.

With his latest mixtape, Finally Famous and a feature on Kanye’s 2007 Can’t Tell Me Nothing mixtape, Big Sean recently landed a deal with Def Jam Recordings. With the support from his “Grammy Family,” his impressive rhyme scheme and his mid-western swag, Big Sean plans to drop his first-single, “Get’cha Some,” later this summer.

“Kanye taught me how to strive for perfection. If you don’t like the sound, change it. Don’t settle and be safe.”

Format: Working with Kanye West has to be amazing, but let’s talk about your recent experience in Tokyo.
Sean: Oh, it was amazing. I went over there with Kanye for the Bathing Ape World Tour and did a show in Tokyo, Japan and in Hong Kong. It was pretty tight. I got a chance to meet people like Nigo and kick it with Pharrell. We also shot my first video, “Get’cha Some.” It was real crazy and it was a life changing experience.

Format: Prior to Asia had you been anywhere else outside of the United States?
Sean: Of course I’ve been to Canada and I’ve been to Europe but I had not been to Asia.

Format: Talk to us about the urban fashion scene in Hong Kong as apposed to what’s happening in New York City.
Sean: Well if you appreciate fashion and entertainment, then Hong Kong is the shit for that. Kanye was over there picking out fabrics for Pastelle and Andre 3000 was picking out fabrics for his clothing line as well. That’s where the trends get started (to me) and they make their way over here. To me, America is the last people to get the trends. The main designers are either in Europe or somewhere else oversea. We get on it, later.

Format: How was it growing up in Detroit, Michigan while being part of hip-hop culture?
Sean: I think Detroit is a good place to grow up, especially if you want to be exposed to hip-hop. Detroit is like a melting pot because we’re in the Midwest. We get a lot of the Down South stuff, a lot from the East Coast and music from out West. We get pretty much everything, as apposed to if you were in L.A. you might be exposed to a lot of West Coast rap and of course you’ll be exposed to everything else but I think Detroit gets a lot of everything. It’s like a perfect balance. You have J Dilla, Eminem; you got Slum Village- mad people. If you want to go deeper, I could take it back to Motown but we don’t even have to go there.

Format: I see you forgot your boy [laughing] Bizarre.
Sean: Oh yeah, [laughing] Bizarre from D12. Yeah you know the list goes on and on.

Format: You recently got signed to Def Jam . Congratulations. What can we expect from the album?
Sean: Pharell and Kanye are on the album. WrighTrax did most of my album. The album is going to be crazy. It’s coming out later this year, at the earliest Fall and at the very, very latest at the top of next year. The video should premiere in June. I’m very excited…I think this is going to change the game. I know it sounds so cliché but I put in hard work and I really don’t follow the trends too much on the album. Each one of the tracks set a trend as opposed to following the trend.

Format: Where do you think Big Sean fits into the G.O.O.D. Music family?
Sean: I think I fit in there perfect. If you look at Common and Kanye, we’re all similar but we just speak on different topics. I think it’s a perfect balance. I’m more so the young one on G.O.O.D. Music. I just turned 20, so I’m the “young spitter” on the team. I think it’s a perfect balance at G.O.O.D. Music and I wouldn’t want to be on any other label. I feel like I’m on the old Bulls and shit.

Format: Let’s discuss the success of your mixtape, Finally Famous?
Sean: A lot of people are talking about it and it got a lot of love. I know they are going to post it on a lot more of the hip-hop sites. The album has a lot of hits and people really show me love. When I go out of town people are like, ‘Yo, aren’t you Big Sean?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah’ and they’re like, ‘Man, I love your shit!’ It’s a really good feeling. I might come out with another mixtape prior to the release of the album, if not after.

Format: Outside of G.O.O.D., let the people in on your entertainment company, Finally Famous.
Sean: Finally Famous is an entertainment company based out of Detroit and what we do is throw parties, or plan parties and usually those parties bring around 2,500 to 3,000 people. The company is built up of kids from the ages 18-21 and we were the most popular people in our high schools. Everybody in the company has their role and we’re just trying to get it. With that, I think I’m going to name my album, Finally Famous.

Finally Famous can represent so many different things. Finally can represent struggle, like we’re finally “here” or famous, a word that people strive to be or what people want to be- in whatever they do. I feel like there is a lot to being “Finally Famous” and it’s a brand.

Format: Prior to being signed to G.O.O.D. Music, what was one of your favorite or most inspirational songs done by Kanye West in regards to being an emcee?
Sean: I really use to listen to the College Dropout and a lot of his mixtapes. The song that inspired me the most, had to be the last song on College Dropout, “The Last Call.” I ended up telling him that one day too. He asked, ‘What are your top ten favorite songs?’ and it was him, Common and some more people in the studio with us, but they kept dropping these old ass songs. I’m like well; I grew up on ya’ll, so my list is going to be new shit and half of it is ya’ll. But “Last Call” is definitely the most inspirational.

Format: When you weren’t listening to Kanye West or Common growing up, what were you listening to?
Sean: I definitely banged with Bone Thugs N Harmony, I listened to Ma$e, BIG, Pac- all those people inspired me as a shorty. I loved that type of shit. When family came around, I would pretend like I was Ma$e or Biggie and just rap and shit. They thought it was cute. But people like Lauryn and The Fugees were crazy and Jay-Z of course.

Format: Describe the studio experience and give the readers a glimpse into a behind the scenes experience when recording an album.
Sean: The biggest lesson learned is that you can take how ever much time you want. You have to make sure your shit is right to you, before you put it out. Kanye taught me how to strive for perfection. If you don’t like the sound, change it. Don’t settle and be safe. Take time on it to tweek it. It’s definitely a process that isn’t made for everybody. You go in the studio and work, if you have something to work on. I love being in the studio but sometimes you can be in there so long that you just need a breath of fresh air. But the overall experience is cool.

Format: What does Big Sean bring to the current state of hip-hop?
Sean: Man, that’s a good question. I bring a sense of quality, especially amongst young rappers. I’m not dissing anybody because I have love for young rappers but I think I bring a sense of quality. Nobody is doing the type of music I do, being as young as I am. I’m definitely not trying to call anyone out or say that I’m better but with my music I don’t follow the trend. I want to set the trend. I think my music is fun and packed with excitement. Everything I do, I do it, because I wanted to.

More Info: Big Sean MySpace