Rapper Big Sean discusses being a first time dad on this episode of Small Doses: Side Effects of Being a New Father. The Grammy-nominated artist welcomed his first child, Noah Hasani, with singer-songwriter Jhené Aiko last November.
Sean sits down with host Amanda Seales to share his experience with fatherhood thus far and how it changed his perspective.
“He’s my only son so my world revolves around him. It’s not all about you anymore,” Sean says. “He’s just pure love. I don’t really know how to be a good dad, I just know how to be there.”
In a Good Place
The Detroit rapper reflects on his first brush with depression as an emerging artist signed to Ye’s G.O.O.D. Music label.
“It was when I had signed my record deal, but things weren’t going how I wanted them to go … That was my first real hit with depression,” he says. “I was scared of getting dropped, I didn’t have the confidence in myself all the way because I was just young—19, 20 years old—being in rooms with Ye, Jay, your idols.”
Over the years, through navigating the highs and lows in the public eye, Sean has been working on his health on the inside and out.
“I had to just accept it, stop trying to control everything, and live in the moment and go with your feelings,” he says. “And I applied that to the studio, and that’s when things really started popping for me.”
Impact of Fatherhood
Now in a better place, Sean is able to enjoy being a new dad to the fullest. “You could see how his face lights up if mom and dad are together. When he sees acts of love between us, he loves that. He smiles so big,” he says.
Experiencing fatherhood gave Sean a new appreciation for his own mom and dad. “It made me appreciate my parents more,” he says. “They didn’t have a lot of money like that. They were grinding for real. They were making it work.”
“That’s one of the side effects of fatherhood, your perspective widens. Things you thought you would never be able to do, you would do it in a second,” he says.
Sean recognizes the gift of time that he’s had as a new father. “For the people that do have to have kids younger, I really give a lot of power to them because it takes so much patience. And that’s something that you might not have as much as when you’re young. It takes intuitiveness,” he says.
Now on the other side of his twenties and the early part of his career, it’s clear that Sean’s perspective and priorities have changed now that he has Noah in his life.
“It definitely shifts something and it lights a fire in you because the responsibility—it can be heavy to some people, it can be motivating to some people, it can be inspiring to some people,” he says.
Listen to the full episode of Small Doses: Side Effects of Being a New Father with Big Sean here.
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