This question comes from a conversation I had with a friend of mine about the Big Sean album.

I like the album for the most part, but am pretty lukewarm on Big Sean as an MC. I tend to think he's average at best, yet somehow made an album of mostly good songs.

My friend replied that Big Sean is no worse than Kanye was when he broke in, and yet people sort of turned a blind eye to his lack of mic skills.

I went back and listened to College Dropout and Kanye is downright terrible on a lot of it. He has some nice lines, but his flow, his delivery, his overall presence on the mic is pretty lukewarm.

Yet when that shit dropped, it wasn't a common criticism. I sure as shit didn't feel it.

Was this because he was seen as a producer, so expectations were low? We were so enamored with the shift his album brought to the game that we happily ignored his abilities? Were the beats so nice we would've accepted anything over them?