Big Sean is here to help.
The MC, known for hits, including “My Last,” “Bounce Back” and more, is looking to support you on your wellness journey. He, for instance, offered me words of encouragement when I got the chance to interview the 36-year-old and told him about my renewed commitment to prioritize healthiness, mentally and physically, as a mother of two.
“I know how crazy it is to just be a mom. So God bless you,” he said over Zoom in a calm, caring voice. “I know it’s not easy. “I don’t think men can handle the stuff that women handle. We may sometimes be physically stronger but women are, to me, the closest between the species to God because they create life. I know that sounds kind of dramatic, but I feel for you. I know it’s not always the best, but it’s also such a gift being a mother.”
I was there to speak with the star about his effort to uplift others through his first book. It’s a self-help work titled Go Higher: Five Practices for Purpose, Success and Inner Peace. The methods shared in the book, including the importance of acceptance, strategizing, trying, trusting and manifestation, come from spiritual practices that have helped Sean better manage not only the complexities of the music biz, but also fatherhood, and dark times in life in general, including navigating anxiety and depression.
“For example, accepting something just means you’re not going against the resistance of it anymore and you’re kind of allowing it to flow and either pass or to get what it is you’re supposed to get out of it instead of wasting time trying to deny the truth of it,” he says. “To me, every day I accept where I’m at, who I am, what I have to do, and I just try my best. I think that that has just been a way better way to approach things for me. So that was one of the points — giving people that opportunity to do that every day.”
Sean also leaned on other gurus in wellness, like Deepak Chopra, Jay Shetty and even unexpected ones like Jay-Z. Additional support came from wise elders in his family, like his mom, in creating this interactive guidebook.
We spoke with the hitmaker about the inspiration for his latest work, already a bestseller, how fatherhood has shifted the way he sees the world, and why Go Higher is an essential tool for the times we’re living in.
ESSENCE: Long before Go Higher: Five Practices for Purpose, Success and Inner Peace, when did you kind of start feeling like, I’m going to make it a daily priority to really take care of myself?
Big Sean: Life is full of ups and downs. It’s full of highs and lows, gut punches, and great, not so great. But it’s all just about your perspective on things, I realized, and the power of not letting yourself get taken under. That power of separation, of being able to realize sometimes things are going to go your way and it makes you feel good, but when they don’t go your way, that doesn’t mean you still can’t feel good. You still can’t be happy. And I always tie those things into most of the parts of my life.
It is an ongoing process, but when I was young, it came from going to church and having good people around me, a great mom, a great grandma, people who were just emotionally intelligent and were there to guide me or at least prepare me for certain times as best as they could. Nothing can prepare you for what life has to offer, though. So the efforts of this book is just to give kind of what I’ve experienced and help you put on some armor to go out in the battle of life, and be able to still be fine through it all and thrive through it all and be who you’re meant to be.
How important are these practices for people in the times that we’re living in right now? It’s been a lot of chaos since 2025 began. So how important is this work and this message that you’re sharing with people at a time like this?
I feel like it’s the importance of working on yourself. That is really how you change the world is to change yourself first and foremost. If you’re not satisfied with the environment and the chaos of the world, we are really the ones that are creating our environment. So we’re magnetizing whatever it is we’re admitting. You know what I’m saying? I really believe that. I mean, I’ve seen it happen. So I feel like the frequency of bettering yourself, the frequency of working on yourself, not only will help you through these times, but it could really change these times and turn it into a positive. Because one of the things that I’ve had to learn is to accept where we’re at. The biggest waste of time is putting energy in things you can’t control.
The things you can control sometimes can change the things you can’t control, especially if you really have that belief, if you really trust yourself, if you really trust that this is a world that we are creators, God is inside of us. We really have the power of a universe inside of us. So I think that’s the importance of working on yourself. If you really do want to change the world, that’s how you start is to work on yourself in it. Vibes are contagious. Energy is contagious. Just like how germs can spread, so does energy, so does a mindset. That’s why I wanted to write the book now instead of just waiting. Because you never know what’s going to happen in life. It’s so unpredictable and I just wanted to use the power of now and do it while I have the opportunity to do it. I may not always be here. I always counted on a lot of my friends being here, a lot of family members, and they’re gone. I’m here and I’m here for a reason and if I have the opportunity to be better, I’m going do it.
Nice. I love that. And how has fatherhood impacted your desire to just really be at your best, have that inner peace within yourself?
It has taught me to be more efficient with my time. It really puts in perspective how fast time moves as well. And that’s another reason of like, man, get things done as soon as you can. But still with inspiration behind it, still with passion behind it, you just don’t want to rush and rush and rush things out. But it definitely puts in perspective time. And it also has allowed me to reconnect with my childhood in a sense too. Knowing how important it’s to have fun enjoying the simple things, especially in nature. My son really has gotten me outside again and just connecting with things and connecting with people in different ways that have nothing to do with music or anything professional. So I really appreciate him for being such a teacher at such a young age — being so wise and just such a beautiful person. He has his tantrums, he’s two, so he has his moments, but that teaches me something as well. It teaches me how to be patient more and also understanding that this is the only way he can communicate. He’s just trying to get something across. So it taught me to read between the lines more too.
In addition to using the practices that you share in this book, what are ways when you get time by yourself that you like to unwind?
I definitely meditate every day. That only lasts for 15 minutes or so. I write some things down, journal. Sometimes I feel like when you write things down and say ’em out loud it gets them not only out of your head, but it is the first step to putting it out in the world.
If God is listening to you, then at least you can communicate whatever it is your intentions are so God can help you. It’s like prayer. That’s why I love prayer so much. You can’t expect the blessings to rain down if you don’t send the prayers up. It’s important to be vocal and to communicate whatever it is you’re after and know that what’s meant for you is meant for you.
There are a lot of people who love self-help books and things just to keep them centered and again, very crazy world we’re living in. So as people are looking on Amazon or looking at Barnes & Nobles and different places, what would you tell them is a reason that they should go for Go Higher? What do you want them to take from your work?
I think that first of all, to me it’s a great read. I’m very big on stories and the hero’s journey and connecting with the heart. So I definitely feel like I was really happy to be able to tell stories. It’s not necessarily a memoir, they’re just stories that relate to how these practices work and giving examples. But I think that it’s a frequency changer. And also it’s for people who may feel like they’re at a stuck point in their life, may feel like they don’t know how to align with themselves, may feel like they just want to build a foundation of consciousness to go and connect with the rest of their life. A lot of us feel disconnected. We’re in a pattern of being controlled through mass media. We all are addicted to the internet and all these things and I feel like this is a way to really connect with yourself.
So I really feel like it’s a book that will give you strategies and that you can apply to almost any situation, any profession, any part of your life. I’m really happy to just provide that and drop those gems. And it is not just my experience either. It is a culmination of my family’s experiences. My grandma was one of the first female Black captains in World War II and shared a lot of this wisdom, so it’s like this is their book too. This is my mom’s book. It’s a family of scholars and wise people who really helped me cultivate the book and went through the versions of the book with me and the drafts of it, especially my mom and my brother and my aunties. It is really all of that and the secrets of getting to sit with Deepak Chopra and Sadhguru and Jay-Z and all these different cool people about it. It’s a culmination of all of those types of gems.
Speaking of Jay-Z and hip-hop, I think people look at hip-hop and they think that it’s about an image and exuding vulnerability may not always be as welcomed. So what does it mean to you to kind of just take the lid off that and be that example for other Black men both in the industry but also just in the everyday to propel the message that it’s ok to go through things, but it’s essential to take care of yourself?
Yeah, I think that needs to be the norm instead of there being a stigma about it. It is important. And that’s another person, Jay-Z is someone who meditates all the time, every day. And I remember I got a chance to talk to Kobe [Bryant] about it and literally when he told me how he meditated, it literally does the same thing for me. It’s just like there’s a lot of people I looked up to and didn’t know that they were on their own spiritual journey because they don’t talk about it. So I’m really just trying to give the game. I’m really just trying to give the things that have helped, not just me along, but a lot of people that people may look up to and the advantages that they have. And that’s the real win. That’s how you really win in life is to prepare yourself to be the best version of yourself and to bring that to any situation.