"Beware" is a song by American hip hop recording artist

Big Sean Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. Anderson began his music career in 2007 and gained popularity in 2010 with his third mixtape '' Finally Famous Vol. 3: Big''. He then s ...

taken from his second studio album ''

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

'' (2013). "Beware" was released on June 25, 2013, as the album's third single, through

GOOD In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...

and

Def Jam Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

. The song was written by Sean Anderson,

Dwayne Carter Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman, joining ...

, Dwane Weir II, and

Alexander Izquierdo Alexander Izquierdo, better known by the stage name Eskeerdo, is a Cuban-American rapper and songwriter from Hialeah, Florida. He released his first EP, ''Eskeerdo'', in 2015. He is known for being a member of the production team The Monsters & ...

, while production was handled by frequent collaborator

Key Wane Dwane Marshall Weir II (born July 12, 1990) is an American hip hop/R&B producer and songwriter, professionally known as Key Wane. Wane has produced for artists such as Big Sean, Jazmine Sullivan, Beyoncé, Drake, Jhene Aiko, Wale, Lil Wayne, ...

and Mike Dean and features

guest appearance In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other p ...

s from rapper

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman (rapper), ...

and singer

Jhené Aiko Jhené Aiko Efuru Chilombo (; born March 16, 1988) is an American singer who embarked on her music career contributing vocals and appearing in several music videos for R&B group B2K. In an effort to promote Aiko and cultivate a following for he ...

. Musically "Beware" is a hip hop song, backed by "poppy" and "head-bobbing" production, with lyrics that revolve around themes of infidelity and breaking up. Upon release "Beware" was met with generally positive reviews from music critics; who praised the song's musical direction and the inclusion of Jhene Aiko. Commercially the song fared well reaching the top forty of US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the top ten of the US

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart, since its release the song has been certified

double platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. An accompanying music video was directed by Matthew Williams and premiered on August 16, 2013, on Vevo, the video was later named one of "The 15 Best Hip-Hop Videos Of The Summer" by XXL. To further promote the song Sean performed at live on various inclusion including Jimmy Kimmel Live and the Hustle After Party.

Background

"Beware" was officially premiered through

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

on June 24, 2013, after announcing the track a day earlier. The track was released for digital download on June 25, 2013, as the album's third single, through

GOOD Music GOOD Music (also known simply as GOOD, stylized as G.O.O.D. Music; a backronym for Getting Out Our Dreams) is an American record label founded by rapper Kanye West in 2004. The label signed an exclusive long-term worldwide label agreement with t ...

and

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

. The lyrics depict relationship tensions between a male and female. The themes of infidelity and breaking up are steered away from in ''

'', making it the only piece on the album to focus on relationships. Both Key Wane and Mike Dean produced the beat which helps utilize the piece's tone. The beat was described as "poppy" and "head-bobbing" by James Shotwell, writer for

Spin Media Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

's ''Under the Gun Review''. He also said that it blends well with the three vocalists. "Beware" contains an

interpolation In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one often has a n ...

of "

Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got) "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)" is a song written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, released as a single by the Four Tops on the ABC/Dunhill record label, from the album ''Keeper of the Castle''. It peaked at number four on the U.S. ...

" written by

Dennis Lambert Dennis Earle Lambert (born 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Career Lambert began his music career in 1960 when he signed to Capitol Records as a recording artist. By the mid-1960s, he was w ...

and Brian Potter.

Critical reception

Upon release "Beware" was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. David Turner of Spin magazine praised the song and Big Sean for abounding the norm of hip-hop and moving away from "glossy resilience," Turner continued to commend Sean's choice to focus on "relationship tensions." A reviewer from the BoomBox praised Sean's choice to include Jhene Aiko as a feature and praised her on the "infectious chorus" from Aiko, the reviewer also praised Sean's choice to make a "radio friendly" song as well as praising Lil Wayne's verse.

Music video

The music video was directed by Matthew Williams from

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

creative company DONDA and premiered on August 16, 2013, on

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

. The described "trippy" music video was named one of "The 15 Best Hip-Hop Videos Of The Summer" by '' XXL''. During an interview with Rap Up TV Sean described the concept behind the music video stating he wanted to have a video that was cohesive with the singles artwork, as well as the album's other artworks and videos, Sean continued to say;

“It’s been great working with DONDA because they’re somebody who is really trying to elevate artistry, elevate artists, put them on a new level of creativity,” I think they’ve done that for me, from the ‘Beware’ video to the ‘Fire’ video. I’m proud of the video. It took a while to get done, but the end result is good. It’s cool to put out great videos that I can really be proud of.”

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Radio and release history

References

External links

* {{authority control 2013 singles 2013 songs Big Sean songs Lil Wayne songs Jhené Aiko songs Def Jam Recordings singles GOOD Music singles Song recordings produced by Key Wane Songs written by Big Sean Songs written by Lil Wayne Songs written by Eskeerdo Songs written by Key Wane Songs about infidelity