Big Sean Responds To Drake's Rhyme Style Compliment

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By Hillary Crosley, with reporting by Sway Calloway

Does the lyric ‘It’s going down, basement’ sound familiar? How about ‘I shut ‘em down, Onyx’? Those two lines are from Nicki Minaj and Drake respectively, but the Toronto MC credited to style of the rhyme to G.O.O.D. Music’s Detroit native.

"To be honest, that flow, you can trace it back to like … I trace it back to Big Sean," Drake told Allhiphop earlier this year. "That’s the first guy I heard utilize that flow throughout the duration of a verse. I’ll give him that credit. I think Kanye got it from him."

MTV News' Sway asked the Sean about Drake's nod during "RapFix Live" on Thursday (November 18) with Pusha T and CyHi The Prynce.

"I think I was the first person to use it in that context," said Big Sean. "Drake gave me the credit for it, which he didn't have to do, he gets the real g award for that one. "

During the show, which streamed live here on RapFix and fans submitted questions via Twitter to @MTVRapFix and uploaded video queries to your.mtv.com, Sean also talked about how the rhyme occurred.

"It's something that I did in 2008, it was honestly a joke and I was with Kanye when I came up with it," said Sean via Skype from Orlando, Florida. "I was rapping it to him and he was like 'Man, those is the best raps you've ever wrote.' From there, I just made a song and I put it out on a mixtape and next thing I know, Drake used it in his song, which is dope. Then it seemed like everybody started using it, and I was feeling like 'Man, I kinda started this' but that just showed me how much impact I could have on the game. It just makes my imagination run wild and I know the possibilities are endless for the influence I could have."

"I'm a Detroit player, they set styles," added Sean, as to how he was able to hatch such a widespread trend. "You hear B.I.G. and Jay reference Detroit for they style and gators, it's 'cause Detroit players got that style. So whether it's fashion or music, I always try to bring in a certain style. That's one of the things that have been proven, that I could bring new styles to the game, so I'm excited about it."

Sean closed out his interview by casually mentioning that he's featured on the iTunes release of Kanye West's "See Me Now" which features Beyoncé, on his LP My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. West's album hits shelves on November 22.

"Did he just pop his own collar?" asked Sway with a smile. Yes, definitely.