Big Sean Serves as Detroit High School Principal, Freestyles With Students

One of the perks of making it big is being able to go home again and help someone else. Big Sean had that opportunity on Monday morning (May 14), when he flew into his native Detroit to take on the role of Lincoln High School's principal for the day as a part of the Get Schooled Foundation. En route, Sean had his most thought-provoking experience of the day.

"We were riding around through the city, and it's like, all the things that I've been through, and I'm coming back now as a role model," he tells The BoomBox. "As somebody that people look up to, somebody that people are excited to see, and that just blows my mind, man. It's crazy how things go from surreal to so real."

The Get Schooled incentive is a program that rewards high school students with a visit from some of today's biggest music artists in exchange for exceptional attendance and timeliness from the student body.

Although Sean has been out of school for quite some time, he was still able to connect with the students at Lincoln, just by visiting. He participated in impromptu freestyles and hosted a special concert by fellow hometown hero Royce Da 5' 9". Perhaps a large part of Sean's excitement also came from realizing that his presence at the school could prompt any of those students to make perfect attendance the first step in taking their lives more seriously, even after high school. The G.O.O.D. Music rapper went to Detroit's specialized Cass Technical High School and graduated with a 3.7 GPA with plans to attend Michigan State University if his rap career didn't pan out.

"I gave myself a set amount of years and said if things don't start picking up, I'd go back to school and get the education," he recalls, "Because I realized, without education it's super hard. It's like ten times harder to get a job out here and not be a bum, you know? School isn't for everybody, but what I wanna tell you is that, man, everyone around me ... my lawyer -- who gets a lot of my money -- went to school. My manager, who gets a lot of my money, went to school. My financial advisors, my business people ..."

"I think people should really take advantage of all of these jobs that are opening up," he adds. "The economy is bound to turn around. But most importantly, have a plan. If college isn't in your plans then execute your plan and make sure you're successful at it. If not, then do what you gotta do."

The day proved to be beneficial not only to the students in attendance, but to the honorary principal as well, who stated that a huge part of why he became Big Sean was to reach back and provide motivation for the citizens of his community, especially in regards to education. "

"I couldn't be more excited," he says. "One of my New Years resolutions was to be more involved in my city, so this was like the perfect way to get into that."