Big Sean Went 'Bigger And Bigger' Until He 'Made It'

In just a few months, Big Sean will drop his sophomore album, Hall of Fame: Memoirs of a Detroit Player, but the road to becoming Finally Famous on his 2011 debut took a few tries, as he reveals on the latest episode of MTV's "This Is How I Made It," premiering Saturday at noon.

In addition to cementing himself as a bona fide rap star with hits like "Dance (A$$) and "Marvin Gaye & Chardonnay," the Detroit rapper proved he could really hold his own, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Jay-Z and Kanye West on G.O.O.D. Music's Cruel Summer compilation.

Though he seems to be picking up more steam with every new single, feature and mixtape (like his recent ode to Detroit), the label didn't always see his true potential.

"The first party we threw was sold out, 800 people came through. The next one was like 1,000 people. We just kept doing it bigger and bigger and bigger," Sean said of the reaction to his first mixtape, Finally Famous. "Then, I put out another mixtape, Finally Famous Vol. 2, that expanded my crowd a little bit more, but the label still wasn't really all the way behind me. So I put out another mixtape, Finally Famous Vol. 3. That's when it kinda started to explode."

From where he stands at this point in his career, the 24-year-old has a hard time believing just how far he's truly come. "It's crazy when I look back because I went from asking the label, 'Hey, when we gonna get my situation right?' to them coming to me a year later being like, 'Yo, we need an album, we need a single!' It just goes to show you what hard work does." Boiii!

"This Is How I Made It" airs Saturdays at noon ET on MTV.