The album was supported by two singles: "Pull Up N Wreck" featuring 21 Savage and "So Good" featuring Kash Doll.
Background
In an interview with Billboard published on December 1, 2017, Big Sean announced the collaborative album.[3][4] The two previously worked on Sean's previous studio album, I Decided (2017), on the single "Bounce Back" and album tracks "Sacrifices" and "Voices in My Head / Stick to the Plan". The album art and release date was announced on December 6, 2017,[5][6] while the track listing was announced via social media the following day, the day before release.[7]
The intro song, "Go Legend" featuring Travis Scott, was previewed by Sean at Lollapalooza 2017 in Chicago. The song originally was thought to have Offset as an additional feature but did not make the studio version of the song.
Songs from the album were previewed by American athlete LeBron James via Instagram the day before release.[8]
Singles
The lead single, "Pull Up N Wreck" featuring 21 Savage, was released on November 3, 2017, for streaming and digital download.[9] "So Good" featuring Kash Doll was sent to rhythmic radio on February 13, 2018, as the album's second single.[1]
Double or Nothing received mixed reviews from critics upon release, with a general criticism of the collaborative pairing. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 54, based on 4 reviews.[10] Claire Lobenfeld of Pitchfork criticised the album's lyricism, stating that "Though fun and at times politically salient, even Metro Boomin cannot rescue Big Sean from his habit of writing the absolute corniest lyrics imaginable."[14] Chase McMullen of The 405 commented that "There's no denying Big Sean has had more staying power in hip hop than some might have expected, but for Metro Boomin, who's largely been wise in choosing fresh faces on equal creative footing for his full length projects, Double or Nothing is a dull misstep."[16] In another mixed review, Trent Clark of HipHopDX concluded: "While the essential purpose of the album is never specified, Sean spends a ridiculous amount of time skeeting on tracks with no filter on the filler."[12]
Online music publication Sputnikmusic stated Double or Nothing is "ostensibly 10 bangers processed through Metro’s lean, gothic synths and Sean’s plain-spoken statements of wealth and general overconfidence. It’s boring stuff."[15]
Joshua Robinson from hnhh stated than the album "demonstrated the next step in Big Sean’s growth“ and singled songs like “Who’s Stopping Me“ and the off-kilter “Even The Odds“ and concludes with the statement: “Love it or hate it, Double or Nothing had plenty of highlights.“[17]
Legacy
Despite the reviews, Big Sean is very fond of the album and enjoyed his collaboration with Metro Boomin and said the album was just straight fun.[18][19]
In 2022, Metro Boomin admits that he felt some creative malaise in 2017, and that the negative reaction to the album rattled him a bit:
“I still do like the album and I’m not gonna get into how people try to do Big Sean or treat him online, which I know played a big part of it. I know a lot of those songs or a lot of the shit that he said, if another huge rapper or rappers similar to him said it, they would just let it slide.”[20]
Later Metro Boomin said that the "album is still hard as f***": "(when) It came out music was in a different time. I feel like if we had held that album and dropped it right now, n**** would be like "Oh!"." and added "I still stand by that album. We had a lot of hard solid songs."[21]
