On his 2011 MTV Video Music Awards nomination for his single "My Last," Big Sean told MTV News, "If I win Best New Artist, I'm gonna go crazy, because I really worked hard as hell." The funny thing is that as big as the [artist id="1961441"]Chris Brown[/artist]-assisted single was for him, Kanye West's understudy originally bucked at the idea of recording the poppy single.

"When No ID gave me that beat for the song 'My Last,' I did not want to do it at all," the Finally Famous MC revealed.

Luckily for Sean, he was convinced otherwise. The song shot up the charts and peaked at #1 on the Billboard rap chart and #4 on the R&B/hip-hop chart. Ultimately, the single's success helped the Detroit rapper land the #3 album in the country, finishing behind [article id="1666861"]Beyoncé's #1 LP, 4,[/article] and Adele's 21.

Sean continued to make strides in his breakout year, snagging an opening spot on Wiz Khalifa's Rolling Papers Tour, being named one of [article id="1669147"]MTV Jams' 2011 Fab 5[/article] inductees and, of course, his Best New Artist nom at the VMAs.

He has producer No ID to thank. "He was like, 'Man, do you want to be a mixtape rapper forever, or do you want to make songs people can live to and dance to?' " Sean recalled. "And then I was in the studio with Chris, played it for him, and he went crazy."

Sounds like a no brainer.

The 28th annual MTV Video Music Awards will air live Sunday from Los Angeles at 9 p.m. ET/PT, following the Selena Gomez-hosted pre-show at 8. See the list of nominees, revisit last year's highlights and vote for Best New Artist by visiting VMA.MTV.com.