You can always count on ‘The Breakfast Club’ to give you a hot take.
via: Vibe
DJ Envy and Charlamagne Tha God feel that SZA is “this generation’s Mary J. Blige.”
During a recent episode of The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne asked whether or not the masses appreciate the TDE singer enough. “Do we appreciate SZA as an artist the way we should?” he asked his co-host. Envy quickly responded, “Yes, absolutely.” Charlamagne doubled-down on his question, wondering if fans really appreciate her as a “once-in-a-generation talent.”
“I mean, she gets all the radio play and all of that—I feel she can get more awards, which I’m sure she will. You know, the Grammys are next month, so she’ll get those accolades, but do we really appreciate the once-in-a-generation talent she is?” The detailed breakdown caused Envy to switch up his answer to which he began thinking about SZA as a whole artist and songwriter.
“No…we appreciate her music—because, like you said, her songs play all of the time, but her, and what she does, and how she performs, and the songs that she writes—no, [we don’t].” The talking heads then agreed that she continues to “do things the right way” and still holds that “air of mystery around her” artistry.
Envy then asserted that the zeitgeist doesn’t appreciate the “star that she is” and then offered a comparison to her stardom. While Envy refused to compare her to past stars, he then declared that SZA “is this generation’s Mary J. Blige.” Charlamagne agreed and then likened her ascending star to names like Mary, Beyoncé, and Rihanna.
Elsewhere, SZA has been battling music “thieves” who have been leaking her music. As the singer gears up to drop LANA, the deluxe version of her record-breaking album, SOS, she disclosed some of her music was leaked. In early January, SZA took to X/Twitter to talk about how “tired” she was of folks stealing her “intellectual property.”
“Leaking my music is stealing. This is my job. This is my life and my intellectual property,” she wrote. “You are a f**king thief, and I promise to put maximum energy into holding everyone accountable to the fullest extent of the law. I’m tired.”
SZA’s manager quotes her tweet about taking legal action against people leaking her music:
“When music leaks it often leads to delays and/or canceling whole projects.” pic.twitter.com/S11XC6he7X
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) January 7, 2024
Terrence “Punch” Henderson, Top Dog Entertainment co-President, also chimed in. He backed up what his artist said and explained how leaking music negatively impacts them.
“When music leaks, it often leads to delays and/or canceling whole projects,” he typed. “When artists work hard to get their music to a point where they’re comfortable sharing it, and then someone steals it and leaks it, it spoils the whole thing. Most of the songs leaked are incomplete and not how the artist wanted [people] to hear it.”
