After releasing Z through Top Dawg Entertainment, SZA began bubbling on the surface of hip hop and R&B. The project received pretty positive feedback upon it's release and served as a good introduction to her capabilities as an artist. This past year, her career has sky rocketed due to the success of CTRL. Many high-profile names began to take notice. However, Jay-Z seems to be one of the individuals that was on the wave prior to her newfound fame.
In a recent interview with DJ Semtex, SZA sat down with the UK radio host for a lengthy interview. During the interview, Semtex asked her what she thought of Jay-Z's 4:44 album, which she said she hasn't listened to deeply enough to form an opinion but she did reveal the first time meeting Jay-Z a few years back.
"He was the first person to tell me that he thought I was a fluke, to my face," she revealed.
She admitted that the encounter was before she dropped her latest album. However, she revealed that he didn't mean it offensively.
“He was just like you’re really good, you’re pretty good, and I was like thanks, he said ‘I thought you were a fluke’ and I was like ‘me too!’”
While those words could come across as harsh to some, she continued by saying that she still thinks her career is a fluke at times. She even threatened to quit music last year on Twitter, saying that TDE's Punch could release her album at his own accord but she's out of the game. Fortunately, that feeling was short-lived. A lot of the doubt she says she's experienced comes from the amount of attention she's received.
“I’ve never had this much attention before, I’ve never had this much expectation on me before I’ve never had this much pressure before and to go from someone who never left the house and kinda only did what she wanted to do with who she wanted to do it with all the time, this is like, painful,” she told Semtex.
You could check out the full interview with DJ Semtex here.
