SZA
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Source: Earl Gibson III / Getty / DJ Akademiks
Keyboard warrior DJ Akademiks had time for TDE’s president Terrence “Punch” Henderson after he claimed he tried to “bully” him for being out-of-pocket while talking about SZA.
Last week, DJ Akademiks continued his trend of being extremely disrespectful to women when he hopped on the alt-right network Rumble and engaged in a ridiculous rant where he disgustingly talked about the singer’s body, weight, and appearance, calling her “a fat mini Lizzo,” and claiming she a “botched BBL.”
Spotted on HipHopDX, Punch, who is known for speaking his mind on social media, responded to Akademik’s foolishness over the weekend.
Punch Was Tired of DJ Akademiks Nonsense
“Man I’ve been so conflicted the [past] couple of days as to address this dude publicly or not,” Punch wrote in a since-deleted X post. “I’m not playing no internet games… He have to answer for those disrespectful things he said about SZA.”
Akademiks couldn’t help but respond, hopped in his dark room, turned on his video camera, and “clapped back” at the record executive, accusing Punch of trying to “Suge Knight” him.
“None of y’all are Suge Knight. You don’t strike fear in my heart. There is no, ‘Oh my God, he’s going to get me!” Akademik’s rant begins. “I did content about the biggest killers in the world in Chicago. I’ve talked about the worst people you could imagine … I won’t be sitting here scared of an older n-gga who claims he’s a ‘thug.”
He continues his rant, puffing up his chest, saying, “Mr. Punch from TDE, you didn’t have to delete your tweet … I’m not scared of you. I don’t know nobody that’s scared of you, and I don’t know nobody that would think you be doing nothing.
“So please, pipe down, and rather than delete the tweet, don’t send the tweet. Because if you look at my tweet history, I leave them up for all to see.”
DJ Akademiks Claims Punch Is A Hypocrite
He wasn’t done, accusing Punch of being a hypocrite, adding, “This is why we’re laughing: you’re tweeting [about how] you’re not playing internet games while you’re tweeting it! This is why I said y’all are not Suge Knight. Suge Knight wouldn’t give a nice proper warning and then delete the tweet. I don’t think he’d tweet at all.
“I just want to let you know, if [the tweet] was even remotely aimed at me, it was received, laughed at, and sent back. We’re not scared of none of you n-ggas.”
[embedded content]
Oh The Irony
Hilariously, the man best known for popping sh*t from behind his keyboard accused Punch of being an “online gangsta” telling him to focus on running his record label.
“Listen, you guys have some great artists, and I’m hoping you guys can put out music a little more frequently, just as the fan in me speaking,” he added. “Put your record out, be quiet. That’s about it … Stop acting gangsta online. If you was gonna do something, you wouldn’t tweet it. Stop it, brother, please. You look pathetic.
“And by the way, I don’t want a response for this neither. Work your record, you’re a record executive. Yeah, you got a couple gangstas on payroll. Whoop de doo! We’re all millionaires. Everybody could pay for some dumb shit to get done. You don’t wanna die, I don’t wanna die. You don’t wanna go to jail, I don’t wanna go to jail. Shut up with your tweeting.”
We are VERY SURE DJ Akademiks would never say any of these things to any of these individuals in person.
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Photo: Earl Gibson III / Getty
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SZA had a pretty devastating past experience in London, England, and she took some time to vent during her show at the city’s O2 Arena this week. “I never told anybody, but like, my boyfriend cheated on me in this city before,” the “Kill Bill” singer is seen telling the crowd in a video posted to […]
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Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty
The Made In America Festival will be once again returning to Philadelphia over Labor Day Weekend. The 2023 headliners are dynamic singers SZA and Lizzo while Harlem rappers Cam’ron and Mase, amongst many other stars, will also be blessing the stage.
On Wednesday (June 14), Live Nation announce that the 2023 Made In America Festival will return to its usual home on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in the City of Brotherly Love on Saturday, September 2 and Sunday, September 3, 2023. The lineup is star-studded and includes Tems, Miguel, Ice Spice, Metro Boomin, Coi Leray, Latto, Lil Yachty, and more. Also being touted is a “special joint set” from Harlem rappers turned sports analysts Cam’ron and Mase.
The two-day festival will see the return of the Cause Village which highlights the work of numerous organizations whose causes include voter registration, education, LGBTQ+ rights, social justice and more.
Made In America 2023’s sponsors/partners include D’usse, HUD, the United States Virgin Islands and White Claw. You can cop tickets right now over at www.madeinamericafest.com.
Check out the full lineup below.
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SZA has always had a distinct sense of style, often seen in loose-fitting streetwear with her lush curls completing the relaxed, girl-next-door look.
In a new interview with Elle, the “Kill Bill” singer revealed that her favorite accessory is a lesser known aspect of her look. “I treat my butt like a purse,” she says, adding that she’s had a Brazilian butt lift done. “It’s just there to enhance whatever else. And that’s why I paid for it, because it works all by itself.”
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However, she explained that her decision to undergo the procedure was completely her own. “I always wanted a really fat a– with less gym time,” she told the publication. “I didn’t succumb to industry pressure. I succumbed to my own eyes in the mirror and being like, No, I need some more a–.”
Elsewhere in the interview, she elaborated on making her own decisions when it comes to her life and her music, and why she never focuses on being popular. “I try not to care too much because I really had some deep disappointments when I would just be so invested. But I can’t invest because none of it is real. Even if I win a bunch of Grammys, that s— doesn’t matter. It would be so cool,” she says. “But also I would not be surprised at all if I didn’t win any [more]. Because that’s just how s— goes. But that’s why the tour matters to me. ‘Cause it’s like, No, we packed out these stadiums all over the country and that was real. That’s why I can’t let up, because at the end of the day it was like, yeah, [whatever haters say] is good and well, but just make sure you add, we have sold-out dates in all arenas. Make sure you tell them that we sold out the Forum twice and we could have done it four times. Make sure you tell them that I was in the air, and that my mic was on.”
The singer unveiled her long-awaited sophomore album, S.O.S., in December, and it immediately debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, her first chart-topper. With more than 400 million streams in the U.S. during release week, S.O.S. became the second-largest streaming week for a female artist and third-largest of 2022 among all albums.
SZA is all about supporting women and their sexual expression. The “Kill Bill” singer came to Janelle Monáe’s defense on Monday (May 15) amid online backlash toward the “Lipstick Lover” singer, who has been showing off a newer, sexier side of herself leading up to her The Age of Pleasure album release. “I love that […]
Doja Cat and SZA are keeping the girl power strong well into 2023 with their new collaboration, a remix of the S.O.S. hit, “Kill Bill.”
The duo initially teased the track just hours before its release, when Doja told SZA that she “did something bad.”
Doja was previously set to feature on the original version of “Shirt,” but it didn’t work out due to her emergency tonsil procedure. “She had surgery, she had to have that emergency, like, vocal cord surgery and she wasn’t ready in the time that we needed to get the song done,” SZA explained to HOT 97 at the time of S.O.S.‘s release last year. “There was a crossfire between, I think, her management and my management and they had told us it was done, but it wasn’t actually done.
“It was just a lot of confusion,” she continued, “but don’t know. I hope for the best, and I’m still, like, a major fan of her and her artistry. And I think she’s so incredible and I would love to get her on the deluxe [version].”
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The duo previously worked together on their 2021 collaboration “Kiss Me More” off Doja’s Planet Her, which won the Grammy award for best pop duo/group performance, and also scored additional nominations for record of the year and song of the year.
“Kill Bill” peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart last December, and its parent logged 10 weeks atop the Billboard 200.
Listen to the new cut of “Kill Bill” below.
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Ticketmaster is once again suffering the wrath of Twitter much as they did at the tail end of 2022 over Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny ticket issues. This time, fans of SZA are taking to Twitter to complain that the automated queue system Ticketmaster uses prevented some from obtaining pre-sale tickets for the TDE vocalist’s upcoming European leg of her “SOS” tour.
Ticketmaster was trending on Twitter Thursday morning (April 13) with fans sharing similar tales of waiting in long queue lines via the web and subsequently being booted out. One user said that they were next in line to buy but was sent to the back of the line. Others have been waiting overnight to get SZA tickets to no avail.
As it stands, this has put Ticketmaster back in the hot seat after the Taylor Swift pre-sale ticket debacle, and the cloned tickets from Bad Bunny in November and December of last year respectively. Drake also filed a lawsuit against the ticket-selling company alleging that Ticketmaster misled buyers regarding the Canadian superstar’s It’s A Blur tour dates alongside 21 Savage.
Further, the company was investigated at the top of the year by the U.S. Senate judiciary committee in a hearing titled “That’s the Ticket: Promoting Competition and Protecting Consumers in Live Entertainment.”
On Twitter, Ticketmaster is getting grilled and fried for making fans miss out on SZA tickets. Check out those reactions below.
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Photo: Getty
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Source: Greg Swales/SKIMS / Greg Swales/SKIMS
SZA has just stolen the show without singing one note. She has lent her amazing energy to the new SKIMS campaign and it doesn’t disappoint.
As spotted on Variety Magazine the songstress has added modeling to her resume. This week Kim Kardashian’s underwear brand unveiled the TDE talent as the new face of their “Fits Everybody” line. The new drop celebrates and embraces every woman’s unique curves. “Our buttery soft, molds-to-your-body fabric that stretches to twice its size” is the brand’s headline for the launch.
“I’m excited to be in Skims’ latest Fits Everybody underwear campaign and to align myself with a brand that strives to make women feel both comfortable and sexy,” SZA said in a formal statement. SKIMS founder Kim Kardashian also expressed her excitement for having the Grammy Award winning vocalist on board as well. “SZA’s honesty, confidence, and dynamic energy are unparalleled. She’s truly the woman of the moment, and I’m so honored for her to be featured in SKIMS latest campaign”.
The “Fits Everybody” collection includes a variety of bodysuits, t-shirts, slips, briefs, bras and more. You can shop the pieces here.
Photo: Greg Swales/SKIMS
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
SZA is sizzling in the latest campaign for Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand. The “Kill Bill” singer stars in SKIMS’ Fits Everybody underwear campaign, which launches on Wednesday (March 22).
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“I’m excited to be in SKIMS’ latest Fits Everybody underwear campaign and to align myself with a brand that strives to make women feel both comfortable and sexy,” SZA said in a statement.
“SZA’s honesty, confidence and dynamic energy are unparalleled,” said Kardashian. “She’s truly the woman of the moment, and I’m so honored for her to be featured in SKIMS’ latest campaign.”
SZA x SKIMS
Greg Swales/SKIMS
The campaign launch coincides with the final stop on SZA’s SOS tour at The Forum in Los Angeles on Wednesday. To honor successful the tour run, the campaign will debut on billboards around The Forum and across the U.S. in addition to launching on digital and social platforms.
“SZA is a defining voice in popular culture today, a multifaceted artist who’s an inspiration to women everywhere,” said Jens Grede, Co-Founder & CEO of SKIMS. “We are thrilled to spotlight SZA in this campaign as we believe she embodies the values of SKIMS.”
Shot and directed by SKIMS collaborator Greg Swales, the campaign features SZA in pieces from the size-inclusive, buttery-soft collection.
SKIMS has previously worked with Snoop Dogg, Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks, Alessandra Ambrosio, Candice Swanepoel, and The White Lotus stars Beatrice Grannò and Simona Tabasco.
See more photos of SZA’s SKIMS’ campaign below.
SZA x SKIMS
Greg Swales/SKIMS
SZA x SKIMS
Greg Swales/SKIMS
Billboard celebrated the music industry’s most talented, impactful women at the 2023 Women in Music awards at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles on Wednesday (Mar. 1).
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Beyond honoring the 2023 Woman of the Year SZA and her many accomplishments — including her 10th week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with her latest album, SOS — artists like Ivy Queen, Rosalía, Lana Del Rey, Kim Petras, TWICE, Lainey Wilson, Doechii, Becky G and Latto were also honored with their own awards at the ceremony. Rosalía was the event’s first-ever Producer of the Year, Ivy Queen accepted the Icon Award, Lana Del Rey was the night’s Visionary, Kim Petras took home the Chartbreaker award, TWICE was the Breakthrough artist, Lainey Wilson was awarded the Rulebreaker honor, Doechii was honored as the Rising Star, Becky G accepted the Impact award and Latto was 2023’s Powerhouse.
“I really just want my life to be more than music,” SZA said during her unscripted, moving acceptance speech, “to be more than an artist. I want to serve others, I want to serve people, I want to be open and available for whatever God wants for me, and saying yes to everything that’s scary, to everything that feels like it’s not for you or where you don’t belong, is really the only way where we walk through those doors.”
She concluded with a powerful affirmation: “You just have to say yes to the possibility,” she said. “And thank y’all for saying yes to me.”
If you missed out on the official livestream, or just need another dose of inspiration, check out all of the 2023 Billboard Women in Music acceptance speeches below.
SZA (Woman of the Year)
Ivy Queen (Icon)
Lana Del Rey (Visionary)
Rosalía (Producer of the Year)
TWICE (Breakthrough)
Becky G (Impact)
Latto (Powerhouse)
Kim Petras (Chartbreaker)
Lainey Wilson (Rulebreaker)