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TDE President Punch Jumped Headfirst Into The Debate Over Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ After J. Cole Dissed It

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Rap Twitter is in a frenzy after J. Cole dropped his surprise mixtape Might Delete Later with its Kendrick Lamar response “7 Minute Drill.” Clapping back on K. Dot after he called out Cole and Drake on “Like That,” the North Carolina rapper asserts “Your first sh*t was classic, your last sh*t was tragic / Your second sh*t put n****s to sleep but they gassed it.”

Putting aside debate about which of Kendrick’s albums counts as his second, the discourse was quickly joined by Top Dawg Entertainment President Terrance “Punch” Henderson, who defended To Pimp A Butterfly and Kendrick as the opinions flew. Unfortunately, even making as innocuous a statement as “I thought to pimp a butterfly was pretty good” opened the industry vet up to a deluge of responses — which, to be fair, he’s pretty much used to after SZA fans used him as their personal punching bag all through the wait for SOS.

His follow-up tweet also garnered a huge response. “The current rap climate got me realizing a lot of you music industry ppl are Kdot haters,” he asserted. “lol you telling me you n****s been secretly hating ALL this time!” He later clarified that “industry ppl” refers to “the folks that work in music,” rather than the rappers currently trading shots on records.

The responses largely fall into two categories. One: People who agree with Punch, and two: people who REALLY disagree with Punch. “There’s more Kdot dick riders on Twitter than you’ll ever find in real life lmfao,” read one quote. Another contended, “That privilege people say Drake has is actually Kendrick ten-fold. Drake would drop a pack of ass & go platinum because of who he is, but that’s where it ends. But you see Kendrick? He’ll drop the most unlistenable sh*t, probably poo on a track & be gifted awards.” YIKES.

While many of Punch’s detractors rightly point out that Kendrick has 17 Grammys and a Pulitzer to his name despite the lukewarm reaction to his last album and that it’s not “hate” to simply dislike one of his five (or four, depending on how you count) albums (and many, many side projects), the defenders were more apt to put down any criticism with ad hominem attacks on straw men. Hmmmmm.

As the debate rages on, I feel it’s important to note that it’s all subjective and personal. None of should really be worrying what anyone else thinks, especially if it’s going to result in anger at people you don’t know and will never meet. Let’s all be a little nicer about this, yeah?

SZA Delivers Label Executives Top Dawg & Punch The Billboard Visionary Award

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There’s every indication that 2024 will be a huge year for Top Dawg Entertainment. Despite Kendrick Lamar moving on from the label after releasing all of his studio albums on it, they still have a stacked roster of talent. Earlier this week during a special 10th anniversary show for Isaiah Rashad’s Cilvia Demo a document they passed out made the rounds online. The document claimed that new projects were coming out from nearly every single artist on the label. It even included projects from three brand-new artists, though their names were blacked out.

Only two of the albums they’ve confirmed are currently known about. The first is SZA’s which many fans suspect is her previously announced SOS deluxe edition LANA. Earlier this week, Schoolboy Q announced his new album Blue Lips which drops in early March. It’s his first studio album since 2019’s Crash Talk. Other big TDE artists like Doechii, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, and more are also expected to drop new projects this year. During a ceremony earlier this week, SZA paid tribute to the label’s founders who set up the potential for all of this in the first place.

Read More: SZA’s “SOS” Becomes Longest Running #1 R&B Album

SZA Gives Top Dawg And Punch A Visionary Award

Top Dawg and Punch, who founded Top Dawg Entertainment in 2004, are the newest recipients of the Billboard Visionary Award. For the presentation they got one of the label’s defining artists, SZA, to give a speech and she didn’t disappoint. “I was just talking to Punch the other day about how much vision he had to have to see what he saw in me with no credentials,” she began.

“I really was looking insane and behaving insane and refused writers and all these things, and he believed in me. People would come to him and tell him he should change how I look, or I should be doing these kind of beats or working with these writers, and he didn’t change a single thing about me,” her speech continued. What do you think of SZA’s speech while giving an award to Punch and Top Dawg? What new TDE release are you most excited for this year? Let us know in the comment section below.

Read More: What Is SZA’s Best-Selling Album?

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SZA Has Enough Rap Records For An EP, Says TDE’s Punch

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SZA’s sophomore effort was expected to be a success, but the reaction even took Terrence “Punch” Henderson slightly by surprise. It had been years since SZA released a new full-length album, but it was clear that the anticipation was getting to the hitmaker. For years, she repeatedly took to social media to voice her frustrations with her label. Punch took many of those hits, especially from fans who questioned him about SZA’s second project’s delay. He sat down with Rap Radar and spoke about the songbird’s release, as well as her evolution under the Top Dawg umbrella.

“I think she adjusting a lot better now,” Punch shared with the podcast in an intimate interview. “I think it’s finally starting to set in as to what’s going on and who she is. Like, for the longest, I don’t feel she connected who SZA is to Solána. But I think now, she’s starting to see it, to understand.” It’s something that even SZA acknowledged in a tweet where she claimed Punch told her she was losing herself.

SZA Crosses Genre Lines

SZA at Billboard Women In Music held at YouTube Theater on March 1, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images)

A highlight of S.O.S. was the singer testing genre boundaries and stepping out of her R&B box. “She’s always bended the genre, so it wasn’t nothing new,” said Punch. “It was just going, pushing it further.” He then disclosed that it isn’t just alternative music that SZA is interested in. “Like she doing full Rap records now… She got like maybe—she got like an EP’s worth of full Rap records. Like all the way out, no singing.”

The revelation has stirred the singer’s fans, who are always in the mood for more SZA. In a profile interview with Billboard, Punch echoed his sentiments, praising his artist for her expansive reach. “SZA is a force. To go seven consecutive weeks at No. 1 is legendary,” he said of her accomplishment. “She’s a true generational artist, a cultural reset, if you will.”

“For her album S.O.S to blend so many different genres together in a cohesive frame shows her genius and versatility,” he further stated. “Then you have the voice, the words, the pain, the growth, the relapsing, the delivery, the stories, etc. … a true masterpiece.” Check out Punch’s interview with Rap Radar above.

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SZA Has Enough Actual Rap Songs For A Whole Project, According To TDE President Punch

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One of the many praises that SZA often receives as a songwriter is that she pens R&B anthems in a style as complex as her rapper labelmates on Top Dawg Entertainment (especially on her new album, SOS). And although she’s not strictly seen as a rapper, she could release a whole album of straight-up rap if she wanted to because she has enough songs to do so, according to Top Dawg president Punch.

The longsuffering label head — he’s taken plenty of abuse from SZA fans over the years for the steps he’s taken to ensure her success, although he turns out to be right more often than not — sat down with Rap Radar Podcast and gave his takes on SZA’s growth since she signed to the label almost a decade ago.

“I think she’s adjusting [to fame] a lot better now,” he said. “I think it’s finally starting to set in as to what’s going on and who she is. Like, for the longest, I don’t feel she connected who SZA is to Solána. But I think now, she’s starting to see it, to understand.”

As far as her rap-infused songwriting style, he revealed that the “genre-bending” singer could easily hold her own with the rest of TDE’s roster. “She’s always bended the genre, so it wasn’t nothing new, it was just going, pushing it further,” he noted. “Like, she doing full rap records now … That’s all her, yeah, 100 percent. She got like an EP’s worth of full rap records, like all the way out, no singing.”

Hey Punch, here me out: A tag-team joint project with Doechii. Gangbusters, fam. Thank me later.

You can watch the full episode of Punch’s interview with Rap Radar‘s Elliott Wilson and Brian Miller above.

TDE’s Punch Says He Knows ‘Exactly When’ SZA’s New Album Is Coming

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SZA Outside Lands 2022
Getty Image / Tim Mosenfelder

Fans are eager for new music from SZA. Back in May, The “Good Days” singer hinted at “a SZA summer,” and while we’ve received an expanded edition of her 2017 debut album, CTRL, as well as a remix of her labelmate Doechii’s “Persuasive,” we still have heard nary a title, release date, or even a single from her much-anticipated sophomore album.

Last month, SZA hinted at a disagreement between her Top Dawg Entertainment label head Punch, as well as RCA Records. In a recent interview with Vulture, Punch indicated that he and SZA have since reached an agreement. According to Punch, a release date is imminent.

“We know exactly when it’s coming out,” he said. “But on the internet, you only get a certain amount of characters. You don’t have time to really go into a full explanation of what’s going on like that when you’re in the moment and tweeting something.”

In the past, SZA has mentioned that her and Punch’s relationship has been tumultuous, but elsewhere in the interview, Punch insisted that there is more than meets the eye.

“I’m not going to say there’s never been contention,” he said. “There’s always contention, especially when you’re dealing with creative. Difference in opinions, it happens, but that doesn’t mean somebody is unhappy or anything. It could’ve been a conversation in the moment. Then a lot of speculation happens. I get it. We have to remember that context is important and you never get the full story through tweets.”