sza kendrick lamar

SZA & Kendrick Lamar’s “30 For 30” Nabs Impressive Streaming Numbers For Debut

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SZA’s new SOS Deluxe: LANA is the blockbuster event to cap off 2024… Unless any other challengers will drop before the year’s out. Either way, fans are very pleased with this new project, and they particularly love one collab that continued Kendrick Lamar’s dominant run over the past nine months. “30 For 30” nabbed some impressive Spotify numbers in its first full day on the platform, garnering 3.16 million streams to become the top new music debut of the week. Obviously, this sparked a lot of debate online, as fans in the replies of the Twitter post below pointed to different streaming numbers for the track’s first 24 hours.

Of course, that debate wasn’t complete without its fair share of Drake fans poking holes in SZA and Kendrick Lamar’s “30 For 30” and bashing the song’s performance and lyrical content. This is because of a presumed Drizzy diss (or perhaps multiple) that some fans think Kendrick supposedly included in the record. It makes us wonder if these two MCs will ever do anything again that fans don’t immediately use to talk about the beef or bash one artist over another.

Read More: Top 10 Hottest R&B Albums Of 2024

SZA & Kendrick Lamar’s “30 For 30” Streams Well On Spotify

However, SZA and Kendrick Lamar’s new track “30 For 30” also caused debate from some fans who thought the singer subliminally dissed DJ Akademiks. He even spoke about this on his livestream, making some harsh and critical remarks about his past beef with the St. Louis native and her fanbase. However, the streamer and media personality went through the actual lyrics and found that nothing from this romantic cut really seems to diss him, so fans threw him down a seemingly wrong path. Just goes to show how much we need to pump the brakes on all these narratives.

Regardless of all this discussion, SZA and Kendrick Lamar’s “30 For 30” is a killer cut that we’re sure they will stun with during their upcoming tour. Also, with the TDE songwriter apparently dropping more music in 2024, fans are ready to spin many more tracks over and over again. We’ll see if that actually manifests or if SOS Deluxe: LANA will have to hold us over for longer.

Read More: Biggest Hip-Hop Moments Of 2024

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DJ Akademiks Doesn’t Understand Why SZA “Dissed” Him On New Kendrick Lamar Collab

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SZA’s new album SOS Deluxe: LANA closed out 2024 with a big musical bang, unless there’s somehow even more on the way before the year is out. Fans waited so long to get it, and it seems to have been worth the wait, as it garnered a lot of praise online and also caused a lot of discussion. One particular standout on this new record, though, is obviously the Kendrick Lamar collab “30 For 30,” which adds to his ridiculously dominant run in 2024. However, many fans listened to that track and came to some pretty strong “sneak diss” conclusions, which left their alleged target DJ Akademiks quite befuddled.

Moreover, he recently reacted to this speculation about SZA sneak-dissing him on his livestream, making it clear that he’s not a fan of her music and acknowledging their past beef. Still, despite all the criticism that DJ Akademiks threw her way, he doesn’t really think that she or Kendrick Lamar dissed him on that record, as he took a look at the lyrics and couldn’t really make heads or tails of anything.

Read More: Biggest Hip-Hop Moments Of 2024

DJ Akademiks Speaks On SZA

That being said, one theory that DJ Akademiks seems to support is that Kendrick Lamar dissed Drake on this SZA collab. “You f***ing with n***as that’s thinking they cuter than you / Say you on your cycle, but he on his period too,” he raps on the cut, which some fans saw as a pointed attack at the 6ix God. Regardless of whether or not Drizzy will interpret it as such, it’s also a very easy theory to dismiss given the generally romantic and easy-going vibe of the track as a whole. We already know what it looks like when these artists actually go at each other, so why rush things?

Meanwhile, with even more SZA music seemingly on the way, we wonder whether she will respond to this DJ Akademiks take in any way. We doubt it, but then again, this year held many more surprises than we thought, and 2025 could certainly follow suit. In any case, fans are happy to have one last big collab and battle-adjacent debate in 2024.

Read More: Hip-Hop Albums That Grew On Us The Most In 2024

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SZA & Kendrick Lamar’s Charisma & Chemistry Is On Another Level On “30 For 30”

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Just when we thought SZA dropping SOS Deluxe: LANA was going to be more than enough, she stuns fans with another Kendrick Lamar collab. Her former TDE labelmate is the only guest on the brand-new reissue, which contains 15 extra songs. They reconvene on “30 For 30,” the third record in, and its arguably their most charismatic effort together. SZA told British Vogue back in November that LANA was going to effectively be from a more upbeat headspace. You can tell that the mission was carried out on this track for sure. She sounds very expressive and adopts some Kendrick’s vocal acrobatics to some extent.

Even though this is more of relationship-related cut, his part on the chorus (see below), is sure to cause some debate online. We can already envision the theories on how this is a subtle response to Drake’s recent UMG lawsuit. This is just what Kendrick does though (especially now) whenever he hops on another artist’s record. He instantly has everyone gravitating toward what he’s got to say. But outside of that, the song is another phenomenal addition to their joint catalog. It’s their third of the year after SZA assisted him on GNX with “luther” and the closer, “gloria.” Check out “30 For 30” with the “[Via]” link below.

Read More: 21 Savage Has Hip-Hop Fans Up In Arms Over His Ranking Of The Top 5 Atlanta Lyricists

“30 For 30” – SZA & Kendrick Lamar

Quotable Lyrics:

Some of y’all just go pop s***
Some of y’all just go talk (Talk)
But none of y’all ain’t really got s***
Some of y’all just look lost (Lost, yeah)
I get this type of feeling you ain’t accustomed to
I swear I’d be at peace if it weren’t for you (Yeah, yeah)

Read More: Diddy Reportedly Looks “Astonishingly Thinner” And “Grayer” In Court

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Kendrick Lamar Fans Literally Shed Tears Over His Astronomical Ticket Prices For SZA Tour

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Kendrick Lamar will astonish a lot of fans in attendance for his “Grand National” stadium tour with SZA across major North American cities, but the duo is going to leave a lot of people out in the process. Moreover, demand for these shows is incredibly high, and paired with Ticketmaster’s price-inflating demand policies and CashApp presale exclusivity, this makes for a situation in which tickets are now very expensive. Fans have shared their reactions online, and there’s a lot of pessimistic reality checks and literally teared-up disillusionment to talk about. We completely understand both sides, although this shouldn’t really come as much surprise all things considered.

After all, we’re right in the middle of the hype cycle for Kendrick Lamar’s new album GNX, plus whatever SZA has on the horizon with Lana. The Drake battle this year also really amped up excitement for these shows, and fans are reading perhaps too deeply into the second Toronto show that they added to the schedule. So this was always going to be an impossible tour to snag tickets for, as much as we’d love to live in a different reality.

Read More: DJ Akademiks Is Looking Compromised After His Spotify Wrapped Puts Kendrick Lamar Over Drake

Kendrick Lamar & SZA Fans Are Crying Over Their Tour Ticket Prices And We Can’t Blame Them

Still, it’s amazing to see that Mr. “Taylor Made” and the singer who Taylor Swift snubbed last year at the Grammys are garnering Swiftie levels of demand and hype. Even if Kendrick Lamar and SZA can’t really do much to make ticket-snagging easier for fans, we’re confident that they will carry themselves with this responsibility in mind on stage. In the few months we have left until the “Grand National” trek kicks off, we have a Super Bowl halftime show to witness and probably more continued success for GNX – and hopefully Lana, if it does drop before or during the tour dates.

More Reactions

Meanwhile, all this success and conversation resulted in a lot of negativity online, especially towards Kendrick Lamar. Andrew Schulz is currently reckoning with the culture’s backlash to his comments about assaulting K.Dot in reaction to his GNX diss. OVO continues to rally against Kendrick’s camp, and fans are in tears over these ticket prices. It’s all a heavy burden, but one that these artists have almost always handled with grace all things considered.

Read More: SZA Reveals Why Fame Has Made Her “Paranoid” Around Fans

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Kendrick Lamar & SZA Make Magic On Our New “R&B Season” Playlist Update: Stream

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Welcome back to our R&B Season playlist, the latest update for which has some of the very best genre-adjacent releases that came out this week. We have a big release to talk about that you’ve probably already bumped, and that’s obviously the new Kendrick Lamar album, GNX. While it’s mostly pretty fiery songs and performances, there are some softer cuts on here that are also excellent, two of which feature SZA. “luther” in particular is a very tender, woozy, and calming jam with a wonderful sample flip, gorgeous progressions, and some awesome interplay between both vocalists that we loved to hear back from after so long.

Next up is the new single from Savannah Ré, “Sex With My Ex.” As you can probably tell from the title, it’s a pretty conflicted push-and-pull lyrically, and one whose soft piano keys and often intruding sample kind of reflect that sense of complication. The vocal performance is pretty smoky, but it definitely has its more impressive runs that emphasize Ré’s melodies. Overall, it’s a pretty dark and sensual cut that might’ve benefitted from more involved percussion, but their stark sound as it is works just fine, too.

Read More: Kendrick Lamar “GNX” Full Credits: SZA, Mustard, Roddy Ricch & More

HNHH R&B Season Playlist: Update

Finally, we wanted to give a shoutout to the Unlocked edition of the British R&B group FLO’s latest album, Access All Areas. They have some interesting remixes, guest performances, and re-imaginings that weren’t there on the original effort, including some fitting and charismatic performances from the Bailey sisters, Chlöe and Halle, on a new version of “Soft.” It’s exactly what it sounds like, as light snaps, simple synth pads, and tight vocal harmonies give a lot of boisterous flair to an otherwise pleasant soundscape.

However, if you’re looking for something more lyrically involved and hard-hitting, make sure to stay up to date on all the latest hip-hop releases. To check out new cuts from Cordae’s latest album The Crossroads and more hot singles like Ray Vaughn and Isaiah Rashad’s new collab, check out our Fire Emoji playlist update from last week in the “Read More” section down below. Also, let us know what your favorite R&B Season pick was this week, as well as what else we missed, down in the comments. Check the playlist out above and, as always, come back to HNHH for more killer music drops around the clock.

Read More: Cordae Meets Us At “The Crossroads” On Our New “Fire Emoji” Playlist Update: Stream

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Kendrick Lamar Reunites With SZA On Multiple Stunning “GNX” Tracks

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Kendrick Lamar mostly featured lesser-known and up-and-coming West Coast names on his surprise new album GNX, but there are also some stars on here beyond an impressive production roster. Roddy Ricch contributes to the track “dodger blue,” and the one and only SZA appears on two cuts off this new LP. “luther” sees the SOS singer and K.Dot get ethereal and wavy once more with a romantic cut backed by gentle guitars, gorgeous strings, and some other dreamy musical elements. “gloria,” on the other hand,” features the duo in a more soulful and dramatic bag, although there’s a similarly evoked sense of grandeur and beauty.

Of course, this isn’t the only time that these two linked up recently, as Kendrick Lamar and SZA interviewed each other for Harper’s BAZAAR earlier this year. They talked about a lot of things. Their emotions and tendencies as artistic creatives, the “true meaning” behind “Not Like Us,” insecurities, family, and a whole lot more emerged as compelling subjects. Turns out that this was more of a sign for more work on the way than we thought it was…

Read More: Adam22 Slams SZA For Calling Him A “Culture Vulture” After Kendrick Lamar Interview Criticism

Kendrick Lamar & SZA Stun On “luther”: Listen

Elsewhere, fans are reacting wildly to this new Kendrick Lamar album, all of its lyrical references, and its California-loving instrumentals. Not everyone’s a fan, but that’s literally what he raps about on a lot of songs on GNX, so we’re not surprised that he turned some folks off with his choices. There’s a lot to dive into when it comes to what the Compton lyricist addressed on here, his energy on these records, and how it relates to the massive year that he had before this. There is still more to find, and we’re sure these initial hours of listening will evolve into more developed conversations.

Meanwhile, SZA also has her new album Lana on the way, which fans are incredibly excited about. It was originally going to be a deluxe for SOS, but it looks like it took on a whole new life of its own. The question now is whether or not she will collaborate with Kendrick Lamar again soon or if we’ll have to wait for the next blue moon to hear their chemistry again.

Read More: Kendrick Lamar Addresses Why The Black Hippy Album Never Released, On “GNX”

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