One Of Them Days is scheduled to release on January 24, and we just got a new trailer for the comedy film that shows how zany it could turn out. For those unaware, the film stars SZA and Keke Palmer and revolves around their characters’ quest to improve their financial situation and deal with all the hassles of being roommates. Additional performances come courtesy of Katt Williams, Maude Apatow, Janelle James, and more as oddball personalities that the main duo comes across. Also, Issa Rae produced this flick, so there are a lot of reasons to be excited. It looks pretty funny, with a style that seems ripped right out of the 2000s era of blockbuster gut-busters.
With all these personalities on-screen, you can imagine that they all had a lot of fun on set as they got to know each other and collaborate. But perhaps some colleagues got closer in ways that they didn’t expect. If you hadn’t already heard, Harper’s BAZAAR recently published an interview between Kendrick Lamar and SZA that’s generating a lot of conversation right now. During it, she revealed a curious anecdote about working with Katt Williams.
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“We shot a movie last night,” SZA expressed. “I’ve never shot a movie before, so I was freaking out. It’s a lot of being scared to be myself, I’m either gonna pretend it never happened or not show up to the premiere. I met Katt Williams [on set]. He told me I was mentally ill, like, as a compliment. He was like, ‘Sa, I believe you might have some mental—’ And I was like, ‘Illness?’ And he was like, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Oh, welcome.’”
Let us know down in the comments section down below if you’re looking forward to One Of Them Days and what you thought about the trailer. It will probably be very fun to see SZA and Keke Palmer bounce off of each other on the big screen. At the very least, it’s a nice change of pace from the busy career moves and salacious gossip stories that they face every now and then. Maybe this inspires the TDE artist in particular to act more!
Kendrick Lamar has kept the world waiting for new music. He hasn’t provided any updates or release dates. He did, however, open up about his personal life during a recent Harper’s Bazaar profile. K. Dot spoke with former label mate SZA about his approach to music, and his feelings about the recent Drake feud. It was gleefully consumed by Kendrick Lamar’s fans, but hip hop personalities were less pleased. No Jumper host Adam22 felt that Dot sidestepped several difficult questions that he should have been asked.
Adam22 felt that the publication and the interviewer were cherry-picked to make the interview go as smoothly as possible. “Supporting Black media outlets, hip hop media outlets,” he said sarcastically. “Supporting real journalism, you let your label mate, basically, interview you.” Adam22 also took issue with the “elitist” persona that he felt Kendrick Lamar adopted for the profile. “That interview had so little substance to it,” the podcaster asserted. “So many words and so little thought-provoking sentiments… It’s a softball interview.” Adam22 called Kendrick Lamar out for “shielding himself” from tough questions regarding the Drake battle and the allegations that he made about the 6 God.
The No Jumper host also had smoke for SZA. He felt the R&B singer was complicit in letting Lamar give vague non-answers to questions about the battle. He cited the discussion surrounding “Not Like Us” as being particularly disappointing. Adam22 felt that the serious claims Lamar leveled at Drake should have been addressed. He even drew parallels between the Diddy situation, and the countless accusers who have come forward, with the lack of accusations made against Drake. “He makes the number one song of the year,” Adam22 explained. “Calling Drake an abuser and a pedophile. zero girls have showed up to confirm this.”
Adam22 is not the only hip hop personality who has taken umbrage with Kendrick Lamar’s interview. DJ Akademiks went ballistic on the Compton rapper during his live stream. He criticized Lamar for claiming to care about the culture, and then giving an interview to an outlet outside of the culture. He also noted that Lamar’s support of Colin Kaepernick has given way to the rapper’s plan to headline the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
While Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss song “Not Like Us” has been a massive hit since their dust up this spring, fans have been wrestling with the meaning of its titular phrase all along. Obviously Drake is “not like us,” but just who is “us,” and what are they like? In explaining the title of his hit, K. Dot might as well have fired more shots at his onetime rival.
“Not like us is the energy of who I am, the type of man I represent,” he replied. When asked what kind of man that is, he elaborated, “This man has morals, he has values, he believes in something, he stands on something. He’s not pandering. He’s a man who can recognize his mistakes and not be afraid to share the mistakes and can dig deep down into fear-based ideologies or experiences to be able to express them without feeling like he’s less of a man.”
All of which implies that he doesn’t think Drake is that kind of person. One day, someone’s got to get the real story on just what transpired between the two rappers that Kendrick was willing to go on such a terror campaign against the Canadian.
Kendrick Lamar has had a massive 2024 thanks to his feud with Drake, especially his No. 1 hit diss track “Not Like Us.” Naturally, the situation has fans wondering if Lamar has a new album on the way, to follow 2022’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. Well, some people close to him might just be indicating that he indeed does have a project in the queue.
On October 7, Devin Malik, a Top Dawg Entertainment-affiliated producer who has worked with Lamar, tweeted a celebratory clip of Lamar rapping “Not Like Us” and wrote, “mood cause new k dot album otwwww.” Yesterday (October 13), SZA shared the tweet on her Instagram Story, seemingly indicating she either also knows of a forthcoming Lamar album or is just excited about the prospect.
Adding credence to the rumor is a report from last week, which indicated Lamar is currently organizing a “tour of major stadiums,” which would suggest he’d be touring in support of a new project. The same report claimed Lamar turned down an invitation to headline Coachella in 2025.
Meanwhile, J. Cole recently addressed dipping out of his beef with Lamar on the new song “Port Antonio,” rapping in part, I pulled the plug because I’ve seen where that was ’bout to go / They wanted blood, they wanted clicks to make they pockets grow.”
The immediate headline from SZA’sHot Ones episode that dropped today (September 26) is what’s going with (or “on,” more accurately) her face: She did the whole show in a facial prosthetic that makes her look like a bug.
SZA explained it at about 12 minutes into the episode, saying, “This one brings me so much peace of mind. It just… in the realm of, like, being a person is so daunting, and like being your own skin and […] just the freedom of… of yeah, for no other reason other than I’m just tired of being not a bug. It’s like, ‘What the f*ck?’ Wouldn’t you want to be a bug if you could be anything else?”
Meanwhile, starting at about six minutes into the video, SZA satisfied her curiosity about host Sean Evans. She asked about his relationship status and wondered why he’s not married, saying, “Do you feel like this is more exciting than any connection you have with the opposite sex?” With a smile, Evans explained how the show “meets me halfway all the time,” adding, “What I put into it, I get out of it.” He concluded by saying he has an “honest relationship” with Hot Ones.
SZA replied, “I f*ck with that. I wish I could say the same for music.” She continued, “It’s just not honest enough for me. I never know what’s happening. I be like, ‘I thought you liked this?’ And then they’re like, ‘No, stupid. We hate this! We want more of this,’ and it’s just so confusing. I’m just like, ‘What… does my boyfriend love me?’ It’s abusive, but it’s also very fulfilling and validating. I’m in a different type of relationship. You have a good thing.” She then agreed with Evans’ takeaway that SZA is in a “toxic relationship with music.”
HBCU institutions have a rich music culture. Over the last few decades, its various schools across the country have helped boost the careers of numerous artists by providing a space for their music to thrive. The shortlist of artists who have seen this effect include Jeezy, Lil Boosie, Rich Homie Quan, Migos, Young Thug, Young Dolph, and more. Additionally, the importance of music can be seen through HBCU bands that are extremely important to the fabric of school life. It comes to life through big displays like the annual Battle Of The Bands competitions and smaller instances like the infamous Grambling vs. Southern rivalry football games.
With all this being said, it’s no surprise that HBCUs have also produced some of the music’s most famous artists. From legends like Lionel Richie and Common and present day stars like Megan Thee Stallion, SZA, and Metro Boomin, the spirit of HBCUs runs through a number of artists — even if their tenure at the institution was short.
Ahead of homecoming season, we decided to spotlight ten artists who have connections to an HBCU. Scroll down for the list of artists and the institutions they attended.
Megan The Stallion (Texas Southern University)
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In 2021, the same year that she went No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for her “Savage” remix with Beyoncé, Megan Thee Stallion graduated from Texas Southern University with a Bachelor’s degree in Health Administration. During an interview with Rolling Stone in 2021, Megan spoke about being in school “for so long” and how she balanced her rap career after deciding to ramp up her semester load to finish sooner. “Every time I had an assignment or something due, one of my managers would just pull me to the side and be like, ‘Hey Megan, you know you got to do this presentation today.’ Or ‘Hey Megan, you know you got to turn this assignment in today,’” she said. “I would have not been successful this semester without my team.”
SZA (Delaware State University)
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SZA attended Delaware Statue University after graduating from high school in 2008. The singer majored in marine biology and earned straight As for her first two semesters before losing interest. In a 2023 interview with Elle, SZA opened up about her experience in college. “I’m like, ‘I told you I was smart and I proved my point. I have to leave now,’” SZA said, recalling a conversation with her mother. A few years later, the singer met TDE president Terrence “Punch” Henderson Jr., signed to the label, and the rest is history.
Metro Boomin (Morehouse College)
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Multi-platinum producer Metro Boomin spent just one semester at Atlanta’s Morehouse College before dropping out to pursue music. He spoke about the decisions that led to him leaving the school during a 2017 interview with GQ. “As grateful as I was to be there, I didn’t want to be there,” he said. “It was bittersweet, because I knew for a fact that I need to put all of my time into music. School is the same as producing: If you want to make it far, there are a million, trillion people trying to do the same thing. If you’re not in over-grind mode, it’s probably not going to work the way that you want it to.”
Rick Ross (Albany State University)
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Grammy-nominated rapper Rick Ross attended Albany State University on a football scholarship, but dropped out of school soon after. Ross’ pursuit of a music career kicked into gear at the turn of the century, and in the decades after, Ross’ ties to Albany State University have remained strong. In 2022, he spoke to students at the school for the homecoming convocation ceremony, where he told students that “the greatest job you will ever have is being CEO of your life.”
2 Chainz (Alabama State University)
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Just like Rick Ross, 2 Chainz also attended an HBCU off an athletic scholarship. His, however, was a basketball scholarship to Alabama State University. In a 2017 interview with The Daily Beast, 2 Chainz said that he left ASU after his freshman year after he “got into some trouble.” He later returned to the school to complete his degree. In another conversation, this time with Rolling Stone, 2 Chainz addressed rumors that he graduated with a 4.0 GPA. “Don’t believe anything on Wack-ipedia,” he said. “There’s a lot of false stuff on there, to the point that every time I try to fix one thing, something else comes out.”
Wale (Virginia State University & Bowie State University)
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Our collection of HBCU scholarship athletes continues with Wale. The DMV rapper initially attended Robert Morris University on a football scholarship before transferring to Virginia State University. His football career would come to an end when he transferred to another HBCU, Bowie State University, but Wale would later drop out to pursue a music career. It was at VSU that Wale discovered his musical talents. In a 2021 conversation with The Ringer, Wale recalled spitting freestyles art the school’s Foster Hall. “The guy that was across the hall from me in my dorm was like, ‘Keep going, keep going. You tight,’” he said. “People really started f*cking with me at Virginia State.”
Killer Mike (Morehouse College)
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Earlier this year, Killer Mike won his first Grammys as a lead artist for Best Rap Album with Michael and Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song with “Scientists.” Those awards came more than 20 years after Mike won his first Grammy thanks to a feature on Outkast’s “The Whole World.” That song was the result of Mike and Big Boi’s friendship which came about through Mike’s attendance of Morehouse College in the 1990s. “The deciding factor for me getting into Morehouse was probably my homeroom teacher,” Killer Mike told the Seattle Times. “He was a Morehouse man. His name was Mister Lee-Roy Arnold.”
He added, “I think [Mr. Arnold] saw something in me, because he pushed me and messed with me for five years, to the point where he bet me all my book money for the first year that I would not get into Morehouse.”
Common (Florida A&M University)
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Before Common achieved his dreams of being a successful rapper, the Chicago native was enrolled at Florida A&M University under an academic scholarship as a business administration major. Common would only stay at the school for two years before dropping out to pursue rap. In 2019, nearly 30 years after he attended, Common would be honored with a doctorate degree in fine arts and invited him to speak at that year’s commencement ceremony. In his speech, Common said that his activism, which went on to be ever-present in his music, began right at FAMU where he says his experience was unlike anything he went through in hometown of Chicago.
Erykah Badu (Grambling State University)
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Erykah Badu nearly graduated from Grambling State University with a major in theater, but she left the school in 1993 to focus on her music career. Four years later, she delivered her debut album Baduizm, a masterclass in neo-soul that’s still heralded as a classic today. In an interview with the school’s newspaper The Gramblinite, Badu recalled her time at the university. “I auditioned for several plays while at GSU at the Floyd L. Sandle Theatre,” she said. “I danced with the Orchesis and was involved in a rap group called ‘CP Posse,’ which stands for Cultural Production.”
Lionel Richie (Tuskegee Institute)
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While all the artists on this list did not experience the HBCU life until their adult years, Lionel Richie’s time at an HBCU dates back to his childhood. The legendary singer grew up on Tuskegee Institute’s campus before attending the school and earning a Bachelor’s degree in economics with a minor in accounting. “In my world growing up on campus, we were surrounded by gospel music because of the choir,” Richie said of his experience to The Austin Chronicle. “R&B music was the music they played on the college campus.”
SZA has been fending off new album demands for as long as she possibly can. Her acclaimed 2022 record SOS has tons of quality on it and its somehow still getting nominations in 2024. But her fans are ready for LANA, and we are too. However, some people may be getting a little too overzealous, at least right now anyway. According to Uproxx, the St. Louis native and First We Feast‘s show Hot Ones are getting ready to release their sit-down to YouTube in just a couple of days.
It is slated to premier on September 26, and while a SZA interview is always something special, fans seem to be more engaged with the promotional poster. The platform posted the preview to their Instagram and in it, she looks like an alien. It’s a pretty creepy sight, but going to back to that overzealous point, some see this as some sort of roll out for LANA. “OMG THE ERA IS STARTING”, one eagerly writes.
“We’re getting that album soon hopefully ”, another cautiously predicts. ““The ‘LANA’ tease”… “AND THE ROLLOUT BEGINS”, two others add. SZA was also in the comments and penned a cryptic but perhaps foreshadowing message in the process, “Fun times at the pain farm ”. All we can do is speculate for now, but hopefully, we get some album updates in the process.
What are your thoughts on SZA looking like an alien for her upcoming appearance on Hot Ones? Do you think this is straight up odd, or is it her teasing her next project? Are you going to tune in to the episode? We would like to hear what you have to say, so leave your thoughts in the comments. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding SZA. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the world of music.
Frankly, SZA sighting are a rarity. Outside of the “Saturn” singer’s sporadic posts on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), she does a stellar job at living life offline.
So, SZA’s upcoming appearance on Hot Ones will surely be something fans will caress. But before the episode premieres on First We Feast’s YouTube channell (currently scheduled for Thursday, September 26), SZA has already got users online buzzing. In the promotional poster (viewable here), SZA is seen sporting full-on alien-like face prosthetics. The look appears to be a hint back to the look she previously teased online which could be a hint about her highly anticipated album, Lana.
“Fun times at the pain farm ,” wrote SZA in the Instagram comments.
However, fans are exactly fond of the get-up. Users online took to their pages to voiced their .
After experiencing premature leaks, SZA threatened to scrap the project. But ultimately, she announced that she would release the leaks as the SOS Deluxe and her new tracks on Lana.
Before photographer and Exquisite Eye Studios founder Breyona Holt captured the likes of music phenoms Coco Jones, Halle Bailey, Giveon and bLAck pARty, she got her drive from her hometown of Atlanta.
Currently based in Los Angeles, Holt credits the ATL scene for showing her the grind and hunger that she’d need as a burgeoning artist. It was in the mid-2010s that she kept SoundCloud selections on repeat, listening to acts Smino, Tommy Genesis, Raury, and Awful Records’ Alexandria. Even in her eight years spent on the West Coast, Holt’s mind hasn’t left her southern beginnings, which would come to shape the color theory and contrast in her commercial, editorial and cover artwork.
“We really grew up on dance cultures [in Atlanta], so the music really inspired a lot of the work that I was creating,” Holt tells Uproxx. “When I first started, my photography was very moody, and I think once I moved to LA, over time, I did see that my word got brighter, and I was kind of pulling away from what made me stand out as an artist. I had to take a step back like, ‘Okay, I don’t want to pull too far away like staying into the lines and following the trends and what LA has.’”
But while Holt would depend on her music playlists to soundtrack her mood while editing photos, she credits her father’s early film photography as an influence. Even as a singular visionary, Holt showcases that influence through grainy, analogue photography images of subjects like SZA and Normani.
Giveon
“I [loved] when I was going to his archive and what that would make me feel,” Holt says of her father’s works. “So even though I was mainly shooting on digital cameras at that time, I was trying to mimic that feeling that film made me feel. So the colors that you get with film is just a very organic type of feeling. I would say my dad was really one of my biggest inspirations at that time.”
Through her lens, Holt keeps an eye on individuals across entertainment, but viewers find her photos of Black women to be the most definitive. There’s an artist-to-subject unison where Holt channels the strength of Black womanhood and represents it with dignity. Holt’s portfolio exhibits crisp colors against genuine facial expressions and poses. Most of all, the Black femme energy radiates.
“I believe that it’s very important for us to be seen in a beautiful light and I think that sometimes, when Black women or Black men are the subject, we get the short end of the stick,” Holt says. “Whether it’s how we’re being lit–it doesn’t always represent us in the most powerful or the most uplifting way. Who I am at the core, I love art so much, and I want to make sure that we’re being documented and being seen in the best light, because these things will matter today and to generations to come.”
Since taking the cover art photography for albums like Joyce Wrice’s Overgrown, Coco Jones’ What I Didn’t Tell You, and Amindi’s TWYN, more recently, Holt shot the cover image of Halle Bailey’s new single “Because I Love You.”
“Her voice — she’s literally a siren; her voice is very angelic,” Holt says of Bailey, a fellow Georgia native. “Even just the instruments that she chose to use throughout the record. It was just something so refreshing and something I haven’t really heard before. When you hear a record like that, that inspires the colors you use. Just working with her on that project–the sound and the song is really what inspired the approach of the cover art, and I think it reflects the music video, which was incredible.”
Joyce Wrice
The commanding and vulnerable song would come to reflect Bailey’s confident stance on the artwork, which took on a life of its own. “Even down to the posing, all of those factors matter with the cover art. I’m so happy she chose that photo as the cover,” Holt continues. “I think it was empowering how you know her hands up, her chest out, the arms up–it’s just a very powerful image, and I’m just so happy to have this in my portfolio and to be a part of this.”
On capturing her muses, like the hair-blowing moment-in-time cover of Overgrown or 1970s funk ode on the cover of bLAck pARty’s Hummingbird, Holt likens the interaction to a “dance” between herself and the muse.
“These are real moments and actions for the most part. It’s not like ‘We’re going into these cover arts, and we want you to pose exactly like this,’ because I feel like it would come off a little forced and people would feel that,” she shares. “But these are real moments listening to the music on set, we’re in the vibe — this is a real emotion that they’re expressing through their body, through their face and the color is just there to amplify what’s happening.”
Except for the textured collage on the TWYN backdrop, Holt’s cover art is fairly minimal in practice, keeping the viewers’ gaze on her subjects, and the photography is a visual interpretation of their music.
“When I’m hearing the music, because I really enjoy color theory, it’s about ‘What is this making me feel?’” Holt says. “I think you can communicate a lot through color theory, you can evoke an emotion through the colors that you choose to use. I think using minimal backgrounds, for me, helps you focus on who the subject is. I love a moment where the environment is just an add-on, but like the eyes, the facial expression, the mood of the body language in the model, all of that really matters to me.”
Halle
Along with her photography, Holt calls it a “greater goal” to take her still images to the screen as a filmmaker, especially since she’s built her portfolio as a music video director and creative director.
“Although I started off, and I’m able to grasp people’s attention through my photography, I think people have taken a chance with me when it comes to these music videos,” Holt says of her budding path in filmmaking. “[I’ve] even shocked myself at what I’m able to create as a director, but as I continue to explore with music videos, I would love to grow in that field and do more short films and let that grow, as well, into longform video, movies and things like that.”
In continuing to document the culture, Holt also has her hands in tactile fashion projects under her Exquisite Eye banner, but presenting Blackness in an authentic lens remains integral to her purpose. Holt embraces her roots, and it shows in her life’s work.
“I just love my culture. I love being Black and I love how we always create such beautiful art no matter what,” she says. “To be in this day and age and be able to have the internet and be able to share my art and people gravitate to it, or they feel inspired by it, I’m just doing this for the bigger picture.”
Azealia Banks is verbally attacking SZAonce more, and this may be her most scathing set of comments yet. According to HipHopDX, the New York singer and rapper appears to be going after the R&B phenom for no reason whatsoever over a past RZA team-up. As per usual, she took to X (Twitter) and kicked things off by saying, “Sza is really such an ugly person for having rza on her album after asking me to be on it, Me politely and honestly declining, after news of him trying to pimp me out to Russell Crowe broke. That was really a huge slap in the face and truest sign of a b**** who will always be ugly”.
Then, after attacking her character, Banks insulted SZA’s looks. “Sis can get all the procedures in the world. She’ll always be that insecure fat Muslim girl from New Jersey with the big chin and the gay husband”. Then, she kicked dirt in the SOS creator’s face by placing a crude “curse” on her. “Cursed with a lifetime supply of fresh out the bootyhole d**k in her mouth for eternity… Lmfao b**** ya p**sy HARAM FOH”. This all appears to be in relation to Ctrl, as SZA did have the Wu-Tang affiliate assist her in rolling out the 2017 project.
Sza is really such an ugly person for having rza on her album after asking me to be on it, Me politely and honestly declining, after news of him trying to pimp me out to Russell Crowe broke. That was really a huge slap in the face and truest sign of a bitch who will always be…
But this appears to have cut even deeper for Banks, as she references the Russell Crowe incident in her first tweet. If you remember back in 2016, Azealia was on pace to sign a record deal with RZA. However, that all came to a crashing end after the two MC’s attended a party at the actor’s home. Banks claimed to be physically removed and that she was also verbally and physically attacked by Crowe. RZA defended his friend, saying that Banks was “erratic” and “obnoxious” and that she was instigating things first. Since then, she has had beef with both males and SZA seems to be collateral in a sense with this rant.
More Tweets From Banks
Cursed with a lifetime supply of fresh out the bootyhole dick in her mouth for eternity. pic.twitter.com/qarX1EvAq7
What are your thoughts on Azealia Banks unleashing on SZA for her past work with RZA? Do you think this is all stemming from the rapper’s past issues with the R&B star? Could you see the latter responding, or even RZA? Whose side are you taking? We would like to hear what you have to say, so leave your thoughts in the comments. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding Azealia Banks, SZA, and RZA. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.
(@big_business_) October 24, 2024
”, another cautiously predicts. ““The ‘LANA’ tease”… “AND THE ROLLOUT BEGINS”, two others add. SZA was also in the comments and penned a cryptic but perhaps foreshadowing message in the process, “Fun times at the pain farm 
”. All we can do is speculate for now, but hopefully, we get some album updates in the process. 
