Top Dawg Entertainment’s latest signee SZA sits down with MTV to speak on the signing and the relationships she’s built with Kendrick, Q and company.
To be the first female on TDE is more… it’s really just more important to me to be a part of TDE, rather than the first female. They’ve worked with girls in the past, incredible [artists] like Alori [Joh] and Jhene [Aiko]. So for me, it’s just honestly being a part of a collective, such as TDE. That’s what’s more insane to me. They don’t treat me like the girl, in the best ways though. No one tries to baby me or walk over me ’cause I’m a girl. They just let me fight for what I believe in and let me be as creative as I want to be and just give me free reign. So I love that.
The thing that made it the right fit for me with TDE was definitely more of a personal, emotional decision, knowing [Top Dawg Ent. President] Punch, for like two years prior, of like non music-related…like no pressure…or running into them beforehand, just in the streets. They’ve always been kind to me. They’ve never been Hollywood, or funny. I don’t know. It’s really just the talent level. They aren’t the kind of label that will give you a bottle of champagne and a car when you sign, but they’ll give you all the studio time you could ever ask for and every producer you could ever dream of and all the support you could ever want and that’s real.
