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ZA
her diploma, she went to Delaware State University and bounced around between community colleges, eventu- ally finishing her degree. The road was not at all smooth, though: right after enrolling, SZA had to drop out and do odd jobs to make money. Throughout college, she would work as a bartender for some extra income. Up until this point, only her mother, boyfriend and a close friend had even heard her sing.
That was all about to change, though. While in college, SZA started recording some songs with friends and family. It was incredibly simple, basically just “stealing a bunch of internet beats.” Through some cosmic twist of fate (her boyfriend’s company was hosting an event, CMJ 2011, that Kendrick Lamar and Top Dawg Enter- tainment attended), SZA’s early music somehow found its way to a radio near TDE co-president, Terrence “Punch” Harrison. He
loved what he heard, and found SZA at the event to get her info. Buoyed by Terrence’s response, she arrived at work the next day to find herself fired. She had skipped her shift one too many times.
Throwing herself into music, she released a debut EP, “See.SZA.Run,” and followed it up with 2013’s EP, “S.” Even at this early stage in her career the media attention was intense. The Guardian compared SZA’s expansive track “Country” to the cultured haze of Frank Ocean and melancholy pop of The Weeknd, while “Ice Moon” featured a music video that gave glimpses into SZA’s ar- tistic direction. Within 3 months of releasing her soph- omore EP, she would be signed to TDE as their first female labelmate. While exploring and fine-tuning her sound and getting ready to make an album, SZA lent vocals to TDE artists and co-wrote Beyonce’s smash hit, “Feeling Myself.”
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