Where SZA Stands With Ex Drake Now After Performing With His Enemy Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl
With her special appearance at the Super Bowl alongside frequent collaborator Kendrick Lamar, SZA‘s dating life is being rediscovered. More specifically, that one brief moment when she dated K.Dot’s nemesis Drake.
Drake is the target of Kendrick’s diss track “Not Like Us.” The Pulitzer-winning rapper accused Drake of being a pedophile in his song, and the crowd at Caesar’s Superdome went crazy during the line, “Probably strike a chord, and it’s probably A minor.” If performing a targeted diss track wasn’t enough of a blow for Drake, Kendrick brought out not one, but two of his ex-girlfriends: Serena Williams and SZA. SZA was previously announced as a special guest, but Serena was dancing along to the hit song.
Related: SZA Addressed Whether Drake Is Actually a Bad Kisser—See Who Else She’s Dated
The “One Dance” rapper has been open about dating Serena in the past. But, did he really have history with SZA?
When did Drake and SZA date?
Well, it depends on who you ask. Drake dropped the song “Mr. Right Now” in October 2, 2020 where he rapped, “Yeah, said she wanna f–k to some SZA, wait / ‘Cause I used to date SZA back in ’08.” SZA responded to the claims on X (formerly Twitter) two days later. “So It was actually 2009 lol 🙃.. in this case a year of poetic rap license mattered 🥴 lol I think he jus innocently rhymed 08 w wait . Anybody who really knows me and was around during this time can confirm.. it’s all love all peace 🤝💎💫”
She continued the thread, “I just didn’t want anybody thinking anything underage or creepy was happening. Completely innocent. Lifetimes ago.”
She doubled down on it in an interview with Rolling Stone, saying they were “were really young.” “It wasn’t hot and heavy or anything. It was like youth vibes. It was so childish.”
Recently, two of SZA’s co-stars grilled her about her relationship with Drake. In a Hot Ones Versus episode to promote their movie One of Them Days, Keke Palmer asked the “All the Stars” singer if Drake was a good singer. SZA kept mum for the most part. “We were children!” she exclaimed. “We were children. 2009? We were children.” For her part, SZA was really joking—Drake was 23 years old at the time and SZA was 20 years old. Palmer and Issa Rae fanned the flames saying that her answer would be a “simple good or not good,” with Rae adding it was “really easy.” The Insecure creator continued, “And the fact that you don’t want to say one is very telling.”
Despite their history, SZA and Drake have worked together in recent years. She was featured in his track “Slime You Out” in 2023. “I just handed in the first draft to Drake, and he’s putting it on his album,” she told the Wall Street Journal. “I’m scared because I handed in second vocals and he didn’t use that. And now I’m like, ‘Are you trying to sabotage me?’”
She continued, “I know that’s not true. I literally know that’s not true, but that’s how bad I feel about my first draft. When things come from an effortless space, I almost can’t enjoy it.”
