SZA is officially a New Jersey Hall of Famer. The singer was inducted Thursday, Sept. 24 in the Performing Arts&Entertainment category at the 18th annual ceremony at the Dream Live Performing Arts Center in East Rutherford. Doing the honors was Danny DeVito, a fellow Jersey native who hosted the event and was inducted himself back in 2010.
SZA was born in St. Louis but raised in Maplewood, and she graduated from Columbia High School. In her acceptance speech she gave a shout-out to Lauryn Hill, another Columbia High alum, and pushed back on the idea that Jersey lives in New York’s shadow.“Sometimes people skip over Jersey and go straight to New York,”she said.“But they’re missing the meat. They’re missing the heartbeat of the tri-state.”
Her Instagram post about the night, though, stole the show.“Got inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. MORE IMPORTANTLY I MET DANNY DEVITO.”She joins a roster that includes Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra and Queen Latifah, and she brings seven Grammys and more than 70 billion career streams with her.
What’s your favorite SZA song of all time? Sound off in the comments.
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.