Drake and SZA. Karwai Tang/WireImage; John Nacion/startraksphoto.com/Cover Images
Drake and SZA are back making beautiful music together.
Years after Drake, 36, revealed that he and SZA, 33, were an item, the two teamed up for “Slime You Out.” Released on Friday, September 15, the song sees Drake revisit his emotional rap voice. After calling out a lover for putting his “mind in a terrible place,” he says he’s “slimin’ you for them kid choices you made / Slimin’ you out, slimin’ you out, slimin’ you out.”
When SZA joins in for the second verse, she takes the position of a woman with “too much pride” to let someone slime her out – to play or use her. “Pull up, go right around, my night, got time / Let’s discuss all those lies.” SZA showcases her powerful voice, helping deliver a somber, reflective song that seems like it would easily slide into Drake’s work.
Days before dropping “Slime You Out,” Drake announced the song by posting a photo of Halle Berry getting slimed at the 2012 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards. The image bore the Parental Advisory sticker, and Drake tagged SZA in the picture. SZA – who recently revealed that the deluxe edition of SOS will be a whole new album — reshared the image to her Instagram.
Fans who attended Drake’s concert at Dallas’ American Airlines Center on Thursday, September 14, got a preview of the song during the encore. Fan footage of the music hit social media, and fans were happy that the song was a throwback to his more emotional era. “Yesssss old drake,” tweeted one fan. “This is that ‘Marvins Room’/’Days in the East’ drake we’ve all missed.. wow,” added another.
This song comes after Drake revealed in October 2020 that he and SZA once collaborated romantically “Yeah, said she wanna f–k to some SZA, wait / ‘Cause I used to date SZA back in ’08,” rapped the Degrassi alum on “Mr. Right Now,” a song from 21 Savage‘s Savage Mode 2 album. “If you cool with it, baby, she can still play.”
Shortly after the song’s release, SZA reportedly unfollowed Drake on Instagram. She also seemed to address the song on her Instagram Story, posting a viral video of a man going, “Excuse me, ma’am. Excuse me! You’re in my business? Yeah, don’t do that.”
SZA later clarified that she and Drake did have a brief fling. “So, it was actually [in] 2009,” she tweeted. “In this case, a year of poetic rap license mattered. LOL. I think he jus(sic) innocently rhymed 08 w[ith] wait. Anybody who really knows me and was around during this time can confirm. It’s all love, all peace.”
She also explained why she confirmed this fling. Fans did the math and thought that Drake would have been 21 or 22 at the time, while SZA would have been 17 or 18. “I just didn’t want anybody thinking anything underage or creepy was happening,” she explained. “Completely innocent. Lifetimes ago.”
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SZA expounded on the relationship in a December 2022 interview with Big Tigger for Audacy’s Check In series. “It wasn’t a big deal because it was something I already knew about,” SZA said. “I obviously knew that we talked to each other when I was a lot younger and when he was a lot younger. And we’re cool. We’ve always been cool. It’s never been weird. It didn’t come completely out of the blue. And he let me know.”
“Every time he’s ever mentioned me, it’s always been positive,” continued SZA. “He’s never said anything negative about me. I’m grateful for that. I think highly of him, and I think it’s really weird that all these years have passed and I am an artist now, and I wasn’t then. And he’s King Drake.”
Cover art for ‘Slime You Out’ features Halle Berry getting slimed at Nickelodeon’s 25th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards on March 31, 2012. Christopher Polk/KCA2012/Getty Images for KCA
“Slime You Out” is expected to be part of For All The Dogs, Drake’s upcoming album. Set for a September 22 release, the new album follows 2022’s Honestly, Nevermind and Her Loss, Drake’s collaborative album with 21 Savage.
The album will feature work from Lil Yachty. ” “It’s interesting. It sounds very current,” Yachty, 26, said about For All The Dogs on his “A Safe Space” podcast. Yachty was skeptical at first that Drake could “put this together” since the album has “a lot of great songs, but they don’t really, in my brain, they didn’t really sound together.”
Yachty revealed that Drake spoke to him about the album’s flow, which suddenly seemed more cohesive to the “Black Seminole” rapper. “Without giving out any details, I think if I had to give a description, I think it’ll be a record that [is] the most performance album he has, as far as energy,” added Yachty.
