SZA has unintentionally rained on Styles P‘s parade, after the LOX rapper discovered that it was the TDE singer’s song “Ghost In The Machine” that was trending online — not his 2005 mixtape.
The LOX rapper was a guest on Talib Kweli‘s People’s Party podcast in a new episode that dropped on Monday (August 14). While discussing the fact that classic bodies of work get overlooked and forgotten, Styles brought up one instance where he thought he was finally getting his flowers for an old project.
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“I got gassed one day [because] somebody told me ‘Ghost In The Machine’ was trending,” he revealed. “It wasn’t me, it was SZA! I was like, ‘Bout time these muthafuckas caught up. Muthafuckas! I got a whole bunch of other shit they about to catch up on.'”
He continued: “Wasn’t about me. I was like, “Oh shit, let me slow the fuck down and sit down for a second.”
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SZA’s version appears on her 2022 album SOS and features an appearance from singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers.
You can view the full conversation below:
Styles P has long been known for being one of Hip Hop’s top-tier lyricists, but he now believes that the sport of rap isn’t a place that breeds competition anymore.
In a July interview with Jalen Rose on his Renaissance Man With Jalen Rose podcast, The LOX rapper spoke about the lack of friendly sparring in the rap game while using basketball scoring analogies to drive his point home.
“That’s also the difference between Hip Hop of back then and Hip Hop of today, they aren’t competitive enough against each other, I feel,” said Styles P. “I personally feel — like, when you get on a track with somebody it’s supposed to be business. When you get in the studio with somebody, you supposed to be trying to air them out. Not diss them, but you supposed to be trying to drop a triple-double.”
He added: “If they gone drop a double-double, you want to make sure you drop a triple-double and I think that sense of competitiveness has left somewhat.”
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The New York native has been very vocal about a number of topics in culture as of late. During the 2023 BET Awards weekend in June, HipHopDX asked Ghost about the first rap record he was able to memorize in its entirety.
Styles P opted to name Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’s 1982 call-to-action track, “The Message.” “That was the first, most inspirational song for me,” he explained. “Album-wise though, I think everybody was focused on remembering Rakim, Kool G Rap, [Big Daddy] Kane, and KRS [One] bar for bar, especially my era.”
