SZA Says She Doesn’t Have ‘Any Stake’ in Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar Feud, Calls Nicki Minaj Beef ‘Strange’

SZA is minding her own business. In a GQ cover story published Thursday (Nov. 6), the hitmaker spoke about how she’s chosen to stay out of two major feuds that have gone down recently in the music world — Drake versus Kendrick Lamar and Nicki Minaj versus, well, her.

Starting with the beef between two of her frequent collaborators, SZA — who recently co-headlined a stadium tour with Dot but has been friends with ex-boyfriend Drizzy for years — addressed why she chose not to take sides when one of rap’s biggest clashes on record unfolded last year. “It was something between two grown-a– men, so why would I insert myself between something between two grown-a– men, you know?” she told the publication.

“I feel like that’s how everybody felt — with the exception of people who didn’t feel that way,” SZA continued. “I didn’t really have any stake, per se. Obviously, I love Kendrick. I’m signed to [Top Dawg Entertainment]. That’s my family. Obviously, I’ve known Drake for so long and we have a beautiful rapport. And, obviously, it’s always unfortunate when the unfortunate occurs.”

Despite her diplomacy throughout the back-and-forth, fans couldn’t help but wonder last year how SZA felt about two of her longtime friends — both of whom have helped her score some of the biggest hits of her career with their collaborations — going toe to toe. Tension had been brewing for years, but the feud reached a fever pitch in the spring of 2024 when the two men started lobbing searing diss tracks at one another left and right, including Lamar’s Billboard Hot 100-topping “Not Like Us.”

But while she didn’t necessarily take sides on a personal level, SZA was certainly caught in the crossfire professionally. On the one hand, she served as the Compton rapper’s main guest artist in his 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show — during which he openly taunted his foe while performing “Not Like Us” — but on the other, she also sang her Drake duet “Rich Baby Daddy” every night on the Grand National Tour, her joint trek with Lamar. (“Why wouldn’t I?” she told the publication of putting the track on the setlist. “I don’t know why I wouldn’t be celebrating some s–t that I ate up.”)

Protecting her peace proved more difficult, however, when the Queen of Rap began firing off increasingly mean-spirited posts about her on X this past summer. While in the midst of dissing both Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez and Top Dawg president Terrence “Punch” Henderson — who used to be SZA’s manager — Minaj dragged SZA into the mix with repeated insults about her appearance.

After getting in a few shots of her own during the back-and-forth on X, SZA stepped away. Months later, she told GQ of Minaj, “I don’t know her.”

“We have no connection to each other,” she continued. “There’s no backstory. Like, there was no through-line narrative. It was just like, ‘Roc Nation’ … I don’t know where it came from. That’s not even my place to correct a narrative that I don’t got s–t to do with.”

“It was a little strange,” SZA added. “It was very like, ‘Why?’ But also, you know, ‘I guess.’ ”

See SZA on the cover of GQ below.