During a discussion with Kendrick Lamar for their Harper’s BAZAAR feature, award-winning singer SZA recalled a time when legendary comedian Katt Williams complimented her by saying she was “mentally ill.”
SZA, whose real name is Solána Imani Rowe, said Williams, 53, gave her that compliment after she got nervous while shooting her first movie.
“We shot a movie last night. I’ve never shot a movie before, so I was freaking out. It’s a lot of being scared to be myself. I’m either gonna pretend it never happened or not show up to the premiere,” the Kill Bill singer said.
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“I met Katt Williams [on set]. He told me I was mentally ill, like, as a compliment. He was like, ‘Sa, I believe you might have some mental—,’” she continued. The 34-year-old singer said when she asked Williams if he was referring to mental illness, he responded saying, “‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Oh, welcome.’”
After touching on that conversation with Williams, SZA proceeded to ask Kendrick about his mental health. “Do you feel like you suffer from mental illness or experience it ever?” the Broken Clocks singer asked. “Or do you just feel like you’re in a multitude of feelings and you’re not putting a label on it?”
Kendrick, 37, responded that he actually “grew up with that term.” “I was hearing it when I was five, six years old,” he added before SZA asked if he identified “with it but not as it.”
“My whole thing is, it’s all experience,” the Not Like Us rapper responded. “I say some sh*t on a record and identify with a moment, and then I don’t identify with it anymore. That’s just growth for me. All that sh*t is subjective.”
“It’s giving self-therapy,” SZA chimed in before Kendrick said, “I think it’s going back to my inner child, right? I was trying to understand myself, trying to find people I could relate to. How to identify myself outside myself. It sounds crazy to a lot of people. I really can see myself out of my body. When I do that, I have no judgment toward it. It’s too many eyes on me to not remove myself. That sh*t is scary to anybody else.”
SZA then asked Kendrick if he was scared. “No, because I’ve learned that I can’t identify with my performances onstage,” Kendrick responded. “I can’t hold my true whole identity to that person who’s onstage. Because if I did, that means I will judge every movement every time I f**k up a lyric, every time I’m off-key. … It’s too much to deal with.
“So I have to have a distance between the performer and the person I close my eyes and look at the ceiling with. I had to develop that tough skin at like 16, 17 years old, not knowing it was not only for my career but for myself. It’s mentally ill for sure.”
READ ALSO: Singer SZA opens up about being scared to wear a hijab after the 9/11 attacks
