On Friday, December 9th, SZA returned with SOS., her first album since 2017’s acclaimed Ctrl. The expansive new record boasts 23 tracks and high-profile features like Travis Scott and Phoebe Bridgers. The album’s closer “Forgiveless,” however, features an unlikely icon — the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard.
SZA is the subject of Consequence’s latest cover story, published on Monday, December 12th. She discusses SOS, the stresses of being in the spotlight, and her material that isn’t yet on streaming services; check out the full cover story here.
The artist also touches on how she was able to sample both an existing Ol’ Dirty Bastard track and an unreleased verse from the rapper. “Forgiveless” utilizes a snippet of Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “The Stomp” (a cut off of his 1995 solo album Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version), as well as never-before-heard bars taken from an upcoming documentary about the Wu-Tang Clan member’s solo career.
“I feel like having unreleased vocals from ODB was really crazy,” SZA tells Consequence. “It came from a documentary that had yet to come out, and talking to the estate and his son and everybody.”
She also shares that she was actively searching for the perfect feature for “Forgiveless” when she came across the opportunity to include Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and that once she heard him on the track, nothing else could compare.
“It was so crazy because I tried to find a feature for that song and no one responded in time,” she tells Consequence. “And it turned out that ODB just sounded the coolest. Like, before I could even think about anything else, that came into play.”
Check out the song below to hear how SZA incorporates both Ol’ Dirty Bastard verses for “Forgiveless,” and read the full SZA cover story here.
