Top Dawg Entertainment president Terrence "Punch" Henderson has called out people for negating Black women and their talent when speaking on SZA and her latest album, SOS.
Earlier the week, a video surfaced online showing songwriter and producer Leon Thomas III performing an acoustic version of SZA's hit single "Snooze." It didn't take long for people to believe Thomas wrote the song, which led Punch to chime in and clear the air that SZA was the one responsible for penning the track.
"Lol. Y'all gotta chill," Punch tweeted. "SZA wrote every word. Leon made the beat with Babyface and a couple others."
One person said the easiest thing to do in squashing that rumor was to look at the song credits to see who contributed to the track while also mentioning how Lucky Daye has several uncredited contributions. Punch returned to explain there's a way to attribute credit to people.
"What? I approved the credits lol," Punch said in response. "A producer is listed as a writer because they write the MUSIC. SZA wrote the words to the song. It's important that that is known."
Punch continued, "Just so we're clear. A producer gets writing credits on a song if they compose the music(it's variation but we'll keep it basic). Sometimes a producer helps write the words and/or melody etc… in the case of snooze SZA wrote the words and melody. Leon made the beat."
SZA caught wind of the commotion on social media and thanked Punch for explaining how song credits work by writing, "u didn't have to do that . Thank u." In return, Punch replied, "Certain things ppl can't play with. You're one of the most important writers in music. They'll try to rewrite(pun intended lol) history. I'm not having it."
Punch then criticized all the people who have tried to deny the songwriting ability of SZA and other Black women. According to Punch, he didn't think people would stoop that low and used 19th-century writer Phyllis Wheatley as an example.
"It's starting to feel like y'all are locked in on discrediting black women and the phenomenal things they do… nah y'all wouldn't do that, right," Punch wrote. "Could this be A Phyllis Wheatley Moment (Look it up if you're not familiar)?"
Back in March, SZA revealed she was responsible for writing "Snooze" while giving credit to Babyface and Thomas for producing the record.
"Just wanted to clarify . I wrote EVERY lyric and melody on snooze," SZA said. "The amazing Baby face and Leon PRODUCED the track. Producers are listed as writers in credits which can be misleading. As a writer that takes her pen seriously I just wanted to clarify that thank you !"
