SZA has been inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame, honored in the Performing Arts & Entertainment category at the organization’s 18th annual induction ceremony on Thursday (Sept. 24).
The seven-time Grammy winner was inducted by fellow New Jersey native Danny DeVito, who hosted the ceremony at the Dream Live Performing Arts Center at American Dream in East Rutherford. Born in St. Louis but raised in Maplewood and a graduate of Columbia High School, SZA kept things playful on Instagram afterward: “Got inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame,” she wrote. “MORE IMPORTANTLY I MET DANNY DEVITO.”
Her acceptance speech was more earnest. “This is probably one of the biggest honors I’ve ever had,” she said, recalling working local jobs from a pizza parlor to a shoe store and crediting the community that raised her. “I come from a small town where everybody knows each other’s first and last name… I just love community, and I promise to take that energy of community around the world wherever I go.”
She also shouted out fellow Columbia High School alum Lauryn Hill, who has not yet been inducted, and pushed back on the tendency to overlook the state: “Sometimes people [skip] over Jersey and go straight to New York. But they’re missing the meat. They’re missing the heartbeat of the tri-state.”
SZA joins a New Jersey Hall of Fame roster that includes Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Queen Latifah, the Jonas Brothers, Wyclef Jean and the Isley Brothers, among others. DeVito was inducted in 2010.
One of the most commercially dominant artists of her generation, SZA broke through with her 2017 debut Ctrl, which reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and was certified triple platinum. Her 2022 follow-up SOS debuted at No. 1 and went on to spend 13 nonconsecutive weeks atop the chart, boosted by its 2024 Lana deluxe expansion, while its single “Kill Bill” became one of two RIAA diamond-certified hits in her catalog. A seven-time Grammy winner and 2024 recipient of the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s Hal David Starlight Award, she has amassed more than 70 billion career streams.
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