SZA: Ctrl 2LP Vinyl

Why you'll love it

Every one of Ctrl's five singles ("Drew Barrymore," "Love Galore," "The Weekend," "Broken Clocks" and "Garden (Say It Like Dat)") has gone double platinum or better. It earned SZA a Best New Artist nomination and a spot on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums list. Travis Scott and Kendrick Lamar both drop in.

This edition

2LP set, 14 tracks over four sides
Top Dawg Entertainment / RCA pressing

About the album

Solána Imani Rowe's first full album as SZA took a while to come together, but definitely not due to a lack of material: she'd reportedly logged somewhere between 150 and 200 songs before her handlers at Top Dawg Entertainment finally walked away with her hard drive and demanded she lock a final track listing down.

Ctrl, which arrived in the spring of 2017, turned out juuuuust fine. It sold bucketloads, got SZA nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist, earned her comparisons to Amy Winehouse and Billie Holiday and spawned five platinum-certified singles: "Drew Barrymore," "Love Galore," "The Weekend," "Broken Clocks" and "Garden (Say It Like Dat)." Maybe her oft-lamented perfectionism works to SZA's advantage, after all. And in any case, Ctrl was a breath of fresh air in the realm of "hip-hop soul" not experienced since the rise of Mary J. Blige and Lauryn Hill.

Also at Kops: more SZA on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B