timbaland

Billboard reports Triller Network, the company behind the popular Triller app, has acquired the popular “hits battle” streaming show Verzuz, giving its creators Swizz Beatz and Timbaland positions on the Triller management team. Swizz and Tim will also receive equity in Triller, which they say they will share with the 43 artists who have appeared on the show to date. Verzuz exploded in popularity last year after an impromptu hits battle on Instagram Live between the two veteran producers expanded into a full-blown concert series, complete with corporate sponsors like Ciroc.

Over its first year, Verzuz invited such guests as Alicia Keys, DMX, Gucci Mane, E-40 Patti LaBelle, and many, many more legends in the game to appear, celebrating their musical legacy in a nostalgic style similar to a sound clash in the West Indies/Caribbean. With little else to do during a partial shutdown of live entertainment nationwide, fans tuned in by the thousands to watch these celebrations of artists who may no longer be trendy, but who have all contributed greatly to the broad spectrum of Black music culture.

Meanwhile, Triller, a video-creation app similar in function to TikTok, has been a fixture on many young music fans’ phones for a while, although it hasn’t received as much attention in that time as its neophyte competitor. It’s likely Triller Network is hoping that the Verzuz acquisition can bring an influx of attention similar to TikTok’s so that it can likewise become one of America’s primary social media obsessions.

You can read more about the acquisition here.