Verzuz

Swizz Beatz And Timbaland Will Partner With Lena Waithe For A Film That Documents The Rise Of ‘Verzuz’

by
swizz-beatz-timbaland.jpg

This month marks the two-year anniversary of Verzuz, the platform was launched by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland that showcases beat battles held on Instagram Live. Since then, the show has held numerous duels between the likes of The Lox, Dipset, Nelly, Ludacris, Keyshia Cole, Ashanti, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, E-40, Too Short, Gucci Mane, Jeezy, and many more. To commemorate their success, Swizz and Timbo will partner with Amazon Studios, Lena Waithe, her production company Hillman Grad Productions, and Good Trouble Studios for a special documentary.

Titled Gifted & Black, the documentary will highlight the rise of Verzuz, as well as the roots of Black music. According to Deadline, it will use “poignant interviews, gripping vérité and magnetic archival footage” to see how Black music impacts the culture.

“When we first started this mission the entire world had hit rock bottom,” Swizz Beatz said in a statement. “People were going through so much and Tim and I felt we should do something to help folks escape. The rest is history, we made the magical call to Hillman Grad because we only wanted people to see the best of the best.”

A release date for Gifted & Black has not yet been revealed but it will air on Amazon Prime Video when released.

Swizz Beatz & Timbaland Can Take A Lesson From Jay-Z’s Response To Backlash Around TIDAL Subscription Fees. Hov Called Out The Devaluation Of Black-Owned Brands

by

Verzuz x Black-owned Businesses

The artist matchup platform — Verzuz — is rolling out a fee-based subscription model and Swizz Beatz and Timbaland are catching a lot of heat on social media about charging fees.  According to Jay-Z, the backlash may be because the brand is black-owned. Timbaland And Swizz Announce Verzuz Subscription The Verzuz battles will cost a […]

Swizz Beatz & Timbaland Can Take A Lesson From Jay-Z’s Response To Backlash Around TIDAL Subscription Fees, Calling Out The Devaluation Of The Black-Owned Brand

by

Verzuz x Black-owned Businesses

The artist matchup Verzuz battles popularized at the beginning of the pandemic will no longer be available to the public for free. Swizz and Timbaland are catching a lot of heat on social media after announcing their next Verzuz will be by subscription only.  According to Jay-Z – the backlash may subconsciously be because the […]

Nicki Minaj Reveals Her Conditions For A Verzuz Hits Battle

by
nicki minaj verzuz battle
Getty Image

Ever since the start of the Verzuz hits battle web show during the lockdown of 2020, one person plenty of people wanted to see step on the stage is Nicki Minaj. Lil Kim said that she’d want to battle Nicki considering their history during the BET Awards red carpet last year, and surely fans agree. However, until now, Nicki herself hadn’t addressed the possibility of a Verzuz or who her own idea opponent would be.

This week, though, Houston radio station 97.9 The Box managed to get Nicki on-record pondering a potential matchup when she stopped by the Good Morning H-Town radio show to promote her upcoming single with Lil Baby. During the interview, Nicki shot down the idea of doing a battle against either of her Young Money compatriots Drake and Lil Wayne on the grounds that they’re more firmly established in hip-hop (arguable). But see, Drake and Wayne have so many bona fide hip-hop hits, so I don’t know,” she said, before giving hope. “But I do think there might be a female or two that can…[battle me].”

While she didn’t elaborate on which ones she thought would make it a decent battle (come on, now, the list is like… Cardi B and maybe Doja Cat or Megan Thee Stallion), she did reveal that she’d had conversations with the show’s organizers Swizz Beats and Timbaland. “They were talking to me about it,” she said. “If it’s going to be fun, then you never know. That’s all I’ll say about that. It should feel like a celebration, that’s exactly what I would like it to feel like. Fun, happiness. Because a lot of times with my career, stuff would feel like work. And now I’m just like, ‘No. Everything needs to feel good. That’s it.’”

E-40 Is Confident That Busta Rhymes Will ‘Eat’ Eminem If They Faced Off In A ‘Verzuz’ Battle

by
E-40 2021 V101 Heart of Hip Hop Holiday Jam
Getty Image

Many legendary hip-hop acts have taken part in Verzuz battles: Ja Rule, Fat Joe, Dipset, The LOX, Ludacris, Nelly, DMX, Snoop Dogg, and more. Fans often debate which artists would make for a good duel. Recently, thanks to a post from Dr. Dre, many have wondered who should be pitted against Eminem. Swizz Beatz, who created Verzuz with Timbaland, mentioned Busta Rhymes as an opponent, but many disagreed with this recommendation.

One of those people includes E-40, who shared his opinion on a proposed Eminem-Busta mash-up during a recent interview. “Busta Rhymes would eat Eminem in a Verzuz battle. I really believe that,” E-40 said. “Busta Rhymes goes crazy. Because, now, it’s turned into a performance type of situation. Busta Rhymes is animated. He got gas. He raps fast, all that. He do all that stuff that Eminem do. And Busta Rhymes got up-tempo slaps that get the party goin‘. Anytime you got up-tempo slaps, you’re gonna win.”

E-40 also made sure to highlight praise the other rapper. “Eminem is so legendary,” he noted. “You know, definitely. Can’t take nothing away from him. Great hits, great style—I mean, he’s legendary, he’s an icon …” He went on to say, “I feel like Busta Rhymes gots what it takes to bring it to the surface, man, to let people say, ‘Damn, I didn’t even know he had all these hits, man’ …” he said. “The stuff he did with Mariah (Carey) and the stuff he did with Craig Mack, and he got his own slaps, bro. And he’s animated.”

You can listen to E-40’s comments in the video above.

Swizz Beats & Timbaland Are Taking Triller Public With Over 120 Celebrities As Initial Shareholders. Here’s How To Get Your Shares

by

Triller Investors

Timbaland and Swizz Beatz are on top of the world right now because Verzuz via Triller is set to become a publicly-traded company on the stock market. This new group of investors who are mostly creatives would make this venture historic. Timbaland And Swizz Beatz Set To Make History Swizz and Timbo shared a graphic […]

Future Agrees That People In Atlanta Believe He Can Beat Jay-Z In A ‘Verzuz’

by
future.jpg
Getty Image

Jay-Z left the rap community to argue amongst themselves after he made a bold declaration during a conversation on Twitter Spaces earlier this week.. “Ain’t nobody that can stand on that stage with me,” Jay said in response to a question about Verzuz from Alicia Keys who was a part of the Twitter Spaces conversation as well. “I ain’t gonna lie, no disrespect. Everyone’s amazing, they’ve done what they’ve done. No one can stand on that stage with me. Theres not a shot.” Fans of the rapper later duked it out on Twitter with supporters of other big-name acts like Ye, Lil Wayne, and Drake who felt that their favorite artist was worthy of a matchup with Jay-Z.

Another rapper that some brought into the conversation was Future. Podcaster and Atlanta personality Big Bank TDE took to Instagram to say that Atlanta residents believe that Future would not only fair well against Jay-Z but beat him in a Verzuz battle. “I Promise You, Errbody from Atlanta Feels Like Pluto Can Win A Verzuz Against Hov,” he wrote. Moments after the message was shared on Big Bank’s Instagram Story, Future reposted it to his own Instagram page leaving many to believe that he agreed with the message.

Future’s repost comes after he teamed up with Lil Baby to supply a pair of verses on Rvssian’s “M&M.”

You can view a screenshot of Future’s repost of Big Bank TDE’s message above.

Jay-Z Says He Won’t Do A Verzuz Battle Because ‘No One Can Stand On That Stage With Me’

by
jay-z.jpg
Getty Image

Last week, Alicia Keys dropped her album Keys. Her eighth studio album debuted at #41 on the Billboard 200 chart, which may not have met the expectations surrounding this much hyped release. But Keys has been on the promo path all week to spread the word about a mammoth double album that was accompanied by a short film and which features Pusha T, Brandi Carlile, Khalid and others. But what happened today may get her some more attention.

Keys jumped on a Twitter Spaces conversation with Rob Markman of Genius to promote the album. “…another MAJOR special guest texted me that they are jumpin’ in with us,” Keys tweeted just hours before the chat began. “Please don’t say we didn’t warn y’all,” Markman tweeted. And then moments before it began, Keys went out on a limb to tweet “This twitter spaces is about to be one of the most legendary conversations of the century.”

https://mobile.twitter.com/aliciakeys/status/1473441811309817862

For those who heeded Keys and Markman’s alarm calls, they would have heard the illustrious Jay-Z hopping on the call for a solid hour and a half. That’s a feat in and of itself, considering Hov follows exactly 0 accounts on Twitter and gave up on Instagram quick. But there he was, chopping it up with Keys and even having the conversation pointed back at him. When Keys asked him if he’d ever do a Verzuz Battle, he basically said no.

“Ain’t nobody that can stand on that stage with me. I ain’t gonna lie, no disrespect. Everyone’s amazing, they’ve done what they’ve done. No one can stand on that stage with me. Theres not a shot. Theres not a chance in hell that anyone can stand on that stage for I don’t know how long it is? 2 hours? 2 hours….That’s ain’t gonna never happen. Let’s move on from Verzuz and move on to this Keys album.

Jay-Z even said all he would have to do is drop his elusive Hot 97 Grammy Freestyle on the Verzuz stage and it would be over right then and there. We won’t disagree. Regardless, Keys pulled the ultimate ace up her sleeve to promote her new album, and her husband Swizz Beats even got a little promo for that little Verzuz project of his. You can listen to a portion of the conversation below.