Verzuz

50 Cent Trolls Murder Inc After Verzuz Commenters Evoke His Beef With Ja Rule

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Even though last night’s Verzuz battle at New York’s Madison Square Garden featured Ja Rule and Fat Joe, fans in the stream’s comments couldn’t stop bringing up 50 Cent. The Queens rapper had a highly public feud with Ja Rule throughout the 2000s as he rose to prominence and Ja declined in popularity — a decline he and his fans have always attributed to the beef, despite it likely being due more to the federal investigation into Ja’s label Murder Inc. and changing tastes in hip-hop overall.

However, the comments still irked Murder Inc. founder Irv Gotti, who exploded in the comments section. “All y’all talking about that 50 shit,” he railed. “All good. He got beat up stabbed up. Shot up. And sued us. That’s all I’m gonna say. Your hero ain’t what you think he is. Period. And facts.”

50 himself quickly caught wind of the commentary (does this guy have Google Alerts set for his rivals or what?) and popped up on Instagram to mock Gotti and Murder Inc. with a pair of posts crowing about his lopsided mid-2000s “victory.” “Wtf am i trending for, I said I ain’t doing whatever that shit is they doing,” he captioned the first. In its follow-up, he crowed, “I put they whole label out of business, f*ck with me if you want to. I would stay out of my way if i wasn’t me. LOL.” Naturally, both captions were filled with promotions for his various business ventures, including Branson Cognac and Bottle Rover, which is apparently an alcohol delivery service.

Later, on Atlanta radio’s Big Tigger Morning Show, Ja insisted that 50 would have been “nothing without that f*cking white boy,” obviously attributing his rival’s success to his association with Eminem, then one of the biggest names in hip-hop, and his attendant fanbase. Incidentally, most in either rappers’ camps and in hip-hop at large would rather have seen Ja go toe-to-toe with 50 on Verzuz, but 50 already put paid to that dream last year.

Ja can rest assured that, at least as far as Rap Twitter is concerned, he came out of last night’s competition the clear winner, decisively controlling the hits battle as Fat Joe spent far too many rounds emphasizing his “real hip-hop” clout and not enough playing his actual hits.

Diddy Names The One Artist He’d Do ‘Verzuz’ Against While Shutting Down Jermaine Dupri’s Challenge

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Ever since Verzuz became a fixture in the hip-hop community last year, fans have clamored for match-ups featuring some of the all-time greats squaring off. Jermaine Dupri is trying to get something going for himself, as he issued a challenge to Diddy. However, Diddy doesn’t think that’s a worthwhile endeavor for him, as there’s only one artist he’d do a Verzuz against.

Last night, Dupri called out Diddy, tweeting, “Somebody let @Diddy know I’m @thegarden right now ! And he gon need some training for me.”

Diddy didn’t take long to respond with a tweet that both showed respect for Dupri while declaring that he can’t measure up to Diddy. Additionally, he declared the only person he’d do a Verzuz with is Dr. Dre. He tweeted, “Beloved you my n**** but your arms too short to box with God!!! You aiint got enough hits. I’ll smash you with just biggie n Mary . But I do have the upmost respect on you as a musical legend – Dre the only one can get in the ring w me . – LOVE.”

Dre was actually once set to participate in a Verzuz, but Swizz Beatz notes he backed out after hearing the poor sound quality of one broadcast.

Memphis Bleek Explains Why He Thinks A Jay-Z And Nas Verzuz Is Out Of The Question

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In all of the furor over many of the Verzuz battles over the past year and a half, one potential matchup has been posed more than almost any other for obvious reasons: Jay-Z vs. Nas. However, it’s also the one that seems unlikeliest — both for, again, the obvious reasons (they are both incredibly busy with other things) and for some not-so-obvious ones. Longtime Jay-Z affiliate Memphis Bleek gave his own reason, however, and it’s got Twitter in a tizzy debating whether or not he might be right.

In an interview with Bally Sports Network’s Brandon “Scoop” Robinson, Bleek explained why he thinks a Jay-Z and Nas Verzuz is out of the question: Because, in his opinion, Nas doesn’t have enough hits for a hits battle. “It’s no comparison,” he started. “It’s just that Nas don’t have enough songs to compete. No disrespect to him, he just don’t. Jay can battle someone with just his B Sides Concert catalog and it’d still be better than people’s A sides.” While it’s understandable that Bleek would hold such reverence for his former mentor, some on Twitter were quick to try to rebut his claims, offering examples of Nas’ worthiness to compete with Jay. Some even went as far as impugning Bleek’s catalog.

Some, however, agreed with him, pointing out Nas’ suspect beat choices over the past 20 years, while others gave more measured responses allowing Nas to “compete” but not to “win” in a hypothetical Verzuz. For what it’s worth, in those battles where it truly seemed a win or a loss was at stake, many of the obvious picks wound up flustered by poor sequencing choices and their opponents’ willingness to outperform them — see: The LOX vs. Diplomats, just a few weeks ago. However, as mentioned, it’s probably not a likely matchup just because Jay and Nas seem to have no interest. Check out more replies below though, and feel free to weigh in on Twitter.

LeBron James Called Jadakiss The Most Underrated Hip-Hop Artist ‘Of All-Time’

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One of the best things to emerge from the pandemic is the popular face-off livestream Verzuz, which pits two legendary artists against each other in a showdown. This week’s battle between The Lox and Dipset seemed like it would be a close one out of the gate, but The Lox, and most prominently Jadakiss, pulled out ahead to gain accolades and praise that dubbed them the clear winner. Plenty of hip-hop heads are weighing in on the impact of Jadakiss as an MC, and noted hip-hop head LeBron James had to put his own two cents in when it comes to The Lox member’s greatness.

“JADAKISS is the most UNDERRATED hip-hop artist of ALL-TIME!! MY GOODNESS,” the basketball star wrote, adding a hefty dose of emojis to his all-caps praise. “@thelox
just so [fire emoji],” he continued. “3 bullies.” Then, he shared his favorite clip from the battle, where Jadakiss launches into a freestyle over Biggie’s “Who Shot Ya” instrumental.

Considering LeBron has been an avid hip-hop listener for all of his life, and even has an executive producer credit on 2 Chainz’s also underrated Rap Or Go To The League, his praise has to be feel pretty good. Giving hip-hop legends their flowers while they’re still here is always a strong move.

Jadakiss Was The Star Of The Chaotic ‘Verzuz’ Between The LOX And Dipset

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During last night’s highly anticipated Verzuz between The LOX and The Diplomats at Madison Square Garden, fans watching online quickly crowned Jadakiss the runaway star of the event. From the jump, his relentless needling of his ostensible opponents — from their gear to their performance over vocal tracks — tickled fans’ funny bones, while his own performances recalled his longtime dominance of New York radio and his elite tier rhyme skills. Fans also noted how he’d similarly stolen the show at his prior Verzuz event where he made several meme-worthy moments alongside fellow 2000s New York rap star Fabolous.

Among the responses were those calling Jadakiss the MVP, while still others admonished their fellow fans to appreciate the rapper more.

Even Tyler the Creator was seen in the comments on the stream expressing his “crush” on Jadakiss for having “crazy” confidence and aging well.

Some were even quick to remind others that Jadakiss put out a new album last year, recommending that those impressed by his performance take a listen.

The overwhelming sentiment was one of appreciation for the 20+ year rap veteran, who lived up to his “top 5 dead or alive” reputation for at least one night. Check out more reactions from fans below.

Dipset And The Lox Have Signed On To Battle It Out In An Upcoming ‘Verzuz’

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After hitting fans with battles between Swizz Beatz and Timbaland and SWV and Xscape in May, Verzuz kept things moving in June with another pair of matchups: one between Eve and Trina and another between Soulja Boy and Bow Wow. This month, they kicked things off with a battle between Keith Sweat and Bobby Brown, which proved to be an excellent presentation of R&B’s past. Now the duel series has announced New York-based rap groups, Dipset and The Lox, as their next matchup.

While the battle itself is great news, that’s just half of it. Fans of both groups can purchase tickets to watch them duke it, out as the matchup will be live, taking place in the Hulu Theater at New York’s Madison Square Garden. It’s the first time that Verzuz has sold tickets to attend one of their events.

While the August 3 battle will be the first Verzuz for Dipset’s members, among them Cam’ron, Freekey Zeekey, Jim Jones, and Juelz Santana, this not the case for the ones in The Lox. The matchup is the first Verzuz for two of The Lox’s members, Styles P and Sheek Louch, but it’s the second for their remaining member, Jadakiss, who previously went up against Fabolous for one in June 2020.

You can check out a flyer for the matchup between Dipset and The Lox and purchase tickets for the battle here.

Lil Kim Would Love To Face Off Against Nicki Minaj On ‘Verzuz’

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For years now, there has been tension between Lil Kim and Nicki Minaj, with the former calling the latter a “snake” in 2017, for example. Now, though, the two pioneering rappers could be brought together on one of the most popular platforms of the past year: Verzuz.

In a red carpet interview ahead of the BET Awards yesterday, Kim was asked if she would do a Verzuz show and she responded simply, “Yes.” She was then asked if she had a preferred opponent, and in another succinct response, she said, “Nicki.” The host replied, “I would love to see that,” to which Kim responded, “Yes, me too.”

This lines up with what Kim said in 2017, noting that she would collaborate with Minaj if the price is right. She said, “Some things just can’t be mended unless there’s, like, a different type of conversation. Some people take it too far, some people take it to a point where they try to really deliberately see you in the ground or they still hold on to ‘I’m right.’ A snake is a snake. I’m not gonna try to pick it up because it was being nice to me. […] It’s still a snake at the end of the day. For that situation, it would have to be a business conversation.”

As for the BET Awards, Kim was on hand to pay tribute to Queen Latifah, so check out that moment here.