Verzuz

Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, And D-Nice Are Set To Receive A 2021 ASCAP Award

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Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, and D-Nice made a major impact on the music landscape in 2020, and now their efforts are being recognized: The three will be receiving the ASCAP Voice Of The Culture Award during the 2021 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards, for their inventive and uniting virtual music events — namely Verzuz and Club Quarantine — during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

The award celebrates the most-performed R&B/hip-hop, rap, and gospel songs from the previous year. The virtual celebration will be held on June 22 through June 24 via social media. Registration for the virtual chats and other events is available at the ASCAP Experience website.

Timbaland and Swizz Beatz’s Verzuz was the virtual singing competition series that gained instant claim on Instagram Live by pitting musical legends from all genres against each other, including Gladys Knight vs. Patti LaBelle, Erykah Badu vs. Jill Scott, Earth, Wind & Fire vs. the Isley Brothers, Snoop Dogg vs. DMX, and more. The two Grammy-winning producers and label founders created must-see spectacles that brought millions of isolated people together over music.

Similarly, the legendary DJ Derrick “D-Nice” Jones, turned his Instagram Live broadcasts into a virtual dance party with Club Quarantine. D-Nice’s DJ sets were praised as a much-needed respite by millions during the 2020 lockdowns. Even A-listers like Will Smith, Oprah, Michelle Obama, and Diddy tuned in for D-Nice’s heavy rotation of funk, disco, hip-hop, and R&B. D-Nice teamed up with Issa Rae’s Raedio to co-curate the official playlist of the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris inauguration. His full-length studio album is set to arrive later this year.

Swizz Beatz Called Out Justin Timberlake For Not Yet Partaking In A ‘Verzuz’ Battle

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Swizz Beatz and Timbaland earned acclaim by launching the series Verzuz during the pandemic, giving musicians a chance to square off while social distancing. But on Saturday they came full circle, doing one of their own. While the battle went well, there was one moment that caught the attention of many viewers as it came when Swizz called out Justin Timberlake for not partaking in a battle.

When Timbaland played Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake’s “Holy Grail,” which he produced, Swizz took a direct shot at the singer. “Until you can get Justin Timberlake on Verzuz, I don’t really wanna hear those vocals,” he said, according to Vulture. Later on, when Verzuz entered overtime, which occurs after both participants play 20 songs each, Timbaland played a pair of songs by Timberlake: “Cry Me a River” and “SexyBack.” That sparked another response from Swizz. “Until Justin let the world know that he —”, he started saying. But Timbaland cut him off, adding, “Justin gotta come out, he’s coming out.”

However, Swizz wasn’t done. “He gotta admit that he love the Black culture and he gotta be on this stage,” Swizz said. “You took from the Black culture, you give to the Black culture. Come to Verzuz and be a part of the Black culture.”

Later on, during a recap of the battle which they held on Instagram Live, Timbaland told Swizz he “went a little hard on my brother JT.” Swizz then gave his reasoning. “Look, man, I had to go hard,” he said. “Did you hear how them songs were sounding on that stage? You and JT, it was like JT was in the building. I was like, man!” Swizz added that he “was just having fun” and “don’t got no problem with JT.”

He then invited the singer to partake in a future battle. “Shout-out to JT,” he said. “We can’t wait to get you onstage having fun, ’cause you deserve it too.”

Here’s When + How To Watch Tonight’s VERZUZ Rematch

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The wait’s almost over for hitmakers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland to put their biggest records against one another. The hip-hop pair and creators of VERZUZ are slated to face-off this evening and all the streaming details are now public. Here’s When + How To Watch Tonight’s VERZUZ Barring any last-minute changes, Swizz and Timbo are […]

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Gucci Mane Recalls His ‘Verzuz’ Battle With Jeezy Was ‘Tense But It Was Real’

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Gucci Mane admits his contentious Verzuz battle with Jeezy was “tense but real” in a new profile of the trap godfather for Billboard. Looking back on the night and the provocative goading the two rappers engaged in, Gucci expresses his appreciation for the opportunity. “It was a good step forward,” he says. “For us to do that and for nothing bad to happen, that was great.”

Gucci also spends some of the profile addressing his outsized impact on the rap game compared to the amount of credit he’s received for influencing some of the biggest names in rap — including, Future, Migos, Nicki Minaj, and Young Thug. “Is the true story of what really happened with all these artists and how I helped them going to come to light?” he wonders. “There are some interesting stories, and it was so long ago that they get lost. Nobody ever really told the true story. [Artists] want to tell you what made them look good… I don’t get the credit.”

Elsewhere, though, he acknowledges the possibility that he won’t receive those accolades in his time. “If you wait on [the world] to give some credit, either they’re going to do it when you’re dead or when somebody has fallen off and they’re not relevant anymore,” he reflects. “They never give it to the person when they’re still in the moment.”

Read Billboard‘s full cover story on Gucci Mane here.

Gucci Mane is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Soulja Boy Says A ‘Verzuz’ Battle With Bow Wow Is ‘Official’

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In late March, shortly after they announced a new deal with Triller, Verzuz shared plans for several upcoming battles. The first two were matchups between Earth, Wind, & Fire and The Isley Brothers and Method Man and Redman. A third battle between SWV and Xscape was later announced, but since then the group has gone quiet on updates with future battles. A scheduled Mother’s Day Verzuz came and went without an actual battle while potential participants and dates for the remaining three matchups were never revealed. Now, it looks like one of those battles could finally be set.

Soulja Boy took to Twitter to announce that a Verzuz between himself and Bow Wow is “official.” The rappers hopped on Instagram Live to speak about the upcoming matchup as fans watched in excitement.

“This sh*t gonna be bigger than life bro,” Bow Wow proclaimed during the livestream. “I’m happy to celebrate with you. They was throwing O in there, I saw a lot of Omarion, I’m like that’s my bro too, but O an R&B singer.” He added, “Me and you [Soulja] make so much sense. We’ve toured together, me and you got a whole motherf*cking mixtape together. We on tour right now and on top of that sh*t, n**** you got a hot new record out. The day before we do Verzuz, my movie come out… Fast & Furious 9 drop the day before.”

The end of Bow Wow’s quote of course reveals that he and Soulja’s Verzuz will take place on June 26 as Fast & Furious 9 will premiere in theaters on June 25.

The Verzuz announcement also comes after Soulja Boy was sued by his ex-girlfriend for sexual battery and domestic violence. As for Bow Wow, he was hit assault charges in 2019 after he was involved in a physical altercation with a woman who was also arrested in the matter.

You can watch a clip from their Instagram live session above.

Young Thug Explains Why He Compared Himself To Jay-Z: ‘I Got Just As Many Hits’

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Late last year, when Young Thug was asked whether he’d participate in a Verzuz hits battle, the genre-bending Atlanta rapper’s answer caused a minor dustup on social media because of his controversial inclusion of one of rap’s biggest names in the response. “It would probably have to be like [Lil Wayne],” he said at the time. “… Jay-Z ain’t got 30 songs like that.”

While some fans thought that Thug’s mention of Jay-Z was disrespectful, Thug later explained on his Instagram that he wasn’t trying to diss Jay, he was just “talking too fast.” Today, he returned to the scene of the faux pas, the Million Dollaz Worth Of Game podcast, to further elaborate on his original comments and set the record straight with regard to where he stands on Jay-Z’s legacy.

Host Gillie Da Kid tees him up saying, “You were basically saying you got a lot of f*ckin’ records,” to which Thug replies, “That’s all I was saying, I just used his name because he the biggest n**** in the world to me. I just used his name, to let the world know, ‘Yo, I got just as many hits as the biggest n**** in the world.’ I’m doing two hours on stage. I don’t remember my last hour show… and I don’t do too much talking.”

Still, it might be interesting to see how the two fanbases would react to a Verzuz-style battle. Obviously, both have more than enough hit records to go back-and-forth, but the generation gap and difference in their styles could generate some fun debate among hip-hop heads, possibly even bringing them together across the regional and generational splits that have prompted so much of hip-hop’s friction over the years. However, it might be more productive for the two to collaborate on a new hit record that brings them together instead of forcing them to compete.

You can watch the full interview with Million Dollaz Worth Of Game above.

SWV VERZUZ XSCAPE Really Happened In Epic Fashion

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The latest VERZUZ mash-up went down even better than expected. After weeks of mounted anticipation, R&B group SWV faced off in a memorable match-up of classics against XSCAPE. SWV VERZUZ XSCAPE Really Happened The Saturday night festivities included a flurry of unforgettable tunes by both groups. From SWV’s “I’m So Into You” to “You’re The […]

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Redman + Method Man Deliver Epic VERZUZ 4/20 Special

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Rap duo Method Man and Redman made sure to hold down hip-hop heads with their special “4/20” VERZUZ battle. Instead of going at each other’s heads, the longtime friends and Def Jam icons delivered endless classics in celebration of their never-ending catalogues of bangers. Redman + Method Man Deliver Epic VERZUZ Following mounted anticipation, both […]

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Redman Locks In Muddy Waters 2 Album Ahead Of VERZUZ

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East Coast rap legend Redman knows how to make the most of the buzz around his highly-anticipated, upcoming VERZUZ battle with Method Man. The hip-hop veteran has announced the release rollout for his long-awaited Muddy Waters 2 album along with a new track titled, “80 Bars.” Redman Announces New Album Before VERZUZ In his statement […]

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Redman + Method Man Are Lit Over VERZUZ Battle

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The highly-anticipated showdown between East Coast rap legends Method Man and Redman is getting close. VERZUZ has called for song suggestions from their fans and what they want to hear from both artists at the face-off. VERZUZ Asks For Song Nominations VERZUZ went to its social media pages with a screenshot by both Redman and […]

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