Joe Budden says that 2Pac would “end” both The Notorious B.I.G. and Nas in a Verzuz battle. Speaking on a recent episode of The Joe Budden Podcast, the rapper argued that Biggie died too early in his career to go toe-to-toe with Pac.
After his co-hosts Ish, Ice, and Parks, began debating whether Pac or Nas has the deeper catalog, Budden decided to up the ante.
“Alright, now that y’all have progressed the conversation, I’ma say this and I’ma put my shoes on while I say it,” he said. “‘Cause y’all are right: I think ‘Pac would end Nas in a Verzuz. [‘Pac] would end Big in a Verzuz, bad.”
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Ish agreed: “‘Pac had some diverse albums, y’all. He gave you some shit for the girls, some shit for the n****s, some shit for the street n****s, some shit for some conscious n****s.”
“He might even get [Nas] with Greatest Hits disc one,” Ice added.
Explaining his position, Budden remarked, “Big died too soon to play with ‘Pac. Ready to Die and Life After Death is not enough to [beat ‘Pac]. And ‘Pac got them same four albums I’m talking about? I just don’t know. I won’t disrespect Big like that — rest in peace to ‘Pac and Big – but the more I think about it…”
As for who could beat ‘Pac, Budden admitted that Jay-Z has the catalog to do so, but because he has “too many features and he lived too long.”
While 2Pac and Biggie were both killed in the late 1990s, Verzuz cofounder Swizz Beatz has stated that the two rappers would have been his dream matchup for the show.
“My dream one, I want to figure out how to do ‘Pac and Biggie in a way that the people is gonna really love it,” he said back in 2021 while appearing on ESPN’s Jalen & Jacoby.
Check out Budden’s take on the hypothetical Verzuz below.
[Via]