Verzuz no one

 

2 major music-related phenomena were born last year out of the the pandemic-induced lockdown we all suffered through — both associated with the hip hop community, as if the world needed more proof about what the driving force in musical creation really is these days. The first one was DJ D-Nice‘s Club Quarantine, a completely organic live streaming initiative that took off so strongly that Michelle Obama joined the movement. The other one is Verzuz, a project started around the same time and that pits DJs, producers and performers against each other in a virtual musical battle. This is the latter we are going to talk about here, as its impact will perhaps be even more long-lasting…

The first Verzuz battle took place in March 2020 on Instagram live stream, what startup folks would call a DIY POC of sorts (in other words, pretty low-tech fare). Its near immediate success came from several factors, including the fact that people were hurting and in dire need of entertainment and moral support of any kind in these frightful first few months of the pandemic. The other thing was — the guys that came up with it were not exactly beginners: these would be Swizz Beatz, who has worked with a wide variety of artists including the late DMX and is married to Alicia Keys, and Timbaland, who we probably do not need to introduce here. Right?

That first battle set the stage for many more high profile confrontations including the aforementioned DMX, who would then follow up with production of his long awaited and sadly posthumous 8th album Exodus, Snoop Dogg (DMX’s worthy rival), Erykah Badu, RZA, Babyface, Rick Ross, Gucci Mane, Earth, Wind & Fire (!)… The list goes on and on, featuring a host of other world class artists and performers, all of whom agreed to battle it out in the most public forum: the internet. At a time when everybody was very much connected.

Quite quickly, what had started as an artistic endeavour became a proper business. Partnering with Apple Music and Tidal, Verzuz’ co-founders developed the project based on the incredible feedback it was getting along the way. Then, in March 2021, they actually went a step further: Verzuz got sold to Social media platform and TikTok challenger Triller, in a deal the details of which remain undisclosed. What we found out, however, was that all involved performers until that date had received shares in the project. Class acts all the way…

Yesterday night, Verzuz hosted its first ever rematch: Swizz Beatz vs Timbaland #2. A (re)match made in heaven, wouldn’t you say?