Swizz Beatz & Timbaland Reveal Their Favorite Verzuz Battles & R&B-Tinged Season 2
The first season of Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s award-winning platform Verzuz was a much needed break from all the craziness that was 2020. Verzuz had given fans iconic battles and meme-worthy moments from some of Hip Hop and R&B’s biggest stars.
With so much hype surrounding the first season, Swizz and Timbo are looking to recreate that in the second season despite going on a brief hiatus amid rising COVID cases. During a recent interview with The Carlos Watson Show, the Verzuz co-creators took some time to talk about the platform and its future.
Midway through the conversation, Watson asked the duo what their favorite moments of Season 1 were, including the best performance and most beautiful moment.
Out of the 20-plus battles Swizz and Timbo orchestrated, they gave the battles between Jamaican dancehall legends Beenie Man and Bounty Killer and the ATL showdown between Gucci Mane and Jeezy the most love.
Timbaland had a bit of trouble at first but gave the best performance nod to the Memorial Day Weekend battle between Beenie and Bounty. Their Verzuz was the first to have both contestants in person and had over one million viewers, with everyone from Rihanna to Skepta tuning in to the electrifying bout.
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When it came to the best moment, Swizz said the joint performance of “So Icy” between Gucci and Jeezy took the cake, explaining.
“People showed up for them to go into destruction and they gave them destruction during the Verzuz,” he said. “But [in] the end, the brothers gave everybody love. This one was special because we was dealing with real issues that a lot of people don’t get to talk about.”
Timbo added, “It’s showing going forward, you know, like unity. Our platform shows a lot of unity and love that’s what we are.”
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When asked about who they’d like to see battle in Season 2, Timbaland tipped his hat to the R&B artists who are able to express love and touch their listeners through their music.
“I don’t have a wishlist because we don’t force nothing on Verzuz,” the Grammy Award-winning producer said at first. “Everything comes to us. I want to show the world about love, slow-songs, that feel-good music that touch your soul. I was thinking about Anita Baker, and I was like ‘man, we have to give Anita her flowers.’”
Timbaland continued to say, “To tell this woman how much her music has done for me, and I feel like we can’t leave the world without Anita Baker or celebrating Sade.”
Check out the full conversation below.