Verzuz: Battles You Never Knew You Needed

Amid the era where we were all confined to our homes “busy” recreating scenes on social media from the movies birdbox, two legendary producers known as Swizz Beats and Timbaland decided to bring a new idea of entertainment to the table. Fooling around on Instagram live one night, the duo decided that they’d go toe to toe with their music catalogs, and let the audiences decide who the true hitmaker was. Garnering over 30,000 views in a single night, the two discovered a goldmine. Their idea eventually grew to what we now know as “Verzuz”, in which household hip-hop and R&B artists battle each other with their greatest hits.

We’ve seen the likes of stars like Brandy, Monica, Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony, Gucci Mane, Jeezy, and countless others. Whether it just be friendly banter or Gucci Mane dissin’ the dead, millions have tuned in to see their favorites take a trip down memory lane for all for us to relive our glory days. While we haven’t had a battle in a while, fans have been speculating as to who’s going to step up to the mic next. In this list, we fantasize about a few greats we’d love to see in the arena soon.

Firstly, we have Fantasia V. Jennifer Hudson.

The R&B diva herself, Fantasia, volunteered as tribute to go against the just as multitalented Jennifer Hudson in a battle. Do you all remember how fans coined the term “Auntchella” during the iconic Gladys Knight V. Patti Labelle Verzuz? Well, I can only imagine what folks’ will be coming up with this time with the notes they’ll be hitting! Both Fantasia and Jennifer won’t hesitate to take us to church while simultaneously making us want to leave our man with songs like Free Yourself and Spotlight. Somebody call Swiss and tell him to give us the hook-up!

Secondly, we have Jeremih V. Lloyd.

I’ll never forget Jacquees was clowned to no avail when he proclaimed himself the “king of R&B” when he obviously forgot his forefathers of the game. Jeremih and Lloyd dominated the early and late 2000s by collaborating with chart-topping artists like Lil’ Wayne, André 3000, 50 Cent, and more. We’d love to see the two go head to head, and for Jeremih to redeem himself on the Verzuz stage (that’s right, we didn’t forget…).

Thirdly, we have in my humble opinion, two of the most influential ladies of this new generation of female rap, which is Lil’ Kim V. Foxy Brown.

Now I’m not too sure if chairs would go flying if these two were placed in a room together, but we’d love to see the ladies reunite in an epic battle of the bars. Their hard-hitting lyricism and opposing fabulosity would shake many diehard fans and even newcomers to their core. Their unity would certainly set a new precedent for women within the industry…Regardless of Foxy’s last diss. Hey ladies, can’t we all just get along?

Last but not least, we have MC Lyte V. Queen Latifah.

These two rap pioneers are true veterans in the game, so if you’ve ever wanted to witness a real boss battle outside of video games, then here it is! And in terms of U.N.I.T.Y, fans have been highly anticipating seeing the duo together again. Both Lyte and Latifah have quite extensive discographies, and while their content may differ, they both first emerged in the scene around the same time with very similar fanbases. It's only fair that they go against each other, and may the best woman win!