Tom Wood
Swizz Beats has responded after Dr Dre asked who Eminem should face in a Verzuz rap battle.
Dre posed the question by sharing a video of Eminem rapping at lightning speed, writing, 'Marshall Mathers vs Who???!!' with the clip showing Marshall Mathers rap the lyrics from his song Godzilla.
Check it out below:
While he didn’t name-check Verzuz directly, Swizz Beats – who started the webcast series with producer Timbaland – saw an opportunity to create a battle that many in the rap game would be absolutely gagging for.
He replied in the comments that Busta Rhymes would be the perfect opponent for Em.
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Well, they’re both legendary rappers with speed and precision on their side, so it would definitely be an interesting watch. Not everyone agrees with that, however.
KXNG Crooked spoke out against the idea of Em facing Busta, tweeting: 'I’m not sold on Busta Vs Em..
'I feel like it makes sense to people because they both know how to rap fast but after that happens the catalogs go in two completely different directions imo.'
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From the artist's perspective, Busta himself has spoken about a potential battle with either Mathers or Jay-Z in the past.
Speaking to Complex, he said: 'I would love to spar against anybody. As long as their catalogue is a powerful catalogue because I don’t want to do a corny Verzuz.
'I don’t wanna do no Verzuz with anybody whose catalogue isn’t crazy. And I would love to do a Verzuz with somebody that I’m a fan of because I’m only trying to compete with somebody that brings the best out of me.'
He continued: 'I would love to do a Verzuz with Eminem, I would love to do a Verzuz with Lil Wayne. I would love to do a Verzuz with Hov [Jay-Z].'
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Busta, real name Trevor George Smith Jr., has also said that he would even be up for facing ‘two artists at a time’ on the show.
Brave words, but you’d have to imagine Busta can back them up.
Anyway, if you’ve come this far without actually knowing what Verzuz is, it’s an entertainment series that Swizz Beats and Timbaland concocted to pit singers, songwriters, rappers, and producers against one another in a rap battle style format.
It goes out on Instagram Live, as well as on YouTube, Facebook, Fire TV, and Triller.
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It started in March 2020 with a battle between the two founders, and there have been some seriously big names since then.
Stars from the world of rap like Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, and DMX have taken part, as well as singers like John Legend, Alicia Keys, Brandy, and Monica have also appeared.
Speaking to NME about the show, Timbaland recently said: 'Well, it’s not really a battle – it’s a celebration of our heroes in music, the ones who make us feel a certain type of way. Given what’s currently going on in the world, it’s a way to give back. It’s also an education, it’s educating people on the music, its creators and where this feeling comes from.'
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