Sunday night showcased Swizz Beatz and Timbaland‘s first Verzuz rematch, over a year after the first official music “battle” in March 2020. In this rematch, Swizz Beatz gifted Timbaland with an Aaliyah and Missy Elliott jacket for the legendary producer’s birthday.
Created by Timbaland and Swizz Beatz, Verzuz started as a fun idea to connect people through music during the COVID-19 pandemic and has now become a major music platform, signaling a huge success for both music legends.
The duo was the first to ever have a Verzuz battle back in March 2020, and the night before Memorial Day 2021 marked the first-ever Verzuz rematch. The night was yet another celebration of each producers’ respective music catalogs and featured a sweet moment in which Beatz gifted Timbaland the sentimental gift of the later singer, whose biggest hits were produced by Timbaland, and Elliott, who served as a producer partner throughout their careers.
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The music icons did not come to play for their second official Verzuz. Each musician brought out some of their biggest bangers, including songs they worked on for artists like Aaliyah, DMX, Drake, Missy Elliott, JAY-Z, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, and more.
While the competition was fierce, so was the clear love the two have for each other — especially in one heartfelt moment. Handing Timbaland the unforgettable jacket featuring drawings of his most frequent collaborators.
Swizz Beatz explained while presenting the jacket, “Happy birthday King, I love you. I love you so much and I appreciate you for your patience with my crazy big nose a**.” Timbaland also turned around to show the audience the back of the jacket, which features the Verzuz logo.
Elliott sent a special video message herself to both Beatz and Timbaland, wishing them good luck before their rematch. She said in the video (to Timbaland), “First of all, I wanna say congratulations and I wanna say I’m proud of you and Swizz and thank ya’ll for creating Verzuz, for us to relive some of the best moments in music.”
She then spoke directly to Timbaland again, giving him an inspiring pep talk. She told him, “Timb, listen, you know Swizz be coming with them snappers, he be coming with them bangers so you have to come straight out the gate!”
Read More: Timbaland, Swizz Beatz on future of Verzuz: ‘Expect more greatness’
Both Swizz Beatz and Timbaland recently sat down with theGrio‘s Mariel Turner to speak to the initial inspiration behind Verzuz and what fans should expect as the music platform continues to grow. Detailing the inception of the platform, Timbaland told theGrio, “I think our goal was to shine light on people that never got they flowers, like creators …That’s why we started off with the producers and the songwriters because people don’t know that they are a big part of those songs.
He added, “We was all going off the hype that we started seeing people enjoying what we were putting together. So it was the love that, to me, was the most important thing for Verzuz.”
After signing a major deal with Triller Network, Swizz explained it is a “new day” for not just the platform but the music industry. He shared, “It’s a new day, it’s a new beginning and showing people that everybody can win.
“Everybody can eat. Everybody can go to the finish line with you instead of just saying, ‘Okay, thanks for coming. We’ll see you later.’ Me and Timb, we thought it was important to share everything and it’s been great. So just expect more greatness because we’re more charged up now than ever.”
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