Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Three 6 Mafia get physical during Verzuz battle
The first-ever altercation at a Verzuz contest happened onstage during Thursday night's battle between the two hip-hop crews.
The first-ever physical altercation at a Verzuz contest happened during Thursday night’s battle between Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Three 6 Mafia.
The show — streamed live online on the official Verzuz Instagram account, the Triller app and on TV via the FITE app — was taking place at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. It got off to a rocky start, with both the Cleveland-rooted BTNH and Memphis-based Three 6 Mafia coming to the stage well after the production’s 7 p.m. scheduled start time.
Verzuz co-creator Swizz Beatz clearly did not appreciate the skirmish in his comments.
The producer said BTNH refused to take the stage “until my home call from Rikers to do the prayer,” and “New rule if you don’t start on time, you don’t get paid on time.” Swizz Beatz added, “coming to the stage after getting paid 10 shows in 1 Verzuz just to get on stage Drunk AF and Late.”
By the fourth round, tension had built between the two groups. BTNH played “Buddah Lovaz,” an ode to marijuana featured on their classic E. 1999 Eternal album, when DJ Paul and Gangsta Boo began to slow dance in a mocking fashion to the hit.
That set off Bizzy Bone. “Before we even get started, you ugly muthaf**kers not gon’ be mocking me when I’m on this muthaf**king stage,” he snapped. “Like straight the f**k up.”
Juicy J responded with even more colorful expletives, and Bizzy threw a microphone at his opponents.
Members of both crews then rushed to the middle of the stage before security immediately jumped to break up the melee. The show stopped for approximately 15 minutes, but it did start back up eventually, to the surprise of both fans in attendance and online, where it had gone dark.
Bizzy Bone didn’t initially return to the stage, but later made his way back. “I want to apologize to everybody out there, on both sides,” he said, per Ambrosia For Heads, upon his return. I’m not trying to f**k this [Verzuz] s**t up. Pardon me.”
Fans on social media weren’t totally surprised by the incident. One fan on Twitter predicted drama, tweeting Wednesday, “Tomorrow a whole new group of people are gonna find out that Bizzy Bone is the most chaotic rapper of all time.”
The rapper had previously called Three 6 Mafia “devil worshippers.” In fact, the groups had fired recent shots at each other in social media posts — including one in which where DJ Paul said he wished the Verzuz battle was on Dec. 1 instead of Dec. 2 so he could defeat their foes “on the 1st of the month.”
The ending of the battle was somewhat anticlimatic, and one problem that plagued the whole night was too many people on the stage. Journalist Andreas Hale described it this way: “Bone Thugs doing Crossroads now is like doing a 360 windmill dunk in an empty arena when you’re down by 60.”
Despite Swizz Beatz’ ranting in the comments, he also called the event among his “favorite Verzuz ever.”
Bizzy Bone is still trending on Twitter. Sports journalist Jemele Hill used a sports analogy, saying, “Bizzy Bone really fouled out of the #Verzuz.”
Comedian Roy Wood, Jr. shared a memory: “Years ago opening for Adele Givens in Columbus, Ohio, Bizzy Bone came out to the show. Drank top shelf all night. $400 tab. Told the waitress, ‘The Devil pays my bills’ & walked out on the check. The waitress STILL asked for a pic. The love Ohio has for Bone is unreal #Verzuz.”
Another fan opined, “Bizzy Bone is the one that should have been named Krayzie Bone.”
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