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Just when fans thought Verzuz played their biggest battle with Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s most coveted pandemic experiment is finally coming off of hiatus to debut its second season on an undisclosed date.
The news comes after the legendary producers posted an update on social media. “Who you want to see in season 2?” Swizz announced on Tuesday (Oct. 14) on Instagram. “Stay tuned all the way in.”
Timbaland followed-up on Twitter. “Going to another level,” he wrote. “@verzuzonline line up coming soon !!!! @THEREALSWIZZZ let’s gooo.”
Since its inception on Instagram, viewers have witnessed an obviously inebriated Sean Garrett challenge a frustrated The-Dream, which, in comparison, was child’s play to Ne-Yo and Johnta Austin’s classy songwriter battle. Social media had a field day creating memes for Teddy Riley and Babyface, Fabolous and Jadakiss and Bounty Killer and Beenie Man’s battles. And when the country mourned the death of George Floyd, Swizz and Tim invited Kirk Franklin and Fred Hammond to heal the masses with a collection of gospel hits. The list of battles is respectably long for its premiere season.
After months of trailblazing throughout the pandemic, VERZUZ went into an exclusive partnership with Apple in July allowing the option to watch each episode on Apple Music and Beats 1 for free. Collectively, each platform has welcomed viewership reach the millions, giving way for season 2 to boast bigger and larger talent to engage in the friendly battle. No pressure.
Tim and Swizz have yet to reveal the roster for the next set of battles, but there are some promising contenders to consider: Jermaine Dupri expressed interest in a battling Diddy, Rakim challenged Big Daddy Kane hit-for-hit, 50 Cent and T.I. publicly teased a match-up, which could work as well.
