Timbaland and Swizz Beatz created Verzuz TV to keep us entertained with virtual DJ and MC battles while we're stuck in pandemic purgatory. Since March, they've streamed battles between the likes of Gucci Mane and Jeezy, Snoop Dogg and DMX, RZA and DJ Premier, Erykah Badu and Jill Scott, Brandy and Monica, among others. As great as they all were, none held a candle to the season finale this weekend, a "Battle of the Bay" between E-40 and Too Short. Old school vs. older school. A classic vs. a classic classic.
Streamed on both Apple TV and Instagram Live, the event reportedly cost $500K to produce. The soundstage set was decorated pretty simply with yellow backdrop and two classic cars with gold rims, so I'm going to guess a sizable portion of the budget was spent on bottles. Both rappers were noticeably lit with E-40 serving some "inebriated uncle at the family reunion" dance moves throughout and both performers giving us style and history lessons.
Though billed as a battle, the vibe was all about camaraderie, with positive vibes both onstage and in the online comments which had about 250K+ viewers at a time, including notables you might expect to be there, like Warriors star Steph Curry and Oakland rapper Saweetie. But there were some head scratchers too – like Bun B shouting out Donnie Wahlberg.
As excited as everyone was, nobody captured the feeling quite like Jeff Obeng aka Cousinskeether:
