East will battle West when Snoop Dogg and DMX challenge each other in Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s “Verzuz” series Wednesday, July 22, on IG Live and Apple Music.
From the start of their careers, Snoop and X have used the image of man’s best friend as part of their brand, so the battle is appropriately being called “The battle of the dogs,” and many seem to be excited about it.
“Verzuz” has been a huge hit since it began in March when people were first sheltering indoors as a COVID-19 safety measure.
The rules of the battles are simple: Each artist plays 20 songs from their respective catalogs, usually hits, and fans decide the winner. But most of the battles have been more like friendly competitions than fierce showdowns.
Founders Swizz Beatz and Timbaland faced each other to launch the series, which was followed by other much-talked-about battles between artists like T-Pain and Lil Jon, RZA and DJ Premier, and Jill Scott versus Erykah Badu. The last “Verzuz” battle, Fabolous versus Jadakiss in late June, was highly anticipated.
Fans seemingly are just as eager to see Snoop and DMX go against each other.
“This is going to be legendary,” someone wrote on Instagram under the battle’s promotional announcement.
Many were trying to anticipate who would be the victor between the rap legends, since each has had a string of hits. It can also be said that Snoop and X forever shifted rap music with their album releases.
Snoop can easily be credited with bringing West Coast gangsta rap from the streets and clubs of Southern California to the mainstream, while many have said that DMX brought a needed grit to the glitzy, radio-friendly East Coast rap that Sean “Diddy” Combs inundated radio with in the late ’90s.
In addition, Both DMX and Snoop have a strong presence on the Billboard charts.
Snoop has three No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Hot 100 and 11 songs that reached the top 10. DMX hasn’t charted on the Hot 100, but he has five No. 1 hits on the Billboard 200 and six songs on that chart’s top 10 list.
The two rappers are still recording these days as well. Snoop dropped his 17th album, “I Wanna Thank Me,” last August, and X’s last official LP was 2012’s “Undisputed.”
The New York rapper told Tory Lanez in March that he’s working on a new album.
