Despite a few minor setbacks, “Verzuz” continues to keep their audience happy with their musical matchups. From Brandy versus Monica to the culturally historic battle between Jeezy and Gucci Mane, no one thought would ever happen, the social media event seemingly hasn’t missed a beat yet.
And with each new show, fans have started to request who they’d like to see battle it out, including rapper Drake who recently put in a special bid for a superstar lineup he’d like to see happen.
During a recent appearance on ESPN2’s “Jalen & Jacoby,” Verzuz co-founder Timbaland revealed that the Toronto native recently texted him asking if Usher and Justin Timberlake could go hit-for-hit in a future event.
“Yes, we know,” Timbaland said after hearing the suggestion that Usher and Justin Timberlake should take part in a “Verzuz.” “It’s so funny, Drake hit me up too about it, too. He said, ‘We gotta make that happen.’ I said, ‘Soon to come. Soon to come.'”
Yet, not everyone was here for the star-studded lineup. Folks took their concerns to Twitter, where they expressed that they felt “Verzuz” should remain strictly for Black artists.
One Twitter user wrote, “Drake’s Black side needs to tell his white side that Verzuz battles are for BLACK PPL ONLY 🤨.”
Another person commented, “Justin Timberlake shouldn’t be able to come on our culture’s platform until he show love and apologize to Janet. 🤷🏽♂️.”
“The only question I have is why you asked a white man for his opinion about a form of entertainment and platform that is centered on Black folks?” a third person expressed.
Meanwhile, other people argued on whether Timberlake had enough music in his discography to go up against an artist like Usher. One person wrote, “I don’t think JT has enough 🤔 I know he has a cpl bangers w/Ti , cry me a river, sexy back ?” They added, “2 mid joints with Jay, even big name features with Beyoncé but his bag ain’t deep enough for Ursher Baby! And I know he ain’t going into that nsync bag 😂 MIGHT can pull off ‘pop’ 😭.”
However, this isn’t the first time “Verzuz” has been called out as over-expanding its platform. Swizz Beatz and Timbaland were recently accused of “selling out” after they announced their partnership with the NFL. Swizz responded to the backlash by saying that “the music will not stop” and asked fans to “not be small minded 🙏🏼.”
