Landon Buford
Jay-Z doesn’t have anything to prove at this point in his career, and he’s widely regarded as one of the best rappers of his generation, if not all time. Hov stated that he would never perform in a VERZUZ battle via Twitter Spaces. Still, fans are screaming for him to find a worthy opponent, with some speculating that Lil Wayne, among others, could provide some competition.
Jay-Z joined the discussion during the Genius’ Rob Markman-hosted event focused on Alicia Keys’ new album Keys on Tuesday night (Dec. 20). The trio discussed various issues, including the vexing subject of VERZUZ. When Markman inquired about the potential of staging a live format battle show, the answer was a resounding yes. The Brooklyn billionaire responded with the assurance that one would expect from a legend.
“Ain’t nobody that can stand on that stage with me. I ain’t gonna lie, no disrespect. Everyone’s amazing, they’ve done what they’ve done. No one can stand on that stage with me. There’s not a shot,” said Jay-Z.
“There’s not a chance in hell that anyone can stand on that stage for… I don’t know how long it is? Two hours? Two hours…. That’s ain’t gonna never happen.”
He added, “You got to stand in front of the ‘Grammy Family Freestyle’ live? No one has ever even seen me perform that, you got to stand in front of that? That ain’t never going to happen.”
Of course, this sparked speculation about who may face off against Jay-Z in a Verzuz Battle, with fans naming musicians like Drake, Kanye West, Busta Rhymes, Eminem, and finally Lil Wayne.
On Wednesday afternoon, Jim Jones spoke with Bally Sports Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson via Bovida Sports betting on Instagram Live.
During their discussion, Jones was asked whether he sees Nas, Lil Wayne, or Kanye West as a worthy opponent against Jay Z in a Verzuz.
“Naw, man, I thought about it a million times, and Jay made all the sense in the world. And he is one the illest person to get on stage when it comes to performance from his Summer Jam spats, whether he used to put people on the Summer Jam screen to embarrass them, and I don’t think they are ready for that type of warfare. I don’t think they are ready for how he will come,” said Jones.
“They worried about his hits that have. I know his wittiness, and his creativity is way iller than the hits he has. So I would leave that alone. If I was most of them—the one person that would put up the best fight, I would say, would be Drake, hands down. No, Drake has not been here for the duration that Jay has been here, but Drake has put out platinum records anytime he puts records out. We all know every one of Drake’s hits over the ten-year for some odds years, which is a long stretch of doing music. He is breaking many records when it comes to entries and all that.”
“So, when it comes to 20 hits, I think Drake would be the top candidate to jump into the ring with Jay-Z. I know there’s a lot of different things that people will say for disqualifications and all that. But when talking about hits and commanding everybody’s attention and making a f*** stadium go crazy, don’t play with that boy, and I’m talking about right now.”
