Sophia Michaels
Following the record-setting battle between Jill Scott and Erykah Badu, Timbaland and Swizz Beatz’s Versuz platform returned on Saturday with their latest offering: Nelly vs. Ludacris. The 20-song battle found the southern legends duking it out with some of their best records, songs that also brought a sense of nostalgia to the more than 400,000 viewers that tuned in to watch. While the first half of the battle was riddled with connection issues on Nelly’s end, the two rappers got it together to bring the second half to a smooth close. Aside from the actual battle itself, Ludacris decided the platform and the large attendance would be a perfect opportunity to debut some new music.
While Nelly looked to fix his connection issues, Ludacris decided to pass the time by pulling from the vault to treat fans. The first song he played is titled “Silence Of The Lambs” which sees a guest appearance from Lil Wayne. The track is also produced by Timbaland, who attempted to get Ludacris to stop playing the song, but to no avail. On the song, Ludacris alludes to the problematic figures within the black community rapping, “The world’s screwed if they pourin’ drinks like Bill Huxtable / I love R. Kelly but around my daughters, I’m not comfortable / Stand for what you believe in like Kaepernick / You either in control or you gettin’ f*cked, no abstinence.”
The second record he previewed Saturday night remains untitled, but featured Chance The Rapper and was a bit more relaxed than the Timabalnd-produced first new track. Lastly, Ludacris played a version of his 2006 hit “Money Maker” which featured Nelly on the hook. The two hoped to release the remix at the time of its creation, but disagreements on an appropriate rollout halted its release.
Ludacris also revealed “there’s a project in the works” between him, Usher, and Lil Jon, which would explain the recent release of their “SexBeat” track.
Written by: Uproxx
