Music – 47 mins ago

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Diddy and Jermaine Dupri’s long-awaited Verzuz battle is coming to the stage. On Sunday (May 7), the Bad Boy Entertainment founder appeared in a video posted to Busta Rhymes’ Instagram account seemingly confirming the news. In the video, Diddy says the two will face-off at Madison Square Garden on Friday, September 8. If it happens, the show will make the first Verzuz installment since “A Salute to Latin Music Producers” between Luny Tunes and DJ Nelson last July.

“We’re gon’ have you out the rafters flying out the sky,” Diddy told Rhymes in the clip as rapper Fabolous stood nearby. 

We’ve reached out to Dupri’s team for confirmation; we are still waiting to hear back.

Both Diddy, legal name Sean Combs, and Dupri became prominent in the 1990s as musical moguls, introducing hip-hop and R&B acts such as The Notorious B.I.G., Faith Evans, Ma$e, 112, Da Brat, XSCAPE, Bow Wow and more. Last August, Combs and Dupri debated who had the stronger catalog, also teasing a Verzuz-like event. Seated next to Dupri was songwriter Bryan-Michael Cox, who agreed to the match being held in Atlanta.

“Since we ain’t fucking with Verzuz no more since ’cause they fucking around with our boys, we don’t need to be going against each other,” Diddy said, referencing Verzuz co-founders Timbaland and Swizz Beatz previously suing Triller. “Let’s come together and do that Bad Boy, So So Def in Atlanta. It ain’t no Verzuz, it’s just hit for hit.”

In February, Verzuz co-founder Swizz Beatz spoke to Diddy’s Revolt about changes that the platform would bring after becoming a hit show during the pandemic. “We’ve been changing the infrastructure because when we started, it happened in the garage and then moved to a significant platform,” he said. “Now, we changed the whole way we’re moving but not entirely, so people won’t feel like it’s not the same.”