Entertaining potential Verzuz battles has proven to be almost as much fun as watching the Swizz Beatz and Timbaland-fronted Instagram Live series itself. Although many names have been thrown into the virtual ring since the battling began, LL Cool J has just introduced a new pairing that would be pretty epic.
On Instagram Live, LL spoke with Swizz about who he would potential battle. The Queens-bred rap veteran was previously hypothetically paired against Drake, but earlier this week, Swizz mentioned Nas as a worthy adversary.
“Nas is amazing! He’s from Queens. You know, Nas could be interesting,” LL agreed. However, he had a more fitting opponent for the “N.Y. State Of Mind” rapper — JAY-Z.
“I think, people that are into Nas are into the ink, the pen and the writing, and it’s more about that,” LL explained. “I think he should do that with an artist that people are focused on the pen game.”
“So, you mean Nas and JAY-Z,” Swizz said.
“Something like that,” LL replied. “I think that’s more realistic. Because I think people that like Nas like his pen game. It’s a different type of thing. I think the people that love Nas think about writing, poetry — they think about that.”
“I think the people that like me, they like rhythm, they like delivery, they like energy, they like vibes,” he continued. “It’s a totally different thing. Although, I would be open to it. I mean, I’ll play ‘Doin’ It’ after anything. It doesn’t matter. I’ll play ‘Loungin’ after anything. I’ll play ‘I’m Bad’ after anything. It’s not a problem. With [Nas], he writes movie scripts on records. He’s a writer, you know what I’m saying? Like a script writer. It’s a little different, that’s all I’m saying.”
Talks of LL Verzuz Drake were previously tossed around after Mr. Smith said people compare him to Drizzy all the time because of the sub-genre he created with “I Need Love.”
“In that aspect of my career, it paved the way for guys like that,” he told Complex, “who I’m happy for.”
Watch a clip from Swizz and LL’s conversation below.