Power 105.1 radio host Angie Martinez caught up with Verzuz founders Swizz Beatz and Timbaland Friday (Sept.10) in a virtual interview for “The Angie Martinez Show.” During her chat with both superproducers, Swizz mentioned that Kanye West approached him wanting to set up a Verzuz battle with Drake. The matchup would’ve pinned the two hip hop heavyweights against each other and allowed them to settle their differences by playing their catalog of hits back-to-back.
Surprisingly, Swizz told Martinez, he and Timbaland did not aggressively attempt to work out the details for the proposed event.
“Kanye was willing to do the Verzuz … He wanted to battle Drake,” Swizz told Martinez. “I left that up to them, and that’s what I told Timb, as well. I was like, ‘Yo, they have to bring that to the table.’ They would have to agree to do that. Kanye was ready, but I don’t know where that’s at now. I’m still leaving it on them.”
In addition to discussing the Drake and Kanye suggested Verzuz, Swizz — who alongside Timbaland was recently named one of Time Magazine’s most influential people in the world — also commented on a couple of Drake bars believed to be aimed at him.
On Drake’s Certified Lover Boy track “You Only Live Twice” featuring Rick Ross and Lil Wayne, he raps: “Unthinkable when I think of the way these niggas been acting/I never did you nothing and you play like we family, huh?/ Next thing, you wanna shoot me down, it can’t be love/ Not sure where you was trynna send it, it can’t be up/ That day you sounded like a bitch, you fancy, huh?”
The lyrics supposedly reference comments Swizzy made on Instagram Live back in 2020. At the time, he called Drake a “pussy” on an unreleased Busta Rhymes track. He apologized for it shortly after, but Drake didn’t forget about it.
“I’m chilling,” Swizz said. “A lot of people want to see me react and do all these things, but I’m in such a great zone. I said how I felt, he said how he felt. Hey man, I guess we even. As far as now, I’m good. I’m man enough to say, ‘okay, he said how he felt’ and I actually like the song.”
“And he didn’t go too crazy in the record also, you know? He could have said many things, that man is a clever artist,” Swizz added. “He could’ve really, really, really gave me about 40 bars. He said what he said. He got it off his chest. Blessings to everybody.”
Check out the full interview below: