Fans dubbed last night’s (Dec. 9) Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert an “unofficial Verzuz” after watching Drake and Kanye West go hit-for-hit at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. While Kanye held down most of the show, with Drake being the event’s “special guest,” fans of the two spitters were glad to see their Verzuz battle mashup dreams almost become a reality.
“This is secretly a Ye & Drake Versus [sic]! Everybody wins especially Hip-Hop!” one person tweeted Thursday night.
“Drake and Kanye giving us the Verzuz we needed,” another added.
Dressed in the event’s Balenciaga “Free Hoover” merchandise, Kanye kicked off the performance around 9:30 p.m. PST with hits off his latest album, Donda. The Chicago native transitioned from “Praise God” into his older classics, including “Gold Digger,” “All Falls Down” and “Stronger.”
Later on, the 44-year-old energized the crowd with “All of the Lights,” “Good Life” and more before paying tribute to Drizzy, covering the Toronto native’s “Find Your Love.”
It wasn’t long ago that the two artists were sending subliminal shots at one another, so fans were overjoyed to see Drake start his set with a cover of Kanye’s “24.”
Performing Certified Lover Boy cuts “Wants and Needs,” “What’s Next,” “Way Too Sexy” and other hits, Drizzy remembered to give his co-performer his props.
“I appreciate Kanye for having me up here tonight,” he said. “It’s important that we make this happen. When we were walking through the arches right there it felt like a dream. It felt surreal. It was something I always wanted to do — being on stage with my idol as he’s running through one of the best catalogs in music, period.”
On Twitter, fans joked that Kanye invited Drake to perform at the concert under the guise of a benefit event, only to trick him into the unofficial Verzuz.
“Kanye finessed Drake with a low-key Verzuz lmaooo he gotta come with it,” one person wrote.
Unofficial Verzuz battle or not, fans did agree that the concert was one to remember. See other Twitter jokes about the performance below.