Swizz Beatz vs Timbaland Beat Battle On Instagram Live Was The Most Entertaining Quarantine Content So Far
(Not the best quality and not NEARLY the full battle but you'll get the gist)
The Hip Hop world has been waiting for the latest Swizz Vs Timbaland beat battle since Mayweather McGregor when Swizz grabbed the mic and threw down the challenge once again to Timbo the King. Well a couple nights ago it finally went down on IG Live. If you havent caught on yet, Live Streams are the new podcasts. In this new frontier of quarantine life, IG Live, Periscopes, Streamyard etc etc are king, and these 2 going at it was the best use of that technology I've seen yet. A couple nights ago I was going to bed right around midnight and I saw they were live...and had been going at it since TEN PM.
They went beat for beat, song for song, hit for hit, Jay Z classic for Jay Z classic for THREE HOURS. The only reason it stopped was because P Diddy kept calling Swizz and eventually it cut the stream. Otherwise I thought it was never going to stop. They each have that many hits. At one point Swizz even changed locations. Left his home studio and went into his car to get a better wi fi connection, which I think is officially the richest rich person move ever. When you're like, "hold up I need better internet than my mansion has, let me go get in my automobile." But it wasnt even the amount of sheer music that was the highlight of this battle. The live stream itself was the star. You had Scott Storch in the comments asking to get involved. Funk Flex in the peanut gallery hating on all the Jay Z songs. P Diddy kept calling and the fans in the comments kept yelling at him. Fat Joe, Jay Electronica, all the rap blogs and publications were chirping. It was a quarantine concert featuring Timbaland drunk off red wine and Swizz Beatz talking all sorts of shit and directing traffic. Just an awesome display "for the culture," as the urban youths would say.
I'll be honest, I'm a huge fan of both but I definitely lean towards Timbaland. My childhood is just filled with his music. But I dont think I realized how many hits and masterpieces Swizz had. He obviously dominated that Ruff Ryders era with DMX and the Lox, but that catalog runs a lot deeper and a lot older than I realized. I still give the edge to Timbaland, and actually the way Swizz battled - meaning when he dropped which songs, I think he actually "performed" better. A couple times Timbaland needed to bring a real heater and I think chose poorly. But overall Timb dropped beats ranging from rap to R&B to pop. From hip hop classic to boy band bangers. I think for my money hes the best to ever do it. Had Kanye kept making rap classics instead of mediocre electronic ballads, he might own the crown, but for my money if you need to guarantee a hip hop heater, you go with Timothy.
Need more of this. Need Scott Storch involved. Get Just Blaze back in the mix. Pharrell, Premier, all the greats on IG. Call it Live or Die. As a matter of fact I need this for every form of entertainment. Comedians going line for line. Guitarists going lick for lick. Rappers going bar for bar. Need all the talented people in the world to live stream us through this fiasco.
PS - This Timbaland beat from one of the previous Swizz Beatz beat battles was fucking INSANE:
PPS - Every time I talk about this genre of music theres always inevitably some asshole who's like "KFC you're 35. Stop talking about this music." Ummm do you realize Timbaland is pushing 50 years old? Swizz is 40+? This is my age's music. These guys were making 90s classics. When your dad or I guess some of your grandpas were listening to like Pink Floyd and classic rock, thats my version of that. It just happens to be all black men with beat machines and turn tables and shit. But these are the guys that are now considered classics.