Diddy and Jermaine Dupri’s Record Labels Will Face Off in a ‘Verzuz’ Battle
Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jermaine Dupri are two hip-hop moguls with decades of experience running their own record labels. Diddy founded Bad Boy Records in New York City in 1993; Dupri launched So So Def Recordings in Atlanta that same year. Now, artists from the two iconic record labels will go head-to-head in a Verzuz battle.
Diddy and Jermaine Dupri have been talking about doing a ‘Verzuz’ for months
A Bad Boy–So So Def Verzuz battle is something that both Diddy and Dupri have floated for a while. Dupri touched on the idea of structuring the battle with artists from each record label (as opposed to pitting one artist against another, as is customary for Verzuz) in a January 2022 interview on the New Rory & Mal podcast.
“I feel like it’s a performance-based thing now and the majority of Puff’s records, who’s gonna perform?” Dupri said. “Yeah, [you can bring out] The LOX, but you can’t have nobody do Big’s verses! And I don’t know that Mase would come out with him no more, so I don’t think that it would happen based on that. All my people, we rockin’ and we comin’ with a whole lot of energy!”
They eventually agreed to do a ‘Verzuz’
In August 2022, Diddy and Dupri got on Instagram Live together and agreed to do a battle between the two record labels. At the time, Diddy insisted that they would be going a battle of their own, as a result of Verzuz creators Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s ongoing lawsuit with Triller, who backs the performance series.
“Since we ain’t f***ing with [Triller] no more since they’re f***ing around with our boys [Swizz Beatz and Timbaland], we don’t need to be going against each other,” Diddy said. “Let’s come together and do that Bad Boy, So So Def [battle] in Atlanta. It ain’t no Verzuz, it’s just hit for hit.”
Dupri confirmed he was down, simply saying “Let’s do it” in response.
A few weeks later, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland reached an agreement with Triller to settle. “Verzuz has always been a platform that is by the artists, for the artists and with the people,” Swizz Beatz and Timbaland said in a statement. “We’re glad to come to an amicable agreement with Triller and continue giving fans the music and community that they’ve come to know and love from the brand.”
Diddy and Jermaine Dupri’s record labels, Bad Boy and So So Def, will face off in a ‘Verzuz’
With Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s business dealings now being settled, Dupri confirmed that the Verzuz battle between Bad Boy Records and So So Def Recordings will be moving forward.
Dupri delivered the news to the crowd while on stage at the One Music Fest in October 2022.
“I’m saying this to let y’all know the So So Def and Bad Boy Verzuz is happening,” Dupri said to cheers.
So So Def artists have done ‘Verzuz’ battles before
While Bad Boy artists from past or present have never taken the Verzuz stage before, it will be familiar territory for So So Def.
Since Verzuz‘s inception in 2020, several artists signed to So So Def Recordings have participated in Verzuz battles. Xscape, So So Def’s Jagged Edge, Monica, and Anthony Hamilton have all been a part of Verzuz battles in the past; on the Bad Boy side, The LOX have done Verzuz before. For the Bad Boy vs. So So Def battle, it remains to be seen which artists Diddy and Dupri bring out.
