Soul And Energy - Timbaland And Swizz Beatz On Verzuz

A conversation with the mastermind producers on their streaming-battle sensation and why everyone from LeBron James to Kamala Harris is tuning in

- Sowmya Krishnamurthy

Swizz Beatz and Timbaland don’t remember exactly how they met. It might have been while Timbaland was working with Missy Elliott. Or maybe it was at an awards show. Swizz isn’t sure—but he knows it was decades ago.

“When we first met I wasn’t really, how would you put it, super sociable,” he admits. “We used to always see each other in passing.” Timbaland recalls their paths crossed while they were both working on tracks for Jay-Z, he on “Big Pimpin’” and Swizz on “Jigga My Nigga.”

“It was probably at a studio,” Timbaland says. “Back then, studio work was our life.”

As two of hip-hop’s most prolific producers, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland have helmed hits for the likes of Kanye West, Beyoncé, Aaliyah, DMX and, of course, Jay-Z, and have both more than earned their coveted “superproducer” status. They share rarefied air.

“It was always friendly competition,” says Timbaland.

Laughs Swizz, “Very high competition.”

It was from this simpatico relationship—and a message from a higher power—that Verzuz was born.

Perhaps the first cultural juggernaut of the music world to emerge from the pandemic, Verzuz is a streaming sensation. What began as a friendly tête-à-tête between the two producers—each going song for song against each other on Instagram Live during the nascent days of quarantine—has exploded into a showdown between veteran artists, songwriters, and producers.