TI says he'd rather battle Jay-Z because the billionaire won't be 'intimidated by his bravado' like 50 Cent
Earlier this week, rapper TI challenged his contemporary, 50 Cent, to a Verzuz IG Live battle, but it appears he has changed his mind and would rather battle Jay-Z instead - because he doesn't think Jay-Z would be intimidated by him.
In a recent video chat with All Def's 'Roast This', TI addressed his challenge to 50 Cent and revealed he'd battle Jay-Z with instead. Previously, TI hopped online to wish 50 Cent a happy birthday before adding, "...for your birthday, I offer you a challenge, sir. Pull your a** up with 20 of y’all records. Sit across from me" in addition to fueling the fire by declaring, "I understand if you don’t want to answer to that challenge, 'cause last time you got challenged, Kanye West dusted your a** off, so... You might not want to do that," referencing a 2007 appearance on BET's '106 & Park' that saw Kanye and 50 Cent both promoting their releases at the same time. He later extended his challenge, daring 50 Cent to bring all his friends, including Eminem and Dr Dre, essentially implying he was better than them all put together.
And it appears TI is doubling down on that belief, because he has now stated, "To be honest with you man, I want Jay!” But he isn't holding out for that battle, mostly because he doesn't think Jay-Z would do it. "Who can see [Jay-Z] sitting down to do a battle? If I’m a billionaire, I’m not finna do that, either, but me and 50 ain’t that far off. As far as our confidence, as far as our bankrolls go, we kinda neck and neck, whether he wants to [admit] it or not. And another thing, it’s personality. I need somebody who has a personality that won’t be so intimidated by my bravado."
TI further shared that he thought his catalog was better than 50 Cent's anyway, stating, "I don’t care who sold however many records, I don’t care who has more number ones whether that means I’m up, meaning I have more number ones, more records sold, less records sold. Don’t care about that. I think my catalog is doper."
For his part, 50 Cent has simply laughed off the challenge, insinuating that TI was only talking big because he was high off the "weed they gave Smokey in 'Friday'."