Verzuz Instagram Live Battle: Snoop Dogg and DMX bring East and West Coast hits, honor 2Pac and Aaliyah too
The Verzuz TV Instagram Live Battle between two hip-hop legends, Snoop Dogg and DMX, kicked off at 8 pm ET on July 22. This highly anticipated matchup between these two iconic rappers had a lot of fans excited as they tuned in to watch the two legends pit their best 20 tunes against each other. The Verzuz Battle series, started by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, has already had a lot of incredible hip-hop talent show up on the platform such as Nelly, Ludacris, Mannie Fresh, Scott Storch, RZA, DJ Premier, Jadakiss and Fabolous in the past. But this throwdown between Snoop Dogg, a West Coast OG, and DMX, repping the legendary East Coast scene, promised to be a spectacular affair, and it certainly delivered.
The battle started off with Snoop asking DMX to lead the assembled live audience in a word of prayer, to make sure they got things off in the right spirit. DMX obliged, freestyling some sublime bars like a preacher in church, exhorting his audience to stay on the straight and narrow path, asking the guys to honor their women and the ladies to respect their men as well. "Can I buy a audio version of the Bible in DMX’s voice?" asked one amazed fan.
The battle then kicked off in earnest, as both rappers showed respect for each other's storied back catalog, which featured some stupendous hits over the years. The night began with an all-time classic, as Snoop started playing the familiar intro to 'Deep Cover', his collaboration with Dr Dre, and the audience of over half a million viewers immediately expressed their joy and enthusiasm in the comments sections. DMX hit right back with 'Intro' from his album, 'It's Dark and Hell Is Hot'.
Snoop then played 'Who am I', to which DMX had the perfect response in 'What's My Name?'. Another classic then followed with 'Gin & Juice', while DMX then dropped 'Get At Me Dog'. DMX also revealed an interesting bit of trivia, admitting that he had actually got the "Get at me, dog" phrase from Snoop himself when he had met him in New York.
Plenty more hits were to come, as the rappers proceeded to unwind and groove along to their fire verses on numerous classics. Snoop played 'F*** with Dre Day', while DMX played 'Some X S***'. The New York legend even exclaimed at one point "Now it's a party!" Other songs included DMX's 'Stop Being Greedy' and 'Money, Cash, Hoes' and Snoop's 'Down 4 My (N-word)' and 'Gz and Hustlas' among numerous other classic hits.
One of the highlights of the night included some tributes that were paid to late legends of music industry, as Snoop played '2 of Americaz Most Wanted' by 2Pac and DMX paid tribute to the late great Aaliyah with 'Come Back in One Piece'. Twitter promptly exploded into life after that segment, with many people complaining that they wanted to listen to her music on streaming services, but it was currently unavailable.ai "Let that Aaliyah play out since we can’t listen to most of her stuff on any platform."
Plenty of other people expressed the satisfaction with this latest Verzuz Battle, saying "Love how Uncle Snoop hypes DMX up. You can see he's a genuine fan of his kraft!" Another music lover declared, "Everybody dancing right now at home DMX VS SNOOP #Verzuz." A fan also posted a picture of a two-head goat, showing what he thought of these two GOATs battling each other. One fan declared, "Snoop is just a hit-making machine bruh. #Verzuz" while another viewer exclaimed "All 'battling' aside... I am beyond happy that DMX is still with us #Verzuz. Regardless of who won this battle in the end, (Snoop does have the larger swathe of hits), it was a mega victory and celebration for hip-hop fans tonight.