Wu-Tang Clan's RZA takes on DJ Premier on Instagram Live Beat Battle, fans call it 'King Kong v Godzilla'
With over 3.5 billion people confined at home thanks to the recent coronavirus lockdown restrictions being imposed, the hip-hop community has been one of the primary sources of entertainment that fans have been turning to in recent weeks. One of the hottest live streams that everyone's been tuning in to watch on social media has been the "Verzuz" series, these are episodic Instagram Live beat battles, which pits popular hip-hop rapper/producers against each other online, in a bid to see who is the most talented musical beat maker.
We already saw Mannie Fresh vs Scott Storch, Hit-Boy vs Boi-1Da, Ne-Yo vs Johntá Austin, Sean Garrett vs. The-Dream, and Swizz Beatz vs Timbaland; the latter matchup helped spawn the online musical showpiece, which has seen millions of fans tuning in online over the past several weeks.
And now, it's the turn of the revered Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA to pit his finest jams against DJ Premier, who has produced songs for a multitude of hitmakers like Jay-Z, Nas, Christina Aguilera, and D'Angelo. RZA said that he was interested in the online matchup after “Swizz [Beatz] reached out,” and he realized that it was a good opportunity to celebrate some legendary moments in hip-hop history.
RZA also revealed, “This is something we’re doing for culture. People could take it as a fight, a battle, whatever they want, but it's more about us celebrating the culture of hip-hop. I'm a big fan of DJ Premier.” RZA then concluded, “So the cool thing is that we're still here as icons, and as foundations of hip-hop in many ways, and for us to get together and show people where that energy came from in hip-hop.”
The match started at 9 pm ET on DJ Premier's IG Live feed on Saturday, April 11. Both hip-hop legends seemed evenly matched at first, with most fans saying, "RZA x Preemo going crazyyyy," and "Preemo and Rza. Loving these matchups. This one bringing it back old school too." Other listeners admired the epic scale of the battle, saying "RZA v. DJ Premier really does feel like King Kong v. Godzilla."
While DJ Premier did have his fanbase crowing with delight, "Premo about to wash RZA for the rest of this though. Watch!" Another said: "Preemo hit RZA with the gut punch with NY State of Mind". The tide appeared to be turning slightly in the favor of RZA. "RZA got his foot on Premo' neck. Just dropped 'Long Kiss Goodnight'. And that's just the half of his war path," said one user, while another viewer exclaimed, "RZA not f****** around at all bruh. He has been playing nothing but bangers." Fans were declaring it a victory for RZA, saying "Ummm Prem had him on the ropes early but RZA winning a lot of later rounds" and concluded, "At this point RZA could drop 'I Love You Rakeem' and still win."
Turns out that the eventual winner was DJ Premier: "Preemo wins this round no matter what cuz NY State of Mind always wins. Every time."