First, it's not just rap — acts like Earth, Wind + Fire, Teddy Riely, Erika Badu, Gladys Knight and Pattie LaBelle have participated.
Basically, it's two artists head to head, playing their music streaming live in front of an audience. Each round, they pick a song they want to play from their catalog (they could be the main or feature artist), and the "opponent" plays one to compete against it — with the idea being that those at home watching can choose which they like best of the two. It's just for fun and the match-ups are meant to pair similar style/era artists (Earth, Wind & Fire vs The Isley Brothers, Alicia Keys vs John Legend).
The idea behind it was that due to the pandemic shutting down performances and touring, the two that started it (Swizz Beats and Timbaland, two writer/producers with huge clout in the industry) started this to give artists a platform to continue to perform and continue to drive interest in artists affected by the lack of touring. The series popularity quickly drew in many viewers as a way to cope while on quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic, it became a vehicle for viewers to laugh, sing-a-long, dance, go back in time feeling nostalgic, watch other entertainers communicate and interact with one another through comments and replies while watching and also with each other on-screen during battle, and also it united everyone together during the crisis.
I watched more than a handful of them and they were fantastic... once technical hurdles were overcome.
Last edited:
