The much-ballyhooed heavyweight music battle between Teddy Riley and Babyface on Saturday, April 18, 2020, was a colossal and historic blunder. Riley tried to conduct an elaborate, multimedia show but ran into laughable technical issues and repeated circuit overloads.
Nearly a half-million people reportedly arrived at the virtual club only to be turned away because the concert battle between two legendary songwriters and producers was aborted. Many of the irate viewers channeled their anger by scorching Riley on Twitter and Instagram with hilarious memes and cutting jokes.
Now, Riley, 52, and the organizers have announced a rematch with the equally iconic Babyface, 62, that is set for Monday, April 20, 2020, at 8 p.m. EST.
The creators of this latest edition of the Verzuz series — Swizz Beatz and Timbaland — helped to coordinate the bout on IG Live. Swizz and Timbaland are confident that the third time will be the charm: “Let’s get back to the LOVE of music this Monday 8pm est🍿 less will be more & sounds will be fixed🙏🏽 Sound checks done 🙌🏽.”
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They can assure that Riley will not be accompanied by a brigade of music and technical people, such as a DJ, live drummer set, hype man, studio lights, multiple mics and engineers, as he was on Saturday.
After the sound came off crappy and broke down altogether, Riley offered to reappear after a brief reprieve to fix his mess. But Babyface graciously suggested they postpone the affair for another time.
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Riley, best known for his debut album with the hip-hop group Guy, which created the New Jack sound and helped revolutionize R&B and rap, appealed to his fans to come back.
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