The Verzuz battle between Babyface and Teddy Riley was epic and their first attempt at the musical showdown was one of the most hilarious moments last year as Riley’s technical difficulties caused the event to be rescheduled.
Little did we know that Riley’s snafu caused another musical legend to back out from an upcoming appearance on Verzuz.
“When Dr. Dre wasn’t feeling the sound from Teddy Riley and Babyface, that hurt our heart, explained Swizz Beatz to The Breakfast Club. “I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ If you go back, Dr. Dre was at the Teddy Riley one. He came at the end, but he was supposed to come at the end and announce he was doing Verzuz that night.”
The Chronic creator told Timbaland and Swizz Beatz that he couldn’t afford to be looking crazy to the world.
“He got on the phone and was like, ‘Man, I can’t be a part of nothing that look like or sound like that. My legacy is quality. My legacy is this, that,’” he added. “I was like, ‘Ohhhh we just lost Dre over that. That one felt pretty crazy but since then, the energy has been really good,” the Ruff Ryders beat maker further revealed to the morning show.
Timbaland and Swizz Beatz also won the Outstanding Variety Show (Series or Special) honor presented by The NAACP Image Awards on Thursday, March 24.
“This was just a big, big example of creatives sticking together by the artists, for the artists, with the people and I actually always thought it would be amazing, but we didn’t think it would be NAACP amazing, beating out every daytime and nighttime show amazing. But the universe is the best of planners,” added Swizz to The Associated Press.
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