Swizz Beatz has emerged from underneath the avalanche of outrage that emanated from the Verzuz Instagram post that notified fans they would have to pay for a subscription in order to view future battles.
The post first appeared prior to the Valentine’s Day battle between Anthony Hamilton and Musiq Soulchild. Someone with access to the Triller-owned music showcase pushed the normally free event behind a paywall. Verzuz was requiring at least a $2.99 per month subscription or $24 per year to attain access to future shows.
The blowback for the last-minute move was immediate and intense. One Twitter user expressed indignation, penning, “The evolution of Verzuz is quite literally a crash course on how capitalism slowly sucks the soul out of everything.
Another person wrote, “Wow I won’t be watchin yall have to monetize every dam thing just take happiness outta every freakin thing.”
Following the deafening clapback, Swizz Beatz, 43, appeared on the IG page and feigned ignorance over the matter.
“See y’all rite here tonight on insta,” Swizz’s caption read along with a clip of a scene from Denzel Washington’s iconic 2002 film Training Day. “I was out of the country don’t ask me who did it [laughing emoji] it’s fixed.”
Later, another IG post blared the statement, “We heard you!” and stated the event would be live-streamed free as normal on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Twitch.
Verzuz became an overnight worldwide sensation when Swizz and fellow super producer Timbaland founded the event during the pinnacle of the pandemic in the summer of 2020. Billboard magazine reported that the battle of two music entities exponentially increased the streaming sales of its participating artists. Meanwhile, the publication stated that Verzuz has “accumulated more than five billion impressions.”
