DJ Premier and RZA faced off in a producers battle that was one for the ages. Timbaland and Swizz Beatz launched the ‘VERZUZ’ battle series in March during the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The goal of the series is to celebrate the architects of good music. 

DJ Premier of Gang Starr and RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan faced off in one of the most epic producer battles since this series has been launched. Both of these men represent juggernauts in the culture of Hip-Hop and have worked with many of greats. Jay Z, Nas, Mary J Blige, ODB and Biggie Smalls are a few of the artists both producers have worked with. 

The battle was a trip down memory lane with a focus on the golden age of rap. RZA kicked it off with “Liquid Swords” from the album of the same name to which Premier followed up with “Medley: Intro” by Jay Z  off of his album In My Lifetime. There were a few technical difficulties for RZA early on but after some communication from DJ Premier’s engineer it was corrected. 

Both producers shared details of sessions for specific songs. When Premier played “Come Clean” by Jeru the Damaja he mentioned that LL Cool J was in the studio when he created the track for the song. 

Premier also recalled the time RZA stepped to him in Los Angeles and told him that he had a song called C.R.E.A..M that would whip him. 

The original battle was set to go 20 rounds but it went much longer as both producers offered up music to heal during this tumultuous time. 

The overall winner for the evening was the culture of hip-hop because of how it continues to bring the world together and created a way out of no way for so many people of the world.

I scored the battle 13-7 with DJ Premier as the winner. Check out my breakdown after the jump.