
Jeezy mostly played it cool, leaning into the bag of monster hits from his breakout 2005 debut, Thug Motivation 101: Let’s Get It. Up until last Thursday, most episodes of the now-legendary “battle” show started by Timbaland and Swizz Beatz, from Snoop and DMX to Patti and Gladys, had been low-key competitions among friends. For more than 15 years the Atlanta duo have been nemeses-the real-deal kind, not the Instagram-beef kind-with a long, complicated, and violent history.

This was some prizefight-level programming by Verzuz.

From the moment that Jeezy and Gucci Mane walked onto the stage at Atlanta’s storied Magic City strip club, the rap world held its breath.
