Timbaland & Swizz Beatz Ink ‘Verzuz’ Deal With Elon Musk’s X
After regaining control of Verzuz last year, Timbaland and Swizz Beatz just made a major move that’s got people talking. They have partnered with Elon Musk on a new distribution deal. The announcement was made during the Cannes Lions conference in France on Wednesday (June 19).
Timbaland and Swizz Beats made the announcement on the Verzuz Instagram page with the caption “LIFE BEGINS AT THE END OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE!!! IT’S OFFICIAL, #VERZUZ IS BACK AND 100% BLACK OWNED AGAIN [lightning emoji] LET’S GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT’S BEEN MISSING !!!” They continued, “WE WILL ALSO BE BUILDING NEW ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESSES ON THE X PLATFORM !!” They then asked, who should be the first to kick off the show?
Details about Verzuz and X partnership
Variety reported that under the new deal, the pair maintain their full ownership and creative control of the platform while X receives exclusive distribution rights. The company estimates it will now broadcast to an audience of over 550 million active users, expanding its viewership and international reach. Viewers will now be able to watch for free exclusively on X.
The Associated Press reported Swizz Beatz said he’s looking forward to the new chapter for Verzuz, which became popular during the coronavirus pandemic. “Not only are we excited to have Verzuz on X, we’re excited to help X build the biggest entertainment company in the world,” he said in a statement before he thanked several X executives including owner Elon Musk for believing in their vision. “We can’t wait to get back to work.”
In 2021, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland merged Verzuz in a deal with Triller, following which they became shareholders. However, trouble arose when they filed a $28 million lawsuit against the company the following year.
Both artists claimed that the video-sharing service failed to hold up the financial end of their pact. Court documents obtained regarding the matter show that Triller defaulted on the agreement after just two payments. Though the producers settled with them soon after, the company allegedly failed to pay the full balance.
Not everyone is happy about the news
After sharing the news on Instagram, people took the Verzuz post and shared their thoughts. “This ain’t the flex yall thought it was. Yikes,” one person wrote. Another person said what several people were thinking, “Lmfaoooooooo black owned with a partnership with Elon Musk? D*mn JOKE!”
Someone else said, “Lol I grew up on Twitter so I will never not use that platform just because he just bought it (I know, I know), but this is really tone deaf to announce on Juneteenth.” They continued, “And he been retweeting some weird stuff about Black people kinda often. Y’all should have taken this to Apple or something.”
Verzuz came to be in 2020 after a competition between Swizz Beatz and Timbaland on social media. It started off to entertain the many people stuck in the house during the pandemic. The platform continued to evolve into a platform where stars like Nelly vs. Ludacris, Brandy vs. Monica, Ashanti vs. Keyshia Cole, and others competed against each other for bragging rights.
