Raekwon verzuz Ghostface

First Verzuz I watched start to finish. TBH only other I tried was Premier vs RZA. I’m glad they evolved from strictly IGTV format and now there is also a regular HD stream. And the fact that both artists are in the same place with professional sound is a vast improvement over everybody phoning in from home and having all sorts of problems with connection, sound and video.

I liked that playlists weren’t completely straightforward. Some cuts were expected but others I didn’t even hear before. Since Rae and Ghost did so much music together it was awesome that they hyped each other up the whole time. Their banter and shit talk between tracks were hilarious. Especially as time progressed and they got more drunk. It was nice seeing almost the whole Clan passing by at one point or another.

Seems like Verzuz is a great format and platform for Hip Hop as every event is done in a very positive, celebratory manner and it never has that corporate-for-the-money-gig feel. It’s also fascinating to see how in a short time went from an ad-hoc IG live thing to a media franchise with multiple sponsorship and distribution deals.

Update: Good review from Crates808