Another week, another memorable installment of the Instagram Live Verzuz series.
On Saturday night, hip-hop superstars Nelly and Ludacris went round for round in a battle of hits, revisiting fan-favorite tracks that that helped define the music landscape of the aughts.
At the top of the event, Luda and Nelly took the time to recognize each other's achievements and contributions to the culture, setting a positive tone for what was to come.
"Your longevity is impeccable, it's worth commending, you know what I mean?" Nelly told Ludacris. "You bust ass every year to make sure you were coming for the No. 1 spot ... It's my pleasure and it's an honor today, my brother, to be rocking with you. I'm glad that our rookie class is the best class of our hip-hop era."
Fans went into the event understandably pumped, however the stream was stalled by number of technical difficulties on Nelly's end.
For a few minutes, it seemed as though the battle was back on track. Luda kicked things off with "Welcome to Atlanta" with Jermaine Dupri and Nelly responded with "Na-Nana-Na." But in the middle of round 2—after Ludacris played "Pussy Poppin (P-Poppin)"—it was clear Nelly's internet connection would continue to be a problem. So, the St. Louis hopped off the stream and attempted to fix the issue.
Teddy Riley, whose battle with Babyface was also plagued by technical difficulties, was amused.
Luda didn't want to leave fans hanging, so he blessed fans with an exclusive sneak peek of "Silence of the Lambs," a collaborative record with Lil Wayne.
But he wasn't done. Luda then played an unreleased joint track with Chance the rapper. And let's just say this record received mixed reviews.
After some stalling, Nelly reappeared, apologized, and hopped back into the battle. The two then played hits like "Tip Drill," "My Chick Bad," "Pimp Juice," and "Ho," but Nelly's poor internet connection continued to interrupt the event.
The pair weren't giving up, though. After logging off again, Nelly returned with a much better, but far from perfect, connection. They then dropped joints like "Holidae In," "Flap Your Wings," "Saturday (Oooh! Ooooh!)," "What's Your Fantasy," and "Country Grammar (Hot Shit)," as the number of viewers surpassed the 400,000 mark.
Luda then played "Rollout" produced by Timbaland. Ludacris made sure to give Timbo a shoutout, referring to him as his favorite producer.
Toward the end of the stream, Luda played the unreleased version of "Money Maker" featuring Nelly. It seemed the majority of listeners were both surprised and pleased by this iteration.
Nelly and Luda then headed into a bonus round with their respective hits "Dilemma" featuring Kelly Rowland and "Lovers and Friends" with Lil Jon and Usher.
So, which artist came out on top? Check out some of the verdicts below.
