Saturday 9 May 2020, fans of Soul Music everywhere got to play a small part in musical history being made. We got to watch the Erykah Badu vs. Jill Scott ‘Verzuz’ musical magic via Instagram live. And over 700K of us did. It was a beautfil moment, not just because these two women have both created incredibly beautiful musical catalogues. But also because it wasn’t really a battle at all. The love, respect and relationship both women have for each other was, perhaps, the most striking thing about the night. We say it was a win for music, but Billboard have a scorecard and marginal winner here.
Erykah Badu started off the night’s music with You Got Me. Jill Scott wrote the hook of that song, originally performed by The Roots and Erykah Badu. This was while Jill Scott was still a relatively unknown singer outside of Philadelphia, where she’s from. The Roots then introduced her to the world on their 1999 tour, including crediting her for writing the hook. Ever since, these two legends of Neo-Soul have been pitted against each other by the industry and fans alike.
But last night, they powerfully rejected the rivalry narrative. Both have reiterated there is no rivalry over the years, but there’s nothing quite like watching the comraderie and pure energy between them as they rocked out to each others’ music. Right after Erkah’s kick off, Jill played a You Got Me live version she features on and they speak on their decades long relationship. The compliments flowed all night and they each hyped up their favourites the other played. It was more love fest than battle. Typified by the moment Erykah was disconnected as she was about to play Tyrone and Jill steps in and plays it on her behalf.
It was truly a mesmerising watch. Plus watching everyone from Michelle Obama to Marsha Ambrosius to Syd to Kehlani in the comments added a nice flourish. Peep the vibes above on our Instagram carousel of the night. Plus listen to our playlist recap of all the rounds on Spotify & YouTube below.
