Fans are hyped to watch classic R&B groups collide on Verzuz this upcoming Monday (May 25), but there may be a couple of members missing. Hoping to encourage people to stay home and safe this Memorial Day, Verzuz bosses Swizz Beatz and Timbaland have announced that a battle is going down between two R&B favorites: Bad Boy’s 112 and So So Def’s Jagged Edge. However, we’ve previously reported on the legal issues going on between the members of 112, and it seems that the case is preventing two of the four group members from making an appearance on Verzuz.

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According to Daron Jones, he nor Q Parker will be participating in the upcoming Instagram Live series. The singer wrote an open letter to fans and supporters where he thanked everyone for the love. “It Is incredible and we appreciate how much of your heart and souls you have poured into our careers,” Daron wrote. “But unfortunately we will not be participating in the upcoming Verzuz with Jagged Edge due to an ongoing legal issue that is not settled.”

He added that it is a “fabricated lie” that he and Q quit the group. “In due time, you will receive the true narrative,” Daron continued. “Until then, we love you and thank you again for your continued support.” Read his message in full below.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, 112’s was one of the reigning R&B groups. The Bad Boy Records quartet was one of the biggest singing groups in the world at the time with hits like “Only You” with Mase and Notorious B.I.G, “Anywhere” with Lil’ Zane, “Peaches & Cream,” “Cupid,” and “It’s Over Now.” Like many other singing groups of music history’s past, 112 eventually disbanded over personal differences, but Q Parker sat down with TV One for Life + Lyrics to chat about what it was like in 112’s heyday.

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“Being signed to Bad Boy was a dream come true,” Q recalled. “It was sort of like, our gift, because all we watched were Boyz II Men, Jodeci, Take 6. So when we finally put our group together it was like, that’s gonna be us one day. Jermaine Dupri passed on us, Dallas Austin passed on us, Teddy Riley passed on 112.”

Then, the R&B group got their big break. “Here comes Puffy who had this edge about him,” said Q. “I believe the gift for us was we were supposed to sign with Bad Boy because he brought an element out of us that I don’t know would have been brought out of us had we signed to those other executives. We would’ve still been the balladeers and the crooners and all of that, but Bad Boy gave us like—we were the guys you could take home to mom, but we were the guys mom want you to stay away from. We had a nice blend of bad boy but church boy, too.”

He said Bad Boy’s era from 1194-2004 is something that is etched into R&B and hip hop history. “And you can’t mention that era, and the dominance of that era, without mentioning 112,” he said. Q added that the group met Diddy outside of the nightclub 112 and they sang for him on the spot. They soon became the fourth artist to sign to Bad Boy.

Check out Q Parker talk about his Bad Boy memories, his relationship with Diddy now, and why he’ll always show the hip hop mogul love.

The divide between Mase and Diddy continues. The former friends and collaborators haven’t worked together in years, but their relationship was recently revisited when Mason Betha aired out alleged dirty laundry. According to a lengthy Instagram post made by the Harlem World rapper, he was disheartened by Diddy’s comments about “black love” and “black excellence” because the music mogul wouldn’t even sell him his publishing.

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Mase wrote that he approached Diddy with $2 million in hopes of purchasing his publishing, but the Bad Boy Records founder rejected him. “Your response was if I can match what the EUROPEAN GUY OFFER him that would be the only way I can get it back,” Mase said. “Or else I can wait until I’m 50 years old and it will revert back to me from when I was 19 years old. You bought it for about 20k & I offered you 2m in cash. This is not black excellence at all.” 

Later, Joe Budden came forward to say he agreed with Mase, and now, former 112 member Q Parker, too, says he sides with the Grammy-nominated rapper. TMZ caught up with Q and asked him about the disagreement, and the singer said that all artists should be keenly aware of their contracts. “I get where Mason’s coming from ’cause I’m in the same situation,” he said. “I want the other half of my publishing back, too.”

It’s not an easy feat. “However, there’s a contract that we signed when we were teenagers and legally he did nothing wrong,” Q added. He said they received the “industry standards for back in the ’90s. He’s asking Puffy to make a personal and emotional decision, and I don’t’ know if he’s gon’ do that.”

A Clive Davis’s pre-Grammy gala, Diddy gave a speech scolding the academy for its rejection of hip hop music throughout the years. “Now, where I do think he was wrong was asking the academy to do something that he’s not willing to do,” Q said, adding that you can’t celebrate black greatness and be a shrewd businessman because “they’re in conflict.” Watch his clip below.