The coronavirus pandemic forced creatives to find a new way of keeping their fans engaged. Several TV shows have been hosting virtual table read such as Community and Lizzie McGuire while musicians have used platforms like YouTube and Facebook to live stream performances from home. But the world of hip-hop brought us the Timbaland & Swizz Beatz-ran “Verzuz” series. Two artists of similar calibers go hit-for-hit on Instagram Live to see who’s catalog is stronger but ultimately, it’s a celebration of rappers, singers, producers, and musicians who’ve made incredible contributions to the game.

This week, we’ll be seeing two hip-hop heavyweights of the 2000s go face-to-face. Nelly and Ludacris will be on Instagram Live this weekend to go song-for-song. After the announcement of the battle on Instagram Live last week, Verzuz have confirmed that Nelly vs. Luda will be going down on Saturday at 7 p.m. EST. Considering the two artists have catalogs with records that defined hip-hop during that era, it’ll be interesting to see who comes out on top.

Ludacris vs. Nelly arrives a week after Jill Scott and Erykah Badu hit IG Live for their Verzuz event that drew over 1B impressions globally. On top of that, it marked the first battles between two women in the online Instagram Live series. 

Who’s your money on this weekend? Luda? Nelly? Sound off in the comments. 

The Instagram Live battles have been taking over the ‘Gram over the past few weeks and providing an endless source of entertainment for all watching. However, there’s something to be said about the artists who’ve participated in these battles being OGs for the most part. Though not many rappers have jumped in on this, since it was mainly to spotlight producers, it appears that we likely won’t be seeing T.I. get in on the fun anytime soon.

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Hopping on ESPN, T.I. was asked whether he had any interest in getting in on the IG Live battles to which he provided the perfect response. “Man, I ain’t really trippin’, bruh. I battled with the crack era, and won,” he said. “I’m a refugee from the war on drugs. I’m a veteran of the war on drugs and, you know what I’m sayin’? I’m still here.”

Though it was a bit of a cheeky response, he did elaborate further on these dope battle series we’ve been seeing on Instagram Live, though he admits, he doesn’t look at it as a competition.

“As far as catalogs go, I don’t see ’em as battles. I see ’em as celebrations,” he added.

Perhaps we could see T.I. go head-to-head with another artist in the future but the question is: Who is the best-suited opponent? Sound off in the comments with your thoughts.