The long awaited Verzuz between Erykah Badu and Jill Scott had the internet abuzz in anticipation since its announcement. This one was truly for the culture and it’s hard to choose sides between these two Queens.
On the day of, the live began from Jill’s page a few minutes late with gospel music playing. Neither woman was in sight at the time, only artwork displayed on screen.
In a prior interview, Jill admitted that a battle wasn’t something she was too interested in. She said that especially now, we should be celebrating each other. After deciding that this would be a celebration of both artists she excitedly agreed, “Let’s do the damn thing.”
Twenty minutes after the scheduled start time, Erykah joined the live broadcast and we were ready to begin!
Erykah kicked it off chuckling, “Ima play ’You Got Me’ first.” The song was originally written by Jill, but famously performed by Erykah. She gave a brief story of how the song was brought to her, at the time never having heard of Jill Scott- “the most beautiful, melodic thing... we won a Grammy from that song you wrote, sis.” Jill said she’d play the same song right back, admitting, “that’s first song I ever wrote... Quest was like ‘Can you do this?’ And I lied.”
Celebrating each other is definitely what they did - uplifting and singing each others’ praises the entire time. Jill said she wishes she wrote “On & On” or could have just been in the video.
They both expressed how happy they are to currently be at home, saying it’s the longest they’ve been home in 20 years.
They touched on how they’re good friends in real life and it’s always been love between them. “They pitted us against each other,” Jill said. “There was a stink in the air, but it didn’t belong to either of us.”
This wasn’t a “battle,” it was a vibe. It felt like a casual jam session with two old friends (plus more than 700K others) and I was happy to be a part of it. This energy felt so good, and I’d love to see these two on tour together soon. If there’s one thing I’ve learned through this pandemic is that music heals and it’s universal.
Here’s the full track list from the live for you to vibe to.
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