Mary J. Blige has again rejected calls to do a Verzuz battle, expressing her disinterest in competing in the series or pitting herself against other artists.
The Queen Of Hip-Hop Soul shut down requests to appear in the popular series that produced some legendary clashes, despite her love for the Verzuz co-founder Swizz Beatz, who created the show with fellow production icon Timbaland during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Let me just say this. I love Swizz,” she explained in a video circulating on social media. “That’s my friend, that’s my brother. That’s my people. I just don’t care about no Verzuz. I don’t wanna be up there. And it’s no disrespect. I just don’t care. Like, I don’t need to say I had the hottest– I know I had some of the hottest records. I know I got a crazy catalog.”
Mary J. Blige also refused to single out a competitor, acknowledging her many talented peers.
“I mean there’s so many people that have great music out there,” she continued. “There’s so many women that have just catalogs, you know. So, I don’t like the putting everybody up against each other. I don’t like it.”
However, Blige insisted if she ever competed in a Verzuz, she could win by playing just one project.
“I could just put my s### on and just walk away,” she added. “I could put the ‘What’s The 411’ album on and just walk away.”
Check out the clip filmed during Mary J. Blige’s Strength of a Woman Festival earlier this year.
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This isn’t the first time Mary J. Blige has had to shut down Verzuz demands. In 2020 she confirmed she watched the battle between Brandy and Monica but is “cool” on taking part herself.
“Mary would kill somebody in Verzuz,” Method Man said during a joint interview with the singer. “She’d kill somebody in Verzuz. She got way too many hits. Can’t nobody keep up.”
