Swizz Beatz and Timbaland faced hefty backlash after announcing the new exclusive distribution partnership between Verzuz and X (Twitter).
The super producers announced the deal on Juneteenth (June 19) as Elon Musk faced accusations of racism. The billionaire tech mogul was criticized for amplifying a tweet that falsely compared the rates at which Black Americans murder their white counterparts.
Social media users accused the duo of selling out, but Swizz insisted nothing could be further from the truth.
On Friday morning (June 21) Swizz took to Instagram to share some new photos of their meeting with Elon to seal the deal.
He kept it brief in the caption, stating, “We will show you better than tell you.” However, he acknowledged the controversy and addressed specific concerns in the comment section.
One person said critics “have a valid reason to question this partnership,” and told Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, “don’t play in our faces.” Swizz replied, “but nobody said anything before,” adding, “we been on that platform since Verzuz started.”
Another person said Verzuz should have partnered with another social media platform or a Black-owned one. Swizz claimed, “People want to talk with out doing the homework.” He followed up with, “we’re 100% black owned, [if] that’s not enough we own 100% of the IP and company!”
A third user blasted the duo for selling out, despite promising they never would. “WE the people are not feeling this. This is wild,” they wrote.
Nonetheless, Swizz Beatz denied the assertion and hinted that more would be revealed very soon. “Trust me that was the last thing we did was sell out,” he replied before adding a crying with laughter emoji. “Relax you will understand in 1min.”
