After being postponed twice before — and not to mention after months of anticipation — Keyshia Cole and Ashanti’s highly anticipated Verzuz finally went down on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT. Even though it started late, the wait was much worth it and viral fans who tuned in on social media loved every minute of it.
From the great stories both Cole and Ashanti told about Diddy and Tupac in between songs to even O.T. Genasis’ surprise “Love” performance, this Verzuz was one to remember. Special viral audience members included Verzuz’s own Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, as well as Cardi B, Keith Powers, Queen Naija and more.
The music platform revealed news of this final and official Verzuz date a couple weeks ago in a post that showed a flyer for the event, which read: “RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, SNOW LET’S GO. Join us Thursday, January 21st as we kick off the first #VERZUZ of 2021 with @Ashanti and @KeyshiaCole. Thank you everyone for being patient with us. We can’t wait for this magical night with Keyshia and Ashanti!”
In this season two premiere of “REVOLT BLACK NEWS,” Eboni K. Williams returns and takes a hard look at 2021 in Black Amerikkka — we know the year just started, but so much has already happened from the U.S. Capitol riots by Trump supporters, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris entering office and more!
Jeff Johnson also joins to help break down Inauguration Day. Tamika Mallory, Kimberly Jones, and Dr. Bernard Ashby spotlight the uphill battle with COVID-19, Black Lives Matter and Georgia’s historic Senate wins. And with awards season approaching, Valeisha Butterfield and Harvey Mason Jr. from The Recording Academy; and journalist Tanya Christian discuss diversity and inclusion in entertainment and media.
Inspired by Sean “Diddy” Combs’ successful “State Of Emergency: The State of Black America & Coronavirus” town hall, “REVOLT BLACK NEWS” is a platform that is designed to report news from the perspective of Black people, for Black people.
“When I started REVOLT, I always wanted to develop a platform to report the news from our perspective, from our lens, from our people, so I decided to launch ‘REVOLT BLACK NEWS.’” said Combs. “We’re here with solutions. We’ve already heard about what we can’t do, but this is what we can do.”
Joe and the guys review the most downloaded apps of 2020, and it looks like Joe’s getting into women’s business with the launch of a new show on the Joe Budden Network. James Harden is headed to the Brooklyn Nets to join KD & Kyrie. While this affects Joe’s roster, Mal explains why he thinks James Harden should be a 6th man. Joe speaks directly to entitled artists and addresses Spotify’s stock slipping following analyst doubts over the company’s direction. As for other business dealings, Verzuz and NFL are partnering for this year’s Pro Bowl to showcase players’ position highlights and Lamar Odom signs a celebrity boxing deal. Finally, Joe breaks down Bitcoin for dummy’s, as it reached it’s all-time high.
