Fans spazzed out hard when a Clubhouse chat spawned a rumor that a Verzuz battle between longtime rivals Foxy Brown and Lil Kim is imminent. However, the event’s founder/primary coordinator Swizz Beatz wants fans to hold their horses. Perhaps it was lost in the wash of excitement or maybe it was due to the rules of Twitter that only allow users to see a direct reply if they are following both accounts (that’s why tweets must start with a period if they use an @ handle first), but it didn’t seem too many folks saw Swizz’s reply to Bossip associate editor Jason Lee about the plans for the battle.
Wait, WHAT?!?!? There is a Foxy Brown/Lil Kim #Verzuz being planned????????? (Via Fox brother Gavin)
— The Authentic Jason Lee (@HipHopObama) December 5, 2020
No!!!!! Not confirmed !!!
— SWIZZ BEATZ (@THEREALSWIZZZ) December 5, 2020
“No!!!!!” Swizz denied. “Not confirmed!!!”
Of course, even if fans had seen his tweet, they’d have probably only used it as a chance to harangue the veteran producer to make the rumor come true. If there’s one immutable rule of social media, it’s that once a fan theory has been adopted, they’ll run it into the ground until they make it happen (see: The Snyder Cut). Fans have plenty of reason to want to see Fox and Kim share the stage, though. It was previously unthinkable that Gucci Mane and Jeezy could be in the same room without violence, yet Verzuz reunited the beefing trap rap pioneers to perform their hit “So Icy” just last month.
Meanwhile, Foxy and Kim’s beef goes back even farther and includes fewer dead homies, so there’s even more investment in seeing them bury the hatchet — especially in an era where women in rap are helping each other more than ever and even Cardi B and Nicki Minaj seem prepared to reunite on a track. Whether we’ll actually get to see that long-awaited reconciliation is, per Swizz, still unconfirmed — but we can dream.