Billboard Magazine proudly unveiled their exclusive digital cover titled, “The Verzuz Effect.”
Unfortunately, their decision to exclude a few important people didn’t go over well.
The cover read:
How Swizz Beatz and Timbaland turned a pandemic diversion into a cultural phenomenon – and the industry’s next big bet.
The cover of the issue featured Swizz and Tim, of course as well as Fred Hammond, Teddy Riley, Babyface, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Kirk Franklin, DMX, and Snoop Dogg.
Swizzy took to social media and gushed:
NEW COVER ALERT???? Ultra grateful ?? thanks so much for all of your support ?? @billboard you guys killed it thank you?? we couldn’t get this far without the people , the creatives and our team thank you guys?? Ayo @timbaland let’s keep it going ?? Also shout out @kingbeenieman & @grunggaadzilla and all the other creatives that were apart of the VERZUZ EFFECT ?? full story in bio . FYI @courtneycl is the Biggest ??
Speaking of Beenie Man and Bounty Killa…they did not appreciate being excluded from the cover considering they had one of the most epic battles in Verzuz history.
Beenie took to Twitter writing:
When will DANCEHALL get it’s recognition???? Nuh matter how the impact, no matter the hard work, no matter how powerful the music is, them still try it everytime them get a chance. Ah time now man. #FixUp
Don’t try undermine the thing .#Dancehall Big up Swizz & Timz but this is what our genre face!
Everybody fwd and tek piece and build up dem thing and then do everything to undermine the genre DANCEHALL where they got it from.
Bounty Killa added:
TEᒪᒪ ᗪᑌTTY @ᗷIᒪᒪᗷOᗩᖇᗪ ᗰI Gᑌᑎ ᗪEᗰ ᔕTIᒪᒪ ᒪOᗩᖇᗪ ᑕYᗩᗩᕼ GO ᖇOᑌᑎᗪ OᐯEᖇ ᑎOᖇ ᑌᑎᗪEᖇ?
After being called out, Swizz Beatz returned to Instagram with a new cover that included Beenie and Bounty.
He wrote:
To our fans, while we are honored that Verzuz made the cover of Billboard, this would not have been possible without Beenie Man & Bounty Killer who set a big tone for our audience and represented for Jamaica. ???? Thank You Billboard for the acknowledgement but, we feel this version of the cover best represents THE VERZUZ EFFECT.????????????
See the new cover below.
Oh, but it there’s more…
Johnta Austin also took to the streets of Twitter to express his disappointment from being completely excluded from the cover and the cover story.
He tweeted:
Billboard is grimy for that.
Understandably, everyone may not make the cover, but the least they could do is include all of the battles in the article.
Your thoughts?
