All About Laughs
The Verzuz battles have been heating up with no signs of slowing down. Since the inaugural battle at the beginning of the pandemic last year, fans have been consistently growing the numbers for the platform and actively making suggestions for which artists should be pit against the other for a potential upcoming battle. Two of Hip-Hop’s younger pioneers, Bow Wow and Romeo, have been often suggested for a face-off.
Fans have been graced with different Verzuz battles with “rivals” from the Brandy and Monica face-off, to the tense Gucci Mane and Jeezy battle. Since Verzuz started, some fans have been throwing Bow Wow into the ring with the claims that he would be an ample contender. At the same token, there was a percentage who felt as though Romeo would be a fitting adversary seeing as though they came up around the same time.
Romeo’s rap career birthed three studio albums, with his debut Lil’ Romeo being the only to have been certified Gold by the RIAA and his highest-charting album. He’s also released a slew of singles, but the only one that would chart on Billboard’s Hot 100 was his debut single “My Baby.”
Meanwhile, Bow Wow’s rap career is more extensive in comparison. He has released six studio albums under his belt with the majority of them achieving Gold or Platinum status. His debut album “Beware of Dog” received a Double Platinum certification. In addition, many of Bow Wow’s singles have charted on Billboard’s Hot 100 and have been RIAA certified Gold or Platinum.
The debate began on Twitter on who would win in a potential battle between the two, with many feeling as though Romeo wouldn’t stand a chance against Bow Wow. In the midst of the conversations, Romeo took to Instagram to share that in lieu of a battle, a documentary between the two had already been in the works.
“For the culture, instead of a versuz I already hit Bow Wow to do a documentary, side by side reminiscing on our historic young careers together,” the post read in part, as reported by Revolt. “Stay tuned and this is how we celebrate each other. God is real.” No further discussions have been reported on said documentary.
Omg Romeo just announced that instead of a Verzuz him & Bow Wow agreed to do a joint documentary on their careers as young stars 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/unqdpgVh9X
— Beyoncé Of Marketing✨ (@JunaeBrown) August 13, 2020
In the meantime, fans have been clamoring for a Verzuz battle with Bow Wow facing a few other opponents. However, each time Bow Wow has shared his displeasure in participating. In one post he replied to a fan who insinuated that he was scared to participate saying that he would “rather be getting money than playing songs yall heard a million times for an hour.”
In another Twitter post he wrote, “I come from an era where if you are a legend, you are a legend. No need to remind folks. I’m only 33 i got more work to do. A verzuz for me right now makes no sense.”
The reason for me not doing a versuz is because we still have the Millennium Tour 2021 to finish. Plus you can see the hits LIVE. Doesnt make sense for me to do 1 when im currently on an Arena Tour.
— Bow Wow (@smoss) December 10, 2020
In December of 2020, Bow Wow tweeted out another reason as to why he feels he does not need to do a Verzuz. “The reason for me not doing a Verzuz is because we still have the Millennium Tour 2021 to finish,” he wrote. “Plus, you can see the hits LIVE. Doesn’t make sense for me to do 1 when I’m currently on an Arena Tour.”
But now that Verzuz continues to thrive and expand, with talks of a possible tour in the future, the conversations for Bow and Romeo to come together are happening again. This time, both rappers seem to have changed their tune a little bit.
Romeo made the statement on a recent episode of Fox Soul’s “The Mix” that he would be open to doing it with the rapper. “If Bow Wow do a g*****n battle and it’s not with me, don’t do it,” he said. “If Bow do a battle, I’m open for it.”
Well, Romeo’s words got back to the “Fresh Az Im Iz” rapper and had some words for Romeo himself. “You sure you want this smoke,” the rapper tweeted, taunting Romeo. “I see you calling me out. You sure this what you want to do?”
— TheShadeRoom (@TheShadeRoom) May 15, 2021
Romeo, seemingly offended by Bow’s challenge, retorted on his Instagram Stories offering a different type of challenge. “I know most take my professionalism as a weakness, but if you know you know,” he began. “Regarding this Verzuz talk, I’ve gave this man Bow… his roses since we was kids and even reached out myself (multiple times) to celebrate him and our era together in a creative way. I could put my pride to the side if it means doing something positive and bringing back nostalgia for a dope a** generation.”
It was then that Romeo offered Bow Wow to get in the boxing ring with him since he doesn’t feel as though Romeo was a worthy enough contender, hit-for-hit. He continued, “Now if you think this is smoke my brother, we could hit up @loganpaul and get on one of those boxing tickets. You know me in real life bro, we aren’t kids anymore; leave that for the fans. This ain’t about the competition for me, this is about showing the impact that 2 young black kids had on the entire industry. That’s the Win. To inspire the next! It’s NoLimit. You got my number, hit me.”
Hours later, it looks like Romeo and Bow Wow got on the phone to discuss actually doing the Verzuz, potentially. “We put in too much work as youngin’s not to reap the benefits,” Romeo said in the recorded conversation.
“I told [Bow Wow] I was gone post this convo because people take things more serious than us and they don’t even know our real life friendship and tone,” he writes in the caption with a laughing emoji, “so just wanted to give some insight. No matter the topic (good or bad), always been one call away since the year 2000; this not a reality show.”
He added, “But like I told him today, let’s finally do something TOGETHER, before the world ends preferably. The industry put us against each other for too long, it’s time to celebrate each other my brother. Life is short. #GodisGood #YoungLegends PS: I’m a business man not a fighter 😉. To be continued. This next chapter about growth & peace.”
