Dr. Dre sparks Eminem Verzuz debate, Swizz Beatz responds

Swizz Beatz revealed who he thinks should go up against Eminem in a Verzuz battle.

Dr. Dre sparked an Eminem-centered Verzuz debate on Sunday (Jan. 23) after sharing a video of the Detroit native rapping along to his 2020 hit, “Godzilla.”

“Marshall Mathers vs Who???!!” Dre captioned an Instagram clip of Eminem rapping the tongue-tying track. Intentionally or not, Dre’s post spurred a viral debate about who could go up against Slim Shady on the Verzuz stage.

“In a battle rap competition it’s not close and Em wins against any [hip hop] artist,” one fan tweeted on Monday (Jan. 24). “He also has timeless classics that just can’t be touched. I would say Nas has the biggest change though.”

“If it ain’t Hov, Wayne, or Drake no one else beating Em,” another remarked.

On Instagram, Verzuz co-founder Swizz Beatz shared his own idea about who could take on the “Rap God” crafter.

“BUSTA!!!!!!!!!!! Let’s go,” Swizz commented on Dre’s post.

Fans — and Busta Rhymes himself — have called for a Verzuz battle between the two motor-mouth rappers for months. Back when the series first launched in 2020, Busta singled out Eminem as a potential opponent.

“I don’t want to do no corny Verzuz. I wouldn’t do one with anyone whose catalog isn’t crazy,” the “Don’t Cha” rapper told Complex. “I would love to do a Verzuz with somebody I’m a fan of. I would love to do a Verzuz battle with Eminem, I would love to do a Verzuz with Lil Wayne. I would love to do a Verzuz with Hov. I wouldn’t mind doing a Verzuz against two artists at the same time. I actually presented that before T.I. started talking all that.”

“These are all glorious moments,” he added about the Verzuz series as a whole. “We’re celebrating each other and having fun and we getting the opportunity to show some competitive shit. The nature of what this culture has been built on from the very beginning is to be competitive, whether respectfully competitive or disrespectfully competitive.”

See Dr. Dre’s debate-sparking Instagram post below.