'VERZUZ' Teddy Riley vs. Babyface
Updated: Oct 26, 2020
After the epic fail of round one on Saturday, we finally get the rematch of the Kenny "Babyface” Edmonds versus Teddy Riley hit battle on Monday night, the latest installment of Timbaland and Swizz Beats VERZUZ battles. This time Teddy Riley left the big production and crew heavy setup behind and was ready to go hit for hit with Babyface in the manner we have grown accustomed to for these battles.
After Teddy Riley dropped Heavy D & The Boyz “Is It Good To You,” neither Babyface nor Teddy Riley knew what round they were on and looked to the comments for help. “Well, we’ll find out after this one,” suggested Babyface, and he began to play “I’m ready” by Tevin Campbell. At this point, there were 434,000 viewers, and the live abruptly ended. “We were supposed to be able to go beyond an hour. It looks like that didn’t work,” Babyface informs us upon return.
After dropping Jay Z featuring Blackstreet “The City Is Mine,” Teddy Riley decided to change the format up, having Babyface play two songs in a row before going back to alternating. Babyface played Bobby Brown “Rock Wit’cha” and “On Our Own,” revealing “that comes from studying you a little bit. A little Teddy.” At this point, the crowd is hovering around 425,000 and within minutes jumps to 452,000.
With over 500,000 people in the live, Teddy Riley is experiencing some technical issues and drops out of Babyface’s live. To keep the crowd engaged, Babyface plays The Boys “Dial My Heart.” Everyone in the comments begins asking Babyface to play the guitar, and he obliges. Just as he begins to play, Teddy Riley pops back into the live, but it was a fakeout since he could not join the live. Babyface picks the guitar back up and begins to play Eric Clapton’s “Change The World.” Teddy shows up again but still can’t get into the live. “This is crazy,” Babyface states. At this point, the hour is up, and Instagram cuts off. Babyface restarts the live, and Teddy is still nowhere to be found. At this point, Babyface informs us Teddy is unable to rejoin the live and begins to play “Another Sad Love Song” by Toni Braxton. Everyone switches to Teddy’s live, and Teddy can’t add Babyface into the live either. Teddy Riley and Babyface have broken the internet!
Teddy Riley stays live and plays Michael Jackson “Blood on the Dance Floor,” playing live keys along to the track. Several attempts to bring Babyface into the live were unsuccessful with the same “unable to join” reason. To close out the night, Babyface went live one more time to play Whitney Houston “Count On Me,” and Teddy Riley, in his own live, played Michael Jackson “Dangerous.”
Teddy gets on the phone with Dr. Dre, a bonus for those that stuck it out. “What you guys are doing is not for me,” Dre tells us, “I don’t know if I’m interested in doing that.” It doesn’t look like a Dr. Dre VERZUZ is in the future, at least at this point. Nonetheless, it was a special treat to hear Dre’s thoughts on tonight’s battle.
The night brought back a ton of nostalgia with hits played such as “Rump Shaker,” “Red Light Special,” “When Can I See you Again,” which Babyface played live on guitar, and “The Show,” which Teddy revealed he made when he was just seventeen years old. At one point, over 500,000 people were tuned in, making it the most-watched VERZUZ to date.
Favorite moment of the night? Babyface telling Teddy Riley after he played Janet Jackson’s “I Get Lonely Remix,” “I didn’t know remixes counted in this thing. That ain't a problem anyway 'cause I don't remix anyway." Babyface level shade all 2020.
