Jermaine Dupri on Why a Verzuz Battle with Diddy Will Not Happen [VIDEO]

*Jermaine Dupri challenged Diddy to a Verzuz battle late last year, but now it seems he has had a change of heart.

The So So Def founder recently explain why a hit-for-hit battle with him and Diddy will likely not happen.

“I feel like it’s a performance-based thing now and the majority of Puff’s records, who’s gonna perform?,” Dupri said during Wednesday’s episode of the New Rory & Mal podcast, as reported by HotNewHipHop. “Yeah, [you can bring out] The LOX, but you can’t have nobody do Big’s verses! And I don’t know that Mase would come out with him no more, so I don’t think that it would happen based on that. All my people, we rockin’ and we coming’ with a whole lot of energy!”

When Dupri initially challenged Diddy to a Verzuz battle, the Bad Boy CEO turned him down.

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“Somebody let @Diddy know I’m @thegarden right now ! And he gon need some training for me,” Dupri tweeted.

Diddy responded by telling Dupri that he “aiint got enough hits.” He also made clear that he’d rather battle Dr. Dre, telling Jermaine, “I’ll smash you with just biggie n Mary . But I do have the upmost respect on you as a musical legend – Dre the only one can get in the ring w me.”

The initial Verzuz battle debuted on Instagram Live in March 2020 between series creators Timbaland and Swizz Beatz. Since then, music fans have been treated to battles featuring Snoop Dogg, DMX, Benny Blanco, Ryan Tedder, Babyface, Teddy Riley, Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, Gucci Mane and Jeezy, Ashanti, Keyshia Cole and most recently, Soulja Boy and Bow Wow… to name a few. Most recently, Ja Rule and Fat Joe hosted a Verzuz battle at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater.

Elsewhere in the New Rory & Mal podcast, Dupri compared So So Def’s catalog to Bad Boy’s.

“Puff—and anybody else that thinks about this battle—they try to downplay the Bow Wow era,” Dupri said. “When we get into the 2001, 2002, 2003 era of So So Def, I don’t know that Bad Boy was even in existence… I never seen a Bad Boy record No. 1 on 106 & Park.”

Watch the full interview below.