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Since the beginning of quarantine, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s Verzuz series have had some of the top players in music battling each other on Instagram live. From Ludacris vs. Nelly, T-Pain vs. Lil Jon, Alicia Keys vs. John Legend and even Snoop Dogg vs. DMX, fans have seen artists that would only come together in their dreams. So when fans found out the next artists battling were ex haters and 90’s icons Brandy and Monica- they lost it. The Instagram live had 1 million+ viewers the entire time.
Everyone loves a good catfight and the drama goes back to their 1998 duet, “The Boy Is Mine.” The duo won a Grammy for the song but rumors quickly spread about their feud that even included an alleged fistfight during rehearsals for their performance at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards. In 2012 they teamed up again for their duet “It All Belongs To Me.” For years both women have said the feud was overdramatized and put behind them. But Brandy was accused of “throwing shade” to Monica as recently as November 2016 when she changed lyrics during a live performance. Regardless of what they said, rumors about their feud just wouldn‘t die. Until tonight.
Fans came up with the idea for the battle and repeatedly asked for their reunion. Both women said they were hesitant but open if the set up was right which led to the epic announcement. They have been mature, united, and graceful from the time of the announcement to the end of the battle. When it was first announced, both ladies posted comments on Instagram sharing their excitement about the news. Brandy wrote, “#History. Thank you @monicadenise and @verzuztv for making this happen. Let’s celebrate!!!!” Monica reciprocated the excitement and said, “This will be historical. It’s an honor @brandy.” Monica added “Celebrating these catalogs is for the culture with love! From Young Women to Adult Women we’ve been with y’all!”
During the battle, both women sat gracefully between bottles of Ciroc and took turns sharing stories and singing songs from their collection. Brandy got deep and explained the importance of people seeing them together on stage. She explained, “Everyone is sending messages that the timing of this couldn’t have been more perfect. People need to see this, people need to see us together.. Like I said, music is powerful. And people need to see us together.”
Monica echoed Brandy then urged people to vote. The pair released merchandize for the battle and all proceeds benefitted When We All Vote, Michelle Obama’s non-profit organization with a mission of increasing voter turnout. Monica said, “we’re urging people again, [like with] what happened with our t-shirts and hoodies, urging people to get out and vote. The importance of it is unprecedented… Voting is a way to help contribute towards doing what you want done... We got to keep being there for one another, we got to keep speaking for those that have been hurt hard and then brought directly into danger by those who are supposed to protect us... How do we change things? Vote.” Brandy followed Monica’s statement with a powerful acapella of Sam cook’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” and encouraged Monica to join her.
It’s safe to say this feud is officially behind us. Towards the end of the battle Brandy dedicated her song “Have You Ever” to Monica. Fans in the comments said they were “full on crying.” They finished the live with the long anticipated duet of their iconic song “The Boy Is Mine.”