Verzuz Battle: Gucci & Jeezy: The Real Message
If you were raised in Atlanta like myself, the legendary verzuz between Gucci and Jeezy brought about endless middle/high school and college memories. Reciting every lyric of both Gucci and Jeezy’s songs was a wonderful moment for all of us to remember and cherish with friends. With the verzuz battle taking place in Magic City and attracting more than 1.6M viewers the platform provided for Gucci and Jeezy was remarkable (not to mention our heroes The Obamas and Stacey Abrams in attendance as well).
The ongoing beef between Gucci and Jeezy was well expected and fans often questioned how the verzuz would work with the two rappers being in the same place. Despite the slight jabs through their songs, the battle ended peacefully. As a fan of both artists, I can appreciate seeing two successful black men compose themselves and give their fans a night to remember. It was a message to all of us that there is a time and place to just be grown ups about situations and handle it accordingly without violence. What stood out most to me was the comment that Jeezy made to Gucci during the verzuz battle.
Gucci stated “My outfit cost 10 bands, look at my opponent man. Look at him.” Jeezy replied “I don’t have no $10,000 outfit, but I own half of Atlanta.” Although we don’t have sources to confirm if he owns half of Atlanta, his comment literally intrigued me. The very reason is that both of these artists have started from the bottom and made a name for themselves through the trap music world. It’s a blessing and accomplishment to come from nothing and work your way to having wealth. After Jeezy’s response it made me reflect on some younger artists today who are slowly shifting from the Gucci-like mindset and taking the time to invest in other ventures to obtain wealth similar to Jeezy. Throughout the history of rap, most believed that success was derived from how many material things you have. Music really didn’t provide messages about ownership and creating generational wealth, however, that trend is slowly descending.
Although Gucci and Jeezy are around the same age, that particular moment showed the different levels of maturity for both men. Gucci may have ownership in things we don’t know about but he often gloats on his material possessions and talks about brands that are mainly white-owned. Jeezy’s maturity and growth over the years are evident. Playing a part in politics and making other business ventures come to life is something that he has been working on for some time. It made me think of young artists like 21 Savage that understands the importance of financial literacy and generational wealth. His financial literacy program promises 150 students jobs in sports and entertainment arenas all around the country. Another artist to note is Lil Durk who moved from the rough Chicago neighborhoods to Atlanta and has since started his own trucking & real estate company.
It is amazing to see artists, especially young black men, shift the conversation from material things to having complete ownership and supporting other black businesses. Although Jeezy’s comments were laughed at on Twitter and other social media apps I can assure that some people got the real message out of his statement. Like my mother said, you can’t bring material things with you when you leave this earth but you can leave something for your family and the generations after.
