Apple Wanted to Buy Rap-Battle Series 'Verzuz'

Apple was interested in purchasing rap-battle music platform Verzuz prior to when it was acquired by video network Triller, reports Bloomberg.

verzuz
Apple offered Verzuz an acquisition price that was lower than the price that Triller paid. Apple decided not to enter into a bidding war for Verzuz.

Verzuz started out as an Instagram Live series created by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland during the pandemic, with the series debuting in March 2020. Verzuz pits two artists against one another in a friendly competition.

Apple Music began showing Verzuz episodes in July 2020 at the same time as they were portrayed on Instagram Live. Triller purchased the rights to Verzuz in March 2021, and Verzuz is now streamed in the Triller app instead of through ‌Apple Music‌.

Verzuz has featured Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu, John Legend, DJ Nice, Snoop Dog, DMX, Brandy, Patti Labelle, Gladys Knight, Ludaris, Nelly, and others.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon: New Features for Your iPhone and Release Date

Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1. Release Date Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
maxresdefault

Apple TV 4K Could Still Launch Before 2025 Ends: All the Rumored Features

Monday October 27, 2025 4:51 pm PDT by
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors. ...
iOS 26 Maps Glass

Apple Reportedly Moving Ahead With Ads in Maps App

Sunday October 26, 2025 6:22 am PDT by
Apple Maps could feature integrated ads as soon as next year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that Apple's plan to bring more ads to iOS is moving "gaining traction," with the Maps app being next in line. The project will apparently give restaurants and other businesses the option to pay to have their details featured more prominently in...
iOS 26

6 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.1

Wednesday October 29, 2025 4:22 am PDT by
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below. Apple has already provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 26.1, which means Apple will likely roll out the update to all compatible...
iOS 26 Battery Glass Feature

iOS 26.1 Beta Liquid Glass Battery Drain Test: Tinted vs Clear Mode

Friday October 24, 2025 2:30 pm PDT by
In the fourth iOS 26.1 beta, Apple added a "Tinted" option that reduces the translucency of Liquid Glass for those who prefer a more opaque look. I saw some comments wondering whether the setting might preserve battery life, so I thought I'd do some testing. Test Settings I did four separate tests using the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I kept the parameters as similar as possible. Here are the...
M6 MacBook Pro Feature 1

M6 MacBook Pro: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

Monday October 27, 2025 9:15 am PDT by
Apple this month refreshed the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are expected to follow in early 2026. However, these machines will represent the final update to the current design, with Apple reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1 Release Candidates

Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:07 pm PDT by
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The RCs betas come a week after Apple released the fourth betas. The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software...
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features for Your iPhone

Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:15 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some...
swift for android

Developers Can Now Make Android Apps With Apple's Swift

Sunday October 26, 2025 4:23 am PDT by
The first preview release of the Swift SDK for Android was published this week, allowing developers to build Android apps in Swift with official tooling and making it easier to share code across iOS and Android. The SDK enables Android apps to be built in Swift using officially supported tooling rather than community workarounds. In June, it was announced that Apple's Swift programming...

Top Rated Comments

Websnapx2 Avatar
58 months ago

yeah, i know the words were explained. Doesn't mean i have any idea what any of this means. What's a "rap-battle music platform?"
First, it's not just rap — acts like Earth, Wind + Fire, Teddy Riely, Erika Badu, Gladys Knight and Pattie LaBelle have participated.

Basically, it's two artists head to head, playing their music streaming live in front of an audience. Each round, they pick a song they want to play from their catalog (they could be the main or feature artist), and the "opponent" plays one to compete against it — with the idea being that those at home watching can choose which they like best of the two. It's just for fun and the match-ups are meant to pair similar style/era artists (Earth, Wind & Fire vs The Isley Brothers, Alicia Keys vs John Legend).

The idea behind it was that due to the pandemic shutting down performances and touring, the two that started it (Swizz Beats and Timbaland, two writer/producers with huge clout in the industry) started this to give artists a platform to continue to perform and continue to drive interest in artists affected by the lack of touring. The series popularity quickly drew in many viewers as a way to cope while on quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic, it became a vehicle for viewers to laugh, sing-a-long, dance, go back in time feeling nostalgic, watch other entertainers communicate and interact with one another through comments and replies while watching and also with each other on-screen during battle, and also it united everyone together during the crisis.

I watched more than a handful of them and they were fantastic... once technical hurdles were overcome.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DEXTERITY Avatar
58 months ago
A lot of ignorant comments. It would have been a good purchase.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Asarien Avatar
58 months ago
That would have been a big get. Good for Triller, though.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
58 months ago
Good to know I won't be missing anything.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JML5150 Avatar
58 months ago

First, it's not just rap — acts like Earth, Wind + Fire, Teddy Riely, Erika Badu, Gladys Knight and Pattie LaBelle have participated.

Basically, it's two artists head to head, playing their music streaming live in front of an audience. Each round, they pick a song they want to play from their catalog (they could be the main or feature artist), and the "opponent" plays one to compete against it — with the idea being that those at home watching can choose which they like best of the two. It's just for fun and the match-ups are meant to pair similar style/era artists (Earth, Wind & Fire vs The Isley Brothers, Alicia Keys vs John Legend).

The idea behind it was that due to the pandemic shutting down performances and touring, the two that started it (Swizz Beats and Timbaland, to writer/producers with huge clout in the industry) started this to give artists a platform to continue to perform and continue to drive interest in artists affected by the lack of touring. The series popularity quickly drew in many viewers as a way to cope while on quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic, it became a vehicle for viewers to laugh, sing-a-long, dance, go back in time feeling nostalgic, watch other entertainers communicate and interact with one another through comments and replies while watching and also with each other on-screen during battle, and also it united everyone together during the crisis.

I watched more than a handful of them and they were fantastic... once technical hurdles were overcome.
Thank you for a true synopsis. I've multiple half ass articles on this subject today and yours has been the most comprehensive take. Some of there writers and comments are coming off like angry nerds that rebel against pop culture to sound cool. I'm not a huge fan of country music, but I'm not going to expend energy to denigrate a genre of music that someone grew up with and hold dear. These blogs wrote more thoughtful pieces on the Pride band. Hip Hop generates billions of dollars every year. Culture Vultures like Apple tried to get a piece but didn't want to pay current market value, the end.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
58 months ago
Verzuz. Triller.

This post may as well be greek for all I understand of it.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)