On Saturday night, the soul legend D’Angelo played the first-ever solo Verzuz battle. The event was billed as D’Angelo V. Friends, but for most of the night, the only friends onscreen were DJ Scratch and the guy who lit D’s blunts. (Method Man, Redman, and H.E.R. did put in appearances.) The event was mostly just a pleasant, relaxed, casual little D’Angelo show. D’Angelo played a new song, covered Smokey Robinson, and offered up quick and subtle musical tributes to past greats, but it was mostly just him singing along with his old hits, having a good time. It was fun! There was no competition involved! The next Verzuz battle might look something like that, too.

On Instagram Live after the D’Angelo show, Verzuz co-founders Swizz Beatz and Timbaland dropped the big reveal on who would be next on their streaming series: Wu-Tang heavyweights and longtime collaborators Raekwon and Ghostface Killah taking each other on. With notable exceptions, the Verzuz battles are mostly just friends sitting around and playing their old records, enjoying each other’s company. Given that Rae and Ghost are on most of each other’s best songs, we can probably expect a warm, low-tension trip down memory lane.

We already have evidence that Wu-Tang records work well during Verzuz battles; the best of the early battles was almost certainly RZA and DJ Premier. And while there probably won’t be a whole lot of drama to it, it will definitely be fun to see these guys playing their own records for an hour or two. Swizz and Timbaland have not yet announced the details of the battle, but they seem hyped about it. Here, via r/HipHopHeads, is the video of them making the announcement.

Swizz Beatz and Timbaland announce Raekwon and Ghostface is the next Verzuz battle.

(Via @ElliottWilson) pic.twitter.com/KT2ve0ZMvU

— Elite Media Group (@TheEliteMedia_) February 28, 2021