Two year, the legendary producers Timbaland and Swizz Beatz turned a vague beat-battle idea into a cultural colossus. The whole idea of the Verzuz battle came out of a single night in 2020, when Timbaland and Swizz had an informal showdown on Instagram Live, taking turns playing their hits and talking good-natured shit. More Verzuz battles followed, and the battles eventually became live events that streamed on the internet. The video-sharing app Triller made an agreement to buy Verzuz from Swizz and Timbaland in January 2021, but now Timbaland and Swizz are suing Triller for missing payments.

TMZ reports that Timbaland and Swizz Beats have filed a $28 million lawsuit against Triller. Timbaland and Swizz claim that Triller defaulted on their payment plan ofter two payments. After Timbaland and Swizz settled with Triller and figured out a new payment plan, Triller allegedly just made one more payment installment before the payments stopped. Timbaland and Swizz would like the rest of the money that they claim they’re owned, plus interest.

A rep for Triller made this statement to TMZ:

This is truly unfortunate, and we hope it is nothing more than a misunderstanding driven by lawyers. We do not wish to air our dirty laundry in the press, but we have paid Swizz and Tim millions in cash and in stock…

No one has benefited as much from Triller to date. Triller has helped fuel VERZUZ to new heights — making it the global cultural phenomenon it is today. We hope to resolve this amicably and quickly, and truly hope it’s just a misunderstanding. If we are forced to defend it, we are more than optimistic the truth and facts are on our side.