The Verzuz between Fat Joe and Ja Rule went down on Tuesday at the Hulu theater at New York’s Madison Square Garden and it was fire. Last month, hip-hop group the Lox went up against Dipset in front of a live audience at the same venue.
A night of classics, and old fashioned trash talking. Both NY giants ran through some of their most popular records, but it didn’t take long for fans to realize Fat Joe was in for a long night.
Ja Rule understood the assignment and had the energy to match his trash talk. Joe tried to borrow a page from Jadakiss’ handbook with the street records, but didn’t have the charisma to pull it off.
Ja came out swinging out the gate with Its Murda while Crack never really got going. Rule performed songs like “Livin It Up,” “I Cry,” and “Clap Back” and was assisted on stage by Lil Mo and Vita.
Fat Joe played some of his biggest hits including “All The Way Up,” “Sunshine,” “Make It Rain” and “Lean Back.” He also brought out special guests Remy Ma (All The Way Up/Lean Back), Dre of Cool & Dre (Yes), and Nelly for a performance of Get It Poppin.
One of the biggest moments of the night was Ashanti’s highly anticipated appearance. Ja set it off with Mesmerize, Fat Joe kept her busy with “What’s Luv.” Ja Rule eventually ended her back-n-forth with a performance of “Always On Time.”
The two closed out their verzuz with some appreciative words for each other before entertaining the home crowd with a special performance of New York with Verzuz MVP Jadakiss. Naturally fans went crazy.
Checkout some fan reactions below.
