Millions of people consistently tune into every Verzuz livestream, so people were disappointed when Keyshia Cole and Ashanti’s battle was postponed twice. Their anticipated battle did finally kick off Thursday night, but there were a few hiccups along the way, causing Cole to appear on the screen nearly an hour after the scheduled start time. Now coming to her defense, Cole’s DJ explains what went down off-screen.
Speaking to Houston’s 97.9 The Box, Go DJ Hi-C said there were several behind-the-scenes technical issues on Verzuz‘s end that led to the delayed start time:
“It started out weird… just stuff that y’all don’t see behind the scenes. Not to say nothing bad about Verzuz, but the show didn’t start on time. Everybody knows that. But [in] Keyshia’s defense, she didn’t want to come out because her screen was blurry. She was there on time. I was there, I seen everything, but she didn’t want to come out on time because the screen was blurry. Stuff wasn’t right. We couldn’t hear their side. So it was a lot of technical stuff going on in there.”
Hi-C continued: “She’s a perfectionist, and when stuff don’t go the right way, it’s downhill from there. She was already upset about it being pushed back like it was, but it’s COVID. So there was a buildup and it made her have to push her record back, so it just threw her energy off. I did the best I could to bring her back, but by that time she was already upset.”
Even with the delay, fans still had a good time seeing Ashanti and Cole go head-to-head with their hits. Perhaps the most overjoyed was 21 Savage, who streamed himself singing very off-key along with the music.
Check out Go DJ Hi-C’s interview with 97.9 The Box above.