Boosie Badazz has drawn the ire of Michael Jackson fans by claiming that R. Kelly would “smoke” the King of Pop in a Verzuz.
The Baton Rouge rapper hopped on Instagram Live this past weekend to share his thoughts on the hypothetical battle, and said without a doubt that MJ would be “blown away” by Kellz in a song-for-song contest.
“R. Kelly would smoke Michael Jackson in a Verzuz,” Boosie began. “Hit for hit? He would blow Michael Jackson [away]. How many Michael Jackson songs you know, and how many R. Kelly songs you know?
“That n-gga would smoke Mike, real talk. Ain’t nobody got more hits than Kellz, bro. Y’all don’t wanna keep it real ’cause he in the position he in, but ain’t nobody, nobody [got more hits than R. Kelly].”
Needless to say, Boosie Badazz’s comments didn’t sit well with Michael Jackson’s fervent fanbase, many of whom took to social media to contest his claim — including some of Boosie’s musical peers.
“R is the King of R&B my guy… MJ is THE KING OF POP‼️ Aka Popular Music FYI,” Jazze Pha wrote on The Shade Room‘s Instagram post. “Just say thats what you Like most, But the Facts gon FACT Jack!!! Thriller Alone is Over 100 Million Sold… Happy Monday.”
“Love boosie… but cmooon maaannneeeee. NOBODY WANTS SMOKE WITH MJ,” R&B duo dvsn wrote, while Peter Gunz added: “Blasphemy.. MJ should never be mentioned in the same sentence as nobody.”
“THE TRUTH HURTS YALL LOL,” Boosie replied in the comments section. “MOST YALL ON HERE CANT SANG ONE MICHEAL JACKSON SONG WORD FOR WORD. COULD TELL YALL AINT FROM THE HOOD. YALL JUST SAYING THIS CAUSE HIS TROUBLES. DONT MAKE ME TALK ABOUT.”
The Louisiana native later took it one step further and clarified his comments in a follow-up video. He also questioned why The Shade Room didn’t highlight some of the philanthropic acts he’s done in recent weeks.
“Shade Room, I wasn’t trying to stir no pot up; I was just keeping it real ’bout how I felt about a Verzuz with both of them,” he explained. “Why you ain’t post about me helping a cancer patient? ‘Cause y’all trying to paint the narrative about Boosie all the time.”
It’s true that Boosie has been giving back to his community a lot in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the 40-year-old revealed that he was traveling to Texas to visit a superfan who happened to be named MJ, and that his plan was to celebrate him being newly cancer-free.
“Today, we in Killeen, Texas,” he began. “It’s a special day! We finna ring the bell for MJ. MJ is a kid whose life I’ve been in for the last four years. And he beat cancer, so we celebratin’ today!
“As you know, I’m a cancer survivor, so, we celebratin’ today in Killeen, Texas. Headed to the hospital now! I just wanna give motivation to all the kids. […] It’s a special day for MJ today, for real.”
Boosie was making reference to “ringing the bell,” which is a common practice in hospitals to announce that a patient has beaten cancer.
BOOSIE BADAZZ CALLS R. KELLY ‘BEST TO EVER DO IT’ AS HE TAKES IN LEAKED ALBUM
He also recently took to Twitter to reveal that he’d visited a juvenile facility that houses “at-risk” youth and said he was hoping to have a positive impact on their lives.
“I WENT TALKED TO SOME JUVENILES FACING REAL TIME N ONE OF THEM JUST REACHED OUT N SAID MY WORDS CHANGED THEM,” he wrote. “I REALLY NEED TO TALK TO THESE KIDS ABOUT MOVING RIGHT N DOING RIGHT !!
“I DONT WANT NOBODYS CHILD GOING THROUGH WHAT IVE BEEN THROUGH N SEEING WHAT IVE SEEN !! I THINK I CAN SAVE SOME LIVES FROM TELLING MY STORY N ALL IVE LOST #iwannahelp.”