If you think there “Ain’t Nobody’ on this planet that would pass up a Verzuz battle between Chaka Khan and Stephanie Mills, then I’m happy to inform you that you’re absolutely right.
The news was confirmed during an interview with Stepahnie Mills, Charlamagne tha God and Angela Yee on Monday’s episode of The Breakfast Club.
“You talk about getting your flowers, have you been approached about doing Verzuz?,” Charlamagne asked. To which Mills responded, “I think we tried. George, who’s Chaka’s manager and my manager reached out to them but they weren’t interested.”
She continued, “Chaka was interested, we were gonna do it but the Verzuz people weren’t interested.” Charlamagne, in disbelief, then proceeded to say how Swizz and Timbaland were “outta their minds” for passing on the legendary matchup but backtracked ever so slightly to get clarification on who exactly said no to the dynamic duo and when. According to Mills, the rejection came right before the Xscape and SWV event, but even if they decided to come back around, she wouldn’t do it anyway.
“Who did they talk to? Did Amp [Stephanie’s manager] talk to Swizz and Tim? I don’t believe Swizz and Tim would turn that down. It couldn’t have been Swizz and Tim,” Charlamagne asserted. Then, in an unexpected turn of events, Mills’ manager walks in to inform the “Home” singer that they were in fact working on making that Verzuz battle happen after all.
“Oh now they want to do it. Fuck’em. I don’t want to do it,” Mills said jokingly. “Now they want to do it. Niggas, niggaaaas.”
YOOOOO. I don’t know what’s more surprising in this interview: the fact that “the Verzuz people” initially passed up on this iconic pairing or the fact that Stephanie “Feel the Fire” Mills essentially called those same people “niggas.” (She also divulged the fact that she and Chaka regularly greet each other with an exchange of ‘Hey, bitch/Hey, hoe’ and I am now unable to function for the rest of the day.)
Thankfully, this situation seems to be smoothed out so as soon as we know the dates for the official Stephanie Mills Verzuz Chaka Khan battle, we’ll be sure to let you know.