People Had This to Say About Nelly vs. Ludacris’ Memorable 'Verzuz' Battle

The hip-hop stars faced off in a battle of hits Saturday night, giving viewers plenty of memorable moments.

Nelly and Ludacris
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Image via Getty/Lester Cohen/WireImage for BET Network

Nelly and Ludacris

Another week, another memorable installment of the Instagram Live Verzuz series.

On Saturday night, hip-hop superstars Nelly and Ludacris went round for round in a battle of hits, revisiting fan-favorite tracks that that helped define the music landscape of the aughts.

At the top of the event, Luda and Nelly took the time to recognize each other's achievements and contributions to the culture, setting a positive tone for what was to come.

"Your longevity is impeccable, it's worth commending, you know what I mean?" Nelly told Ludacris. "You bust ass every year to make sure you were coming for the No. 1 spot ... It's my pleasure and it's an honor today, my brother, to be rocking with you. I'm glad that our rookie class is the best class of our hip-hop era."

Nelly's wifi keeps goin' DOWN, DOWN, BABY... amirite??!

— Dee Phunk (@DeePhunk) May 16, 2020

Fans went into the event understandably pumped, however the stream was stalled by number of technical difficulties on Nelly's end.

Nelly already on his Teddy Riley shit. This gonna be a long night

— Low (@LowKeyUHTN) May 16, 2020

If Nelly dont slap his router like this and restart it #Verzuz pic.twitter.com/29YtGAZtBs

— Kilo (@KiloBeatsOG) May 16, 2020

For a few minutes, it seemed as though the battle was back on track. Luda kicked things off with "Welcome to Atlanta" with Jermaine Dupri and Nelly responded with "Na-Nana-Na." But in the middle of round 2—after Ludacris played "Pussy Poppin (P-Poppin)"—it was clear Nelly's internet connection would continue to be a problem. So, the St. Louis hopped off the stream and attempted to fix the issue.

Teddy Riley, whose battle with Babyface was also plagued by technical difficulties, was amused.

.@Ludacris previewing his new “Silence Of The Lambs” song with @LilTunechi that’s produced by @Timbaland while @Nelly_Mo is trying to fix his IG Live connection!🔥 #LudacrisvsNelly #Verzuz pic.twitter.com/ZLPSnCssMy

— Yuriy Andriyashchuk🇺🇦 (@YuriyATL) May 16, 2020

Ludacris Lil Wayne 🗣I NEED THAT SILENCE OF THE LAMBS... now! #Verzuz pic.twitter.com/cg0eyVh0xu

— Lady Tee (@Thick_Ambition) May 16, 2020

Ludacris got the better of Lil Wayne in his prime....twice. Guess Wayne finally paying him back by snapping harder.

— Sermon (@SermonsDomain) May 16, 2020

New @Ludacris and @chancetherapper debuting on #Verzuz pic.twitter.com/R4PcpLCUul

— Eric Diep (@E_Diep) May 16, 2020

Luda didn't want to leave fans hanging, so he blessed fans with an exclusive sneak peek of "Silence of the Lambs," a collaborative record with Lil Wayne.

You did your thing on this new Ludacris joint 🔥🔥👌🏽@chancetherapper

— 💲yoU ॐ (@ohh_foreign) May 16, 2020

Chance the Rapper....Ludacris pic.twitter.com/l6laQR8k2Y

— Teddy BendHerAss🧸 (@OptimusGrind__) May 16, 2020

Ludacris feat Chance the Rapper? pic.twitter.com/Mgm9NIvwDH

— Autry De Bluford (@AuDeBlu) May 16, 2020

Lawd 🙏🏾 please grant me the patience that Ludacris has to keep this battle going when Nelly’s internet is ☠️. #Verzuz pic.twitter.com/7ZqUrjZVy1

— Jennie Goosby (@GoldenGoosby) May 17, 2020

But he wasn't done. Luda then played an unreleased joint track with Chance the rapper. And let's just say this record received mixed reviews.

And on this day, just like that… Nelly Riley is born.#Verzuz#LudacrisvsNelly

— God's Monster (@MrMecc) May 17, 2020

How 80s Babies thought our Saturday night watching #VERZUZ was going to go

vs

How it is ACTUALLY happening.

DJ Mother Nature won. pic.twitter.com/BuXbdQ8VrZ

— You Don't Have The Range (@SceneByAshlix) May 17, 2020

Rollout is one of Timbaland's finest beats & one of Ludacris' finest flows 🔥 #LudacrisvsNelly

— Chills For Real ❄️ (@ChillsforReal) May 17, 2020

i want that Ludacris and Timbaland love

— making rap chunes (@merkeba201) May 17, 2020

After some stalling, Nelly reappeared, apologized, and hopped back into the battle. The two then played hits like "Tip Drill," "My Chick Bad," "Pimp Juice," and "Ho," but Nelly's poor internet connection continued to interrupt the event.

As big of a Ludacris fan as I am and I didn't even know Timbaland produced Roll Out. Crazy.

— The Excelllence 🎧🎹 (@TheExcelllence) May 17, 2020

a statement "You are my favorite producer" @Ludacris @Timbaland

— BizzE. (@hawaiiannPUNCH) May 17, 2020

NELLY WAS ON MONEY MAKER. OMG. pic.twitter.com/lkGcdXQqYq

— RoRillaaaaaa (@_wildwildWEST) May 17, 2020

Woooowwww they robbed us of Nelly on "Money Maker" pic.twitter.com/aNC0iKkMWK

— BGoss (@brand_goss) May 17, 2020

We were all today years old when we found out that Nelly was originally on ‘Money Maker’ with Ludacris & Pharrell. #VERZUZ pic.twitter.com/PFbo5lYbVB

— Def Pen (@DefPen) May 17, 2020

The pair weren't giving up, though. After logging off again, Nelly returned with a much better, but far from perfect, connection. They then dropped joints like "Holidae In," "Flap Your Wings," "Saturday (Oooh! Ooooh!)," "What's Your Fantasy," and "Country Grammar (Hot Shit)," as the number of viewers surpassed the 400,000 mark.

Luda then played "Rollout" produced by Timbaland. Ludacris made sure to give Timbo a shoutout, referring to him as his favorite producer.

Luda clearly won the battle, but I'm loving the OT session! #Verzuz

— Steven Batey (@OnlyNeoIsMe) May 17, 2020

Bruh, Luda won. 😂 He getting in his Missy collab bag. #Verzuz

— Terrell Johnson (@terrelltjohnson) May 17, 2020

Luda won the #Verzuz tonight. He had a answer for everything Nelly was bringing. Nelly got some W's in there but luda owned the night.

— The One True King (@KtownGD) May 17, 2020

The battle is over and Luda won like I expected him to. I was just astonished by how sloppily Nelly played, and the fact that a lot of my favorite Luda songs/verses weren't even played. Who's next? #Verzuz #LudaVSNelly

— M. Haynes (@LooseAsADEUCE) May 17, 2020

Toward the end of the stream, Luda played the unreleased version of "Money Maker" featuring Nelly. It seemed the majority of listeners were both surprised and pleased by this iteration.

HERE EYE AMMMM! #Verzuz

Nelly if fighting. Stop cappin' like Ludacris is just washing him. Nelly won many of these last rounds.

— Mama Sharkeisha (@TheSpicyScholar) May 17, 2020

12-8 or 11-9, but Ludacris won in my opinion.#VERZUZ

— TMTG (@Jo_GotGame) May 17, 2020

Yea Luda won that hands down, but it was fun watching he and Nelly go track-for-track.

Winner: Luda 14-5-1#Verzuz #Ludacris #Nelly

— Axestrumentals (@axestrumentals) May 17, 2020

Ludacris won but it was close #Verzuz

— MEECH. (@DashtheGOAT) May 17, 2020

#Verzuz Live Tweeting: At 20 records a piece, I had Luda winning overall 14-7 (with one round as a tie). But it was closer than my scoreboard shows. Nelly has joints (except that Biggie cash grab record, P.U). The real winner tho is 2000s me.

— young diwali (@BrownHawkDown) May 17, 2020

@Ludacris is clearly the winner. He has too many anthems. #TeamLudacris and @Ludacris are the clear winners. He has too many anthems. I am calling this one already. #TeamCulture and #TeamLudacris are the clear champs. 🏆🏆🏆🏆 #Verzuz #NellyvsLuacris https://t.co/nXYwbC2Fhv

— 🍑Precious Peaches ♏ (@cocoabrownj) May 17, 2020

Nelly and Luda then headed into a bonus round with their respective hits "Dilemma" featuring Kelly Rowland and "Lovers and Friends" with Lil Jon and Usher. 

So, which artist came out on top? Check out some of the verdicts below.

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