25 Years of Bad Blood Boiled Over During Bone Thugs-n-Harmony & Three 6 Mafia's 'Verzuz' Battle
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony faced off against Three 6 Mafia in the latest Verzuz. The matchup featured the first physical altercation in Verzuz's history.
Back in the ’90s, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Three 6 Mafia were engaged in a tense beef. The beef — which was more of a misunderstanding than anything — stemmed from the fact that Three 6 Mafia thought Bone Thugs were copying their style. (In an interview with HipHopDX from 2015, DJ Paul said: "We was rapping about triple six, devil shit, and tongue twisting over slow beats... and we hear somebody kind of on our same style... We were like, ‘Damn these dudes done stole our style!'")
But it seemed like that was all in the past. Last month, the two legendary groups announced they were doing a Verzuz against each other. Both claimed the tension was mostly dead. However, hours before the battle, Bizzy Bone put up a long Instagram post calling Three 6 Mafia "devil worshippers."
So, yeah.
On Thursday, December 2nd the two legendary groups battled at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. And two decades of tension boiled over. This matchup featured the first physical altercation in Verzuz' history (which is pretty impressive when you consider how aggressive Jeezy vs. Gucci Mane was.)
The match up featured the standard back-and-forth bickering that comes with these battles. However, this was also an interesting style matchup. While the two groups are legends — who sometimes use similar triplet flows — Bone Thugs is way more melodic while Three 6 Mafia's music is full of energy.
After a performance of "Buddah Lovaz," Bizzy seemed turned off by how Three 6 Mafia was responding.
And he approached the group saying:
“Aye, before we even get started, you ugly motherfuckers ain’t finna be mocking me while I’m on motherfuckin’ stage. Like straight the fuck up.”
Juicy responded by inviting Bizzy Bone to his private parts. And Bizzy threw what looked like a bottle of water. This started a mini tussle with Gangsta Boo calling Bizzy a "hater" and mocking some of his mental health struggles.
Verzuz soon went to commercial.
It took a couple of minutes, but Bizzy came back and he was apologetic, dapping up Three 6 Mafia and telling the crowd:
“I wanna apologize to everybody the fuck out here. On both sides. I’m not trying to fuck this shit up. Pardon me. Let’s keep the party motherfuckin’ going."
After that tension the rest of the Verzuz went off mostly without a hitch. And it was actually pretty lit. The general census is that Three 6 Mafia won — Bones catalogue gets thin when you enter the 2000s. But it was competitive and there were loads of guests who popped up. Bone Thugs brought out Chamillionaire and Lil Jon at different points. But it was Three 6 Mafia who came with the guests: Lil Wayne came out for Juicy J's “Bandz a Make Her Dance.” Three 6 also brought out Project Pat — who has a hit with Drake right now — Duke Deuce, Wiz Khalifa, Young Buck, 8Ball & MJG, and — most surprising of all — Terrance Howard. (If you remember, Three 6 Mafia won an Oscar for "Hard Out Here for a Pimp," their song on Terrance Howard's 2005 movie Hustle & Flow.)
Watch the full Verzuz below.