Joe and Donell Jones faced off in a Verzuz battle of ’90s R&B royalty on Thursday (Aug. 20). Joe raised the stakes when responding to Jones reuniting 702 for “Get It Together” earlier in the night by having 50 Cent and G-Unit’s Tony Yayo and Uncle Murda join him on stage for round 14.
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With the R&B-favoring crowd in a frenzy, 50 took it back to the G-Unit days with a performance of the group’s Marvin Gaye-sampling Joe collaboration “Wanna Get to Know You,” which landed on the Unit’s 2003 Beg for Mercy debut and peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.
50 stuck around to perform the Power theme song “Big Rich Town” to ensure another round victory for Joe against the “Where I Wanna Be” singer.
Fans seemed to appreciate 50 popping out, while others on social media called him out for dodging a Verzuz battle with T.I. earlier this year.
Joe’s preparation paid off, as he was a technician on the Verzuz stage, from his performance to song selection, which kept him steps ahead of Donell Jones. Fans agreed and he dominated the Verzuz scorecard with an 18-2 victory.
Joe leaned on high-profile collaborations such as his Mariah Carey team-up “Thank God I Found You” — but pulled out the Nas remix — as well as the Mystikal-assisted “Stutter,” both of which topped the Hot 100.
“For me, it’s not really a Verzuz — it’s a celebration,” Donell Jones told Complex before the battle. “We’re not going to do what the other guys did where it’s beefing back and forth. We’re grown-ass men. We both have two great catalogs. We’re going to treat it as such.”
Watch G-Unit’s performance with Joe below.