T.I. is walking back part of his Verzuz comment after saying the hit-for-hit platform was “poor people activity,” and co-founder Timbaland spoke out.
Tip addressed the backlash on his Instagram Story on Monday after Timbaland reacted to the comment with a simple “Huh?” on a Hollywood Unlocked post.
The incident went down during T.I.’s appearance on The Joe Budden Podcast, where Joe Budden asked if he would ever consider doing a Verzuz and whether anyone besides 50 Cent would make sense as an opponent.
“Look, bro. I don’t want to. I don’t want to indulge in that side of life no more. I ain’t even interested, bro,” T.I. said at the time. “Like ain’t no money over there in that s–t bro. That s–t poor people activity.”
T.i tells the joe budden pod he ain’t trying to no Verzuz it’s no money over there . That’s poor people activity pic.twitter.com/reHAb6TrpD
— joebuddenclips/fanpage (@Thechat101) June 22, 2026
Budden and his co-hosts immediately disagreed, saying Verzuz is about celebrating artists’ catalogs rather than simply competing T.I. later suggested money could change the conversation.
“All right, cool. If I find somebody to [do it], and there might be some money in it. Well, then we could talk,” he said.
Timbaland reacts to T.I.'s comments about Verzuz and Tip clears the air.
— XXL Magazine (@XXL) June 24, 2026
: soseriuzradio/YouTube pic.twitter.com/bwIJqxMFFD
After Timbaland’s reaction began circulating, T.I. returned to social media to explain that he was not insulting Verzuz itself. “First of all, I was drinking,” he said before clarifying that he was referring to the back-and-forth battle energy he no longer wants to entertain.
During the podcast, Tip was seen drinking and even got up from the couch to pour himself another strong drink before resuming the podcast.