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Donell Jones says he and Joe will be the next R&B artists to face off in a 'Verzuz' battle.
The veteran singer was backstage ahead of his set at the Wine & Slow Jams Festival in Maryland on Saturday, August 8, when he revealed the update. After confirming that he's working on new music, Jones claimed he and fellow singer Joe will be the next pair of legends to go head to head in a song-for-song match-up.
"For me, it's not really a Verzuz. It's a celebration," Jones said. "We not going to do what the other guys did where its beefing back and forth."
"We grown ass men," he continued. "We both have two great catalogs. We're going to treat it as such."
Jones said the event has not been announced yet, but he claims it's happening on August 20. Complex, who's been a partner for the past several Verzuz events, appeared thrown off by the announcement.
"y'all know something we don't???" the outlet replied on its X account.
Donell Jones and Joe are both iconic R&B artists in their own right. Jones was signed to L.A. Reid and Babyface's LaFace Records in the 1990s, where he released his debut album My Heart and wrote songs for Usher and 702. He gained more notoriety with his second album, Where I'm Gonna Be, featuring songs like "U Know What's Up" with Lisa "LeftEye" Lopes. He dropped his most recent album, 100% Free, in 2021.
Joe also established himself as a hit-making R&B artist in the 1990s with songs like "Don't Wanna Be a Player," "I Wanna Know," "Stutter," and more. He also collaborated with the likes of 50 Cent, Big Pun, Mariah Carey, Nas, and others on an array of hits.