New York music royalty came out for the Verzuz battle between Ja Rule and Fat Joe Tuesday night at the Hulu Theater inside Madison Square Garden in New York City. 

(Photo: Getty Images)

The battle was the second in the venue coming on the heels of the massively popular battle between Dipset and The LOX. 

Ja Rule and Fat Joe brought out their shared collaborator — Ashanti who performed with both artists. As a token of appreciation, Fat Joe gifted both her and his frequent collaborator Remy Ma with Birkin bags.

As both Ja Rule and Ashanti were signed to Murder Inc. Records in the early 2000s, the two artists had three hit singles together: “Always on Time,” “Mesmerize,” and “Wonderful,” which also featured R. Kelly. 

Fat Joe and Ashanti had their own hit single together “What’s Luv,” that was released in 2002. Nelly came out and performed “Get it Poppin’” with Joey Crack and his own hit single, “Hot in Herre.”

Ja Rule also brought out rapper Vita and Lil’ Mo who performed the hit 2000 single, “Put it On Me.” 

One of the biggest surprises of the night was the arrival of Jadakiss who dominated the last Verzuz battle. Along with Fat Joe and Ja Rule, he performed their hit single, “New York,” from the R.U.L.E album in 2000. 

And of course, fans had plenty to say about the event on social media, “I really like this for Ja…because folks act like he wasn’t a force. And Ja Rule was a FORCE,” said writer Britni Danielle. 

Njera Perkins of PopSugar wrote, “Tonight’s battle is a reminder that Ja Rule and Ashanti really reinvented the magic of Hip-Hop and R&B collaborations in the early 2000s. Add them to the blueprint of why these two genres will always go hand in hand.” 

One commenter recalled the early beef that happened between the two artists and another major New York rapper, writing, “50 Cent watching, Ja Rule, Fat Joe, and Jadakiss put on for New York.” 

50 Cent himself provided commentary the next morning, writing in an Instagram caption, “I put they whole label out of business, f_ck with me if you want to. I would stay out of my way if i wasn’t me. LOL.”

Verzuz has been going for over a year with head-to-head matchups between legendary rap and R&B artists and has distinguished itself as one of the most exciting additions to urban culture in decades. 

Have you subscribed to theGrio’s “Dear Culture” podcast? Download our newest episodes now!

TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku. Download theGrio.com today!

The post Ashanti, Remy Ma and more make surprise appearances at Ja Rule, Fat Joe Verzuz appeared first on TheGrio.