Oftentimes, it’s easy for people to forget that music producers are just as, if not more in many instances, responsible for an artist’s success. And when word gets out that a producer’s great to work with, everyone’s lining up for a shot to collaborate with them to help take their career to the next level.
In the world of R&B, you’ll be hard-pressed to find two producers more legendary than Babyface and Teddy Riley today, and they were supposed to “battle” on Instagram recently.
Probably in an effort to stave off the quarantine boredom, keep themselves busy, or just give people a nice little distraction, the two men squared off on Saturday, April 18 during the evening to perform for some 400,000-plus viewers. They took very different approaches to the challenge, with Babyface rocking a more straightforward set up in his studio.
Teddy, on the other hand, had put together what looked like a concert.
The men were supposed to go song for song during the battle, but Teddy’s complicated rig ultimately proved to be his downfall, because every time he hopped on the mic, the constant echoes on his end ruined whatever he was going for and made it impossible to hear exactly what he was playing.
Immediately, folks began joking that the 62-year-old Babyface and the 53-year-old Teddy Riley weren’t tech savvy enough to properly use Instagram.
The battle drew in a bunch of big names who weren’t shy about voicing their opinions of said technical difficulties. Comedian Lil Duval wondered why Teddy didn’t just stream his performance on his iPhone, while Toni Braxton compared their musical contest to “watching old folks use Jitterbug phones.”
Popular radio show host Charlamagne tha God quipped more than a few times about the IG issues and even posted a meme of two old men sitting in front of computers.
Kevin Fredericks roasted the video online, playing music that had the same echo issues as Teddy Riley’s, along with a back-up dancer, playing on the joke that the producer had a dance routine ready for the performance.
The battle was scheduled to play at 9 p.m., but by 10 it was apparent to everyone watching that the audio needed to be fixed, so they halted the IG live and told everyone they’d be back at 10:30 to continue the face-off.
Once 10:30 p.m. hit, however, Babyface suggested that it’s probably best for the battle to be postponed at another date, where the two will hop on IG Live again to give the fans the battle they all came to watch.
“Tonight was really special … it’s only right that we postpone this thing and do it at a time when there aren’t any technical difficulties and everybody can hear the music the way it needs to be heard,” Babyface said in an Instagram video.
Riley went on Instagram himself to say that “just like a boxing match, something goes wrong we gotta do it again.” Will you be tuning in to see them try it again?
Source : https://www.distractify.com/p/teddy-riley-babyface-instagram