Winging it is how you get through a night without playing potential haymakers like вЂњBuilt This City,вЂќ вЂњReal N-ggas,вЂќ вЂњMy Love,вЂќ вЂњMic Check,вЂќ or вЂњWarвЂќ (where Cam remarks heвЂ™ll вЂњstab a bitch over ice, Nancy KerriganвЂќ) and resorting to B-level latter-year tracks like вЂњSalute.вЂќ Ostensible aces like вЂњSummer With MiamiвЂќ or вЂњI Really Mean ItвЂќ didnвЂ™t land as they should have.

They have the catalog, but without the structure, it wasnвЂ™t as formidable as it shouldвЂ™ve been.

Verzuz is as much about strategy as it is вЂњthe hits.вЂќ Throughout the night, Dipset played great songs that either didnвЂ™t land with the impact they could have or were not the right choice at the right time. The above entry was more about group chemistry than having a gameplan, but it was clear the LOX sketched out a lot of their haymakers and planned attacks. Their demeanor last night was par for the course for anyone whoвЂ™s been to one of their group or solo shows these last few years-too many people on stage, lapses in engagement and passion-but with a little rehearsing, they couldвЂ™ve come out like it was 2003 again. TheyвЂ™re a well-oiled machine Cam, Juelz and Jim, for all their history together, have reasonably atrophied a little. The LOX, by contrast, have pretty much always been unified and have been actively recording and touring together again for the last five years.

These days they seem to be on solid ground, and appear together often especially if the check is right. TheyвЂ™ve drifted apart, reunited, feuded and reunited again various times. The Diplomats have had a bit of a rocky brotherhood for the last decade or so. (ItвЂ™s all love though: the match is being spun-off into a small tour, alongside State Property.) It didnвЂ™t have to be this way though: hereвЂ™s what the Diplomats couldвЂ™ve done differently. It was a rough, at times terse and frustrating night for the Dips, as Styles and especially Jada smelled blood early and taunted them mercilessly while performing both hits and deep cuts with the audience live and at home eating out of the palms of their hands. What followed was a bloodbath-at one point Jada joked that the match was вЂњ25-2вЂќ, and he really wasnвЂ™t being hyperbolic. Dipset, by contrast, were discombobulated from their entrance, when CamвЂ™ron missed the walk-out cue and staggered out casually nearly three minutes later. The LOX walked into the ring first with big вЂњchamp is hereвЂќ energy and they never let up. What I expected wasnвЂ™t a lopsided defeat, but rather that Jadakiss, Styles P and Sheek Louch would come out strong but lose steam midway, while Cam, Jim and Juelz Santana would endure with the steady stream of unimpeachable hits: Diplomatic Immunity is a two-disc with next to no skips, and together the three of them have at least two solo projects that have six heavyweight contenders each. But thatвЂ™s not to say there arenвЂ™t dozens of classic Jadakiss/LOX songs that stay in rotation for me to this day (and while weвЂ™re being honest, IвЂ™ll readily lap up new projects from both crews Jim JonesвЂ™s most recent album is great, check it out). Nostalgia gave Dipset the edge for me, because my high school formative years coincided more closely with their peak (which weвЂ™ll call roughly 2002-2006) than the LOXвЂ™s (more lateвЂ™90s to early aughts).

Favoring either group in last nightвЂ™s Verzuz event, where the two legendary New York rap crews faced off in an actual boxing ring in Madison Square Garden (complete with an intro from Michael Buffer) shouldвЂ™ve been a SophieвЂ™s Choice for rap fans. The LOX and The Diplomats are unanimously beloved.

The lox wild out