Nick Cannon says only person who could do ‘Verzuz’ with Mariah Carey is R. Kelly

The TV personality told the hosts of ‘The Breakfast Club’ that his ex has “written more hits than anybody.”

In his recent appearance on The Breakfast Club, Nick Cannon said the only person who could do a Verzuz with Mariah Carey is disgraced R&B artist R. Kelly.

Since its debut during the pandemic, Verzuz has become one of the biggest music events in the culture. Fans get to see their favorite artists go head to head, hit for hit, in the part-battle, part-celebration series.

While R&B greats like Brandy and Monica have battled it out, Grammy award-winning hit-maker Carey has yet to participate. But her ex-husband Cannon has one person in mind who could match the “Hero” singer “talent-wise.”

In his recent interview on The Breakfast Club, Cannon shared, “Mariah writes…people gotta understand. Mariah is a musician, I’m not impressed by people who can perform songs that took 30 people to make.”

Host Charlamagne then chimed in, saying that if songwriting is the standard, that would include music titans like Michael Jackson and Beyoncé. Still, Cannon insists that if you’re going to go up against Carey, you have to not only have strong vocals but a strong pen as well.

Cannon continued, “Only person in this day and age that could have gone against Mariah Carey because she writes all of her songs, she actually produces all of her songs, she puts the songs together and performs them at a high level…R. Kelly.”

Charlamagne quickly chimed in, noting R. Kelly’s very public fall from grace, saying, “That ain’t gonna happen.”

Cannon quickly clarified, saying, “I told you it’s not gonna happen because of his personal endeavors.”

He then went to say that an icon like Janet Jackson could also work, sharing, “People talk about like Mariah and Janet, which on that level of “diva” I would love to see it…Mariah and Janet would be fire but if we just talking about skill level…we talking about matching talent, because Mariah is a writer who has written more hits than anybody, only other person I could think of that has that ability that could sit down and make music on the spot was R. Kelly.”

As Cannon and Charlamagne mentioned, while he is talented, there is virtually no reality in which a Carey and R. Kelly Verzuz would happen due to multiple allegations of his criminal behavior, including charges for aggravated criminal sexual abuse of minors. Kelly is set to stand trial on sex trafficking charges in New York this month.

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