The Two R&B Veterans Will Go Catalog for Catalog in a Verzuz Matchup Celebrating the Hits That Helped Define ’90s and 2000s R&B
R&B fans can officially clear their calendars.
After Donell Jones appeared to let the news slip early over the weekend, Verzuz has now confirmed that Jones and fellow R&B veteran Joe will face off Aug. 20, bringing two catalogs packed with slow jams, heartbreak anthems and radio classics to the Verzuz stage. The event is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET and will stream through Apple Music, Complex and official Verzuz channels.
Jones first revealed the matchup backstage at the Wine & Slow Jams Festival in Maryland on Aug. 8, telling interviewer Nora Blake Smith that he and Joe were preparing for what he expects to be a memorable night.
“We’re getting ready to do the VERZUZ,” Jones said. “It’s gon’ be me and Joe. We probably gon’ break the internet, you know what I’m saying? It’s happening August 20th.”
At the time, the announcement caught even Complex seemingly by surprise, with the outlet joking on X, “y’all know something we don’t???” Two days later, Verzuz’s official website now lists “Donell Jones vz Joe” for Aug. 20, 2026, putting an end to the uncertainty.
Donell Jones Says Verzuz Will Be a Celebration, Not a Battle
Fans expecting the kind of tension that has occasionally defined past Verzuz matchups probably should not expect much trash talk from these two.
Jones said he views the night less as a competition and more as an opportunity to celebrate two veteran artists who have spent decades making R&B.
“For me, it’s not really a Verzuz. It’s a celebration,” Jones said. “We’re not going to do what the other guys did where it’s beefing back and forth. We’re grown-ass men. We both have two great catalogs. We’re going to treat it as such.”
And those catalogs should give fans plenty to argue about without any manufactured beef.
Jones emerged as one of the signature male voices of late-1990s R&B, with records including “U Know What’s Up,” “Where I Wanna Be,” “Shorty (Got Her Eyes on Me)” and “You Know That I Love You.” His catalog also includes his rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “Knocks Me Off My Feet.”
Joe enters Verzuz with his own collection of staples, including “I Wanna Know,” “Don’t Wanna Be a Player,” “All the Things (Your Man Won’t Do)” and “Stutter.” His career also includes major collaborations with artists including Mariah Carey, Big Pun, 50 Cent and Nas.
Two R&B Catalogs Built for Verzuz
The matchup brings together two artists whose careers flourished during an era when male R&B singers dominated radio with records about love, desire, heartbreak and everything complicated in between.
It also gives Verzuz another natural R&B pairing following memorable past matchups involving artists such as Brandy and Monica, Jill Scott and Erykah Badu, Babyface and Teddy Riley, and Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle.
This time, the debate may come down to which kind of nostalgia hits harder.
Jones has “Where I Wanna Be.”
Joe has “I Wanna Know.”
Everybody else has eight days to pick a side.
