Open Verse Challenge

About

Open Verse Challenge is an internet challenge where one user sings part of a song then goes silent and lets the beat play, challenging viewers to sing over the open verse with their own lyrics. The challenge first appeared on YouTube in 2017 and was popularized on TikTok throughout 2021 in videos where users Duet the original open verse challenge with their own verse. Open verse challenges often inspire ironic and comedic responses that tend to go the most viral, such as the Fornite Battle Pass Song.

Origin

The earliest known open verse challenge was posted on May 28th, 2017, by the Beat Murda Music Group YouTube^[1] channel, titled "$100 Open Verse Challenge by Beat Murda Music Group." The first half of the video features rapping, followed by silence over the beat in the second half (shown below). In the description, Beat Murda Music Group explains that the best person to rap over the beat gets $100, also writing, "I see there's a new tend in HipHop, everybody too big to rock for free and everybody has some kinda challenge. Well Beat Murda Music Group – BMMG blended the 2," suggesting they invented the open verse challenge.

🚨🚨🚨$100 Open Verse Challenge🚨🚨🚨I see there's a new tend in HipHop, everybody too big to rock for free and everybody has some kinda challenge. Well Beat Murda Music Group – BMMG blended the 2. Scroll to the bottom of beatmurdamusicgroup.com, fill out the contact info, and I'll send you this track. Whoever has the best verse wins the $100! Simple as that!

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Lzr x Bbno$'s Open Verse Challenge

On September 22nd, 2017, rapper bbno$ and lzr posted a song titled "OPEN VERSE CHALLENGE" to SoundCloud^[2] with an open verse. The song description announces the contest, with the best submission winning a free beat from lzr, a repost from lzr and bbno$ and a chance to rap on a track with bbno$. Numerous submissions were made although it is unclear who won (popular submission shown below).^[3]

If I Had A Verse On X / Popularity On TikTok

In 2020, a trend where users rap or sing over the beats of popular songs began on TikTok. The videos are often captioned "If I had a verse on X," X being the name of the song. A compilation of these videos was uploaded to YouTube^[4] on December 20th, 2020, gaining over 138,000 views in two years (shown below).

In 2021, open verse challenges became increasingly popular on TikTok outside of the "If I had a verse" trend. For example, on May 16th, 2021, TikToker^[5] @mothicamusic, known as musician Mothica, posted an open verse challenge for her song "Buzzkill," offering participants a chance to be on the official remix (shown below, left). There were over 300 submissions, the most popular being a May 20th submission by TikToker^[6] @bansheebby, gaining over 179,000 views in a year (shown below, right).

Notable Open Verse Challenges

Sadie Jean's "WYD Now?" Challenge

On November 25th, 2021, TikToker^[7] and musician @sadiejean posted an open verse challenge for her song "WYD Now?" gaining over 8 million views in six months. The original sound inspired over 150,000 videos in six months, many of which are open verse Duets. On December 4th, TikToker^[8] @devon.reacts69 posted a Duet singing a song about how he's defecating and it burns, gaining over 5.9 million views in five months (shown below, left). On December 24th, TikToker^[9] @kai_cenat posted a video rapping over the song, gaining over 8.1 million views in roughly the same span of time (shown below, right).

Stacey Ryan's "Please Don't Text Me When You're Drunk" Challenge

On December 29th, 2021, musician and TikToker^[10] @staceyryanmusic posted an open verse challenge video to a song where she sings "Please don't text me when you're drunk, or don't text me at all" then opens the verse, gaining over 16.3 million views in five months. The video inspired over 37,000 videos in the same span of time. On January 19th, 2022, TikToker^[11] @abdul_cisse posted a Duet beatboxing his FNAF Beatbox over the open verse, gaining over 10 million views in four months (shown below, left). On March 29th, the official @fallontonight TikTok^[12] page posted a Duet where Jimmy Fallon adds a verse, gaining over 9.4 million views in two months (shown below, right).

"It's Me or the PS5" Challenge

On January 25th, 2022, TikTok^[13] user @salemilese posted an open verse challenge, singing a song in which she offered a choice between herself and a PlayStation 5. The video gained over 360,200 likes in two months (shown below).

It's me or the PS5,
Tell me which of us is more your type,
Seems like you can't deside
So if it's not me, then I'm probably gonna run it over

In the following weeks, multiple TikTokers replied with Duets, many of which were humorous in nature. For example, on February 1st, 2022, TikTok^[14] user @abdul_cisse responded with his own song about Fortnite's battle pass, launching a meme of the same name (shown below, left). On February 13th, TikTok^[15] user @nickiskindastrange responded with a freestyle in which he pretended to be a PlayStation 5 console tempting the viewer to choose him, which later started the "It's Me, I'm the PS5":https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/its-me-im-the-ps5 Tumblr meme. The video gained over 131,600 likes in one month (shown below, center). On February 21st, 2022, the official TikTok^[16] account of K-pop band Tomorrow X Together replied to the song, with the video gaining over 2.2 million likes in two weeks (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References