Black Thought has denied speculation that his band The Roots are due to face the Fugees in an upcoming VERZUZ battle.

The rapper was approached by HipHoxDX yesterday (August 24) to verify if a widely shared flyer detailing the forthcoming rap fight was real. He confirmed that it wasn’t.

Per the outlet, a flyer that placed the Triller and VERZUZ logos prominently and included a promotion “Drinks by Cîroc” contributed to making the ad seem real. It also used the colour scheme from the Fugees’ Grammy award-winning 1996 album ‘The Score’.

The Fugees haven’t released a record since ‘The Score‘ and – despite live performance reunion stints up until 2006 – currently aren’t active as a group. Their debut album, ‘Blunted On Reality’, was released in 1994.

The news follows Ice Cube’s recent assertion that he’s not interested in taking part in a VERZUZ matchup – but if he ever did he’d rather it be “a lovefest” than a battle.

VERZUZ is the popular entertainment series that pits producers, songwriters and artists against each other in a rap battle style format on Instagram Live and Triller.

Competitors take it in turns playing a song from a list of 20 from their discography, as fans, friends and fellow artists watch on. A winner is later decided by Timbaland and Swizz Beatz.

Meanwhile, earlier this year The Roots’ Questlove discussed a pivotal moment in the band’s career when they were “saved” by Dr. Dre.