Rap and R&B stars setting records via Instagram live battles

Instagram Live is truly alive thanks to live battles of rap and R&B stars, with hundreds of thousands of viewers being able to witness hitmaker’s skills in going up against a peer song-for-song while also judging a catalog of work, Variety reports. The rules are as follows: two music-makers trade off tracks that they have credits on - in 90 second samples - then those in the virtual room choose the winner of each round. One of the first beat battles was between producers Swizz Beats - who boasted his Beyonce, Jay-Z and DMX classics, and Timbaland - he showed his catalog rich with Missy Elliot, Madonna and Rihanna. The audience is becoming festival-size big - on Saturday, 270,000 tuned in to see Lil Jon vs. T-Pain battle. Tory Lanez made history on the platform when Drake checked into his 'Quarantine Radio' on Instagram along with Justin Bieber, Megan The Stallion, Chris Brown and more when more than 300,000 viewers tuned in - breaking a record previously held by Taylor Swift.