Snoop Dogg and Eminem to deliver metaverse-inspired performance at 2022 MTV VMAs
Snoop Dogg and Eminem will return to the stage together this Sunday (August 28), performing their recent joint ‘From The D 2 The LBC’ at the ceremony for this year’s MTV Video Music Awards.
As Variety reports, the pair’s appearance has been organised in partnership with Yuga Labs – an NFT and cryptocurrency company best known for the Bored Apes project – and will be inspired by “the world of the Otherside metaverse”.
Though it’s yet to be launched publicly (and has no formal release window), Otherside is an online video game described as “a gamified, interoperable metaverse” that “blends mechanics from massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) and web3-enabled virtual worlds”. When it launches, the game will be intrinsically tied to a cryptocurrency called ApeCoin, and have a large focus on NFTs.
Snoop and Eminem’s performance will be held on a real-life stage at the VMAs – set to be held at the Prudential Center in New Jersey – with its ties to Otherside assumedly being purely aesthetic in nature.
It’ll be their third joint performance for the year, and second to come in tandem with Yuga Labs. After performing at the 2022 Super Bowl alongside Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent and Anderson .Paak, June saw the pair link up again at ApeFest – a music festival open exclusively to holders of Bored Ape NFTs – in New York.
It was there that they premiered ‘From The D 2 The LBC’, which was released that month alongside a music video featuring Bored Ape characters. The song features on Eminem’s latest compilation album, ‘Curtain Call 2’.
Earlier this month, Eminem and Snoop were spotted in the studio with Dr. Dre, where the trio posed for a photo in front of a mixing desk and a large set of speakers. It came after Snoop revealed he was working on new material with Dre, teasing that they were “cooking up a little something”.
On Monday (August 22), it was announced that the Red Hot Chili Peppers would be honoured with the Global Icon Award at this year’s VMAs. They’ll also perform at the ceremony – which Jack Harlow, Nicki Minaj and LL Cool J are set to co-host – joining Snoop and Eminem on a line-up that also includes Lizzo, Måneskin, BLACKPINK, Panic! At The Disco and more.