Eminem & Snoop Dogg Bring Detroit, Long Beach & the Metaverse to Their 2022 VMAs Performance

Eminem and Snoop Dogg took fans out of this world with their performance of “From the D2 the LBC” at the 2022 MTV VMAs Sunday night (Aug. 28).

Both rappers went from casually smoking a fat joint on a couch to entering their marijuana-induced, “metaverse-inspired performance” of their joint track “From the D2 the LBC.” NFT collection the Bored Ape Yacht Club confirmed on Twitter that Snoop and Em performed “their new single featuring their Apes and @OthersideMeta,” which is a “gamified, interoperable metaverse” where “your NFTs can become players,” according to Otherside’s website.

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After transforming into their own Bored Ape avatars, the MCs hopped on top of the MTV logo and took over the new domain, replete with digital representations of the 213 and the 313, and even New Jersey’s Prudential Center, where the 2022 MTV VMAs are being held. But once they came down from their highs, Slim Shady came back down to earth and asked Snoop, “This MTV?” Snoop, sitting across from him on the same couch as before, responded, “C’mon, we got a show to do!” The two continued their performance at the real-life Prudential Center, with projections of their Bored Ape characters, rainbows and floating mushrooms decorating the stage.

MTV partnered with Yuga Labs — the company behind BAYC — to bring the performance to life. “From the D2 the LBC” was released in June as the second single from Eminem’s second greatest-hits album, Curtain Call 2. The Billboard Hot 100 No. 72 single earned both rappers a nod this evening for best hip-hop. And speaking of this “joint” performance, the “From the D2 the LBC” experience marks Snoop and Em’s first time performing together at the VMAs since 1999, when they joined forces with Dr. Dre to close the awards show with Em’s “My Name Is” and “Guilty Conscience” and Dre’s “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang,” featuring Snoop.

Watch their performance below:

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