Of all the performances at MTV’s annual Video Music Awards, the one that left audiences the most baffled – and in some cases angry – was that of Eminem and Snoop Dogg, who treated fans to a rather unusual version of their latest single From The D 2 The LBC.
The performance started off normal enough, with the two rappers sprawled across a black couch – Snoop wielding a ridiculously large joint – but things got weird very quickly, as the two were ‘transported’ into the metaverse and replaced with their Bored Ape Yacht Club personas.
Audiences were left baffled at the display, which was essentially one giant advertisement for NFTs. The Bored Ape Yacht Club has gained traction over the last couple of years as an exclusive group of NFT owners, and some fans were unhappy at the flagrant display of wealth on the part of the artists.
Just to be clear, fans are disappointed because we didn’t get to SEE Eminem and Snoop perform. Their rapping was flawless. We were just robbed of a live performance we could see. And the nft shit is just cringe.
— Kat (@ghettogospell_) August 29, 2022
https://twitter.com/hourlyslimshady/status/1564283024627453956?s=20&t=LxseJZJ-_u8iQd2ADQn1xA
The choice to brand the performance – and the music video for the new single – with NFTs in this way is an interesting choice on the part of Snoop and Eminem, given the consistent downwards trend of value for all forms of crypto in the last year. Bitcoin, the most renowned form of cryptocurrency, has reportedly lost as much as 52 per cent of its value this year alone.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club hasn’t been free of controversy either, with many NFT critics calling out the large number of celebrities getting onboard the trend since its launch. There have also been multiple instances of Bored Apes being stolen, leading to the ‘All my apes gone’ meme trending at the start of this year.
Whatever the final result, the hope would be that this performance begins to accrue back some of the millions of dollars both rappers would have spent on their colourful monkey pictures.
