Nicki Minaj, LL Cool J, and Jack Harlow will be keeping the party alive at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards where the hip-hop trio will team up as the night’s MCs. The three musicians will announce the stacked slate of performers, announcers, and winners in an unconventional approach to the traditional role of hosting, usually helmed by one artist.
The 2022 Video Music Awards will be hosted at New Jersey’s Prudential Center on August 28. The show will feature grand performances from BLACKPINK, Marshmello, Panic! at the Disco, Anitta, J Balvin, Lizzo, Harlow, Kane Brown, Khalid and more – but the biggest honor of the night is going to Minaj herself.
The Grammy Award-nominated rapper will be this year’s recipient of MTV’s Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. In celebration of the honor, Minaj will perform a career-spanning medley highlighting her trailblazing influence on music.
“Nicki has broken barriers for women in hip-hop with her versatility and creative artistry,” Bruce Gillmer –President of Music, Music Talent, Programming & Events, Paramount and Chief Content Officer, Music, Paramount+ – said in a statement. “She has shifted the music industry and cemented her status as a global superstar with her crossover appeal, genre-defying style and continuing to be unapologetically ‘Nicki.’”
Nicki Minaj is set to become one of less than a handful of rappers who have received the Video Vanguard Award since it was first introduced at the Video Music Awards in 1984. LL Cool J became the first rapper to be awarded the honor in 1997. Since then, it has gone to hip-hop artists the Beastie Boys, Kanye West, and Missy Elliott.
The award, performance, and hosting slot follow the release of Minaj’s latest single “Super Freaky Girl.” The rapper also revived her alter ego Roman for the newly released “Super Freaky Girl (Roman Remix).”
Listen to the best of Nicki Minaj on Apple Music and Spotify.