The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs and the Otherside metaverse served as inspiration for the joint performance by rap legends Eminem and Snoop Dogg on Sunday at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs).
Another example of how NFTs have influenced popular culture is this VMA performance. For everything from fast food companies to M&Ms, Bored Apes have been co-opted, and NFTs—individual blockchain tokens that signify ownership—have developed into virtual status symbols for the affluent and famous.
With the help of Otherside creator Yuga Labs, the international rap heavyweights will offer Otherside a ton of public exposure by dressing the VMAs stage in its aesthetic for their most recent collaborative song, "From the D 2 the LBC." However, there are currently few details available about the performance.
The inclusion of a "Best Metaverse Performance" category in the VMAs' annual awards ceremony appears to be a signal to the music industry that metaverse performances merit more attention. The Rift Tour featuring Ariana Grande, Twenty-One Pilots, and Justin Bieber are a few of the nominees for the award.
The VMAs may be hoping that embracing the Metaverse will increase their dwindling viewership. The MTV Video Music Awards had 900,000 live viewers, marking the eighth year in a row that fewer people tuned in than the awards' 2011 peak of 12.4 million viewers.
Eminem will perform at the VMAs for the first time in 12 years on Sunday, while Snoop will perform for the first time in 17 years.
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