Nicki Minaj is absolutely “the baddest alive,” and the “Super Freaky Girl” rapper celebrated her Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night (Aug. 28) with a performance of her biggest hits.
The Queen of the Barbz took the stage in a fitting Barbie dream house with “Nicki” written on the outside, dressed as the ultimate doll in a sparkly pink minidress and pink hair tied with a bow. She showed off the accomplishments of her illustrious career with high-energy performances of songs including “All Things Go,” “Roman’s Revenge,” “Monster,” “Beez in the Trap,” “Chun-Li,” “Moment 4 Life,” “Super Bass,” “Anaconda” and her latest single, “Super Freaky Girl.”
Minaj is the first Video Vanguard recipient since another female rapper, Missy Elliott, was honored in 2019. The award wasn’t presented in the last two years due to complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. She is the fourth rapper to receive the honor, following LL Cool J (1997), Kanye West (2015) and Elliott. The Beastie Boys, who originally started out as a rap trio before taking an alternative route, were honored with the award in 1998.
Minaj is also up for a number of awards throughout the evening, including best hip-hop for “Do We Have a Problem” featuring Lil Baby. Minaj has already won three times in that category, which puts her in a tie with Drake for the most wins in the best hip-hop category. If she wins again this year, she’ll take the lead.
The MTV Video Music Awards were telecast live from the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
