By Mawuse Ziegbe
Eminem
Photo: Michael Caulfield/ WireImage
VMA vet Eminem will not only return to the stage Sunday, his performance will open the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.
Fresh from a pair of historic Home and Home Tour stops in his native Detroit with Jay-Z, Em, who has delivered a slew of unforgettable VMA moments in the past, will set the tone for the show's 27th go-round.
"We thought that there's no better way to kick off the show than a performance from Eminem," MTV general manager Stephen Friedman recently told The Associated Press.
Sunday will be a busy night for Shady, who is up for eight Moonmen. His chart-dominating release Recovery has already racked up more than 2 million album scans and yielded hits like "Not Afraid," which is up for Best Male Video and Video of the Year.
Although public details about his performance remain scant, Em has always been good for iconic VMA moments. In 2000, he led a mass of Shady look-alikes into Radio City Music Hall as he spit his celebrity-skewering chart-topper "The Real Slim Shady," which went on to win Video of the Year. Offstage, Em was the center of three awkward and, at times, potty-mouthed, moments in 2002 featuring foes Christina Aguilera, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and Moby. Last year, Em kept things censor-friendly when he appeared in a video short, tearing up after coaching "30 Rock" comic Tracy Morgan through a duet with '80s poptress Cyndi Lauper.
Other stars slated to hit the stage Sunday are Kanye West, Linkin Park, Mary J. Blige, Drake, Usher, Paramore, Justin Bieber, B.o.B and Florence and the Machine.
What are your predictions for Eminem's VMA performance? Let us know in the comments below!
The 27th annual MTV Video Music Awards will be broadcast live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday. The party starts with MTV News' VMA Pre-Show at 8 p.m., followed by the main event at 9 p.m. ET. Fans can go to VMA.MTV.com (or text VMA to 97979 if they are Verizon subscribers) to vote for Best New Artist from now through Sunday.
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