Busta Rhymes, Ricky Martin to make history at MTV VMAs

LOS ANGELES (AP):

This year’s MTV Video Music Awards is shaking things up, handing out two new awards to decorated artistes in the rap and Latin music genres.

Rapper Busta Rhymes will receive the first-ever MTV VMA Rock the Bells Visionary Award and Ricky Martin will be honoured with the inaugural Latin Icon Award, the VMAs announced Monday.

The Rock the Bells Visionary Award celebrates the hip-hop star’s “boundary-breaking cultural impact and an indomitable musical career,” the announcement read. Rhymes, who has taken the VMAs stage various times since his first performance in 1997, will also perform during the ceremony.

Martin, whose long VMAs history began with his first performance in 1999, will also perform, and be honoured for a “four-decade career that launched Latin music and culture into the mainstream”, according to the announcement.

The 2025 VMAs will air on September 7 at 8 p.m. Eastern, live from the UBS Arena on New York’s Long Island.

Rhymes and Martin will be joined by a slew of artistes confirmed to perform, including Alex Warren, J Balvin, Sabrina Carpenter and sombr. Warren, who’s nominated for Best New Artiste, Best Pop and Song of the Year, will take the VMA stage for the first time, performing his breakout hit, Ordinary. Newcomer, sombr, a singer-songwriter and producer, will also be making his award show début.

Balvin will perform Zun Zun with Latin singers Justin Quiles and Lenny Tavárez, and Noventa with producer DJ Snake.

Carpenter, who offered a début performance at the VMAs last year, taking home song of the year, will return to perform Manchild.

LL Cool J has snagged wins, co-hosted and performed atop the MTV Video Music Awards stage. Now, the Grammy-winning rapper-actor-author is going solo to host the 2025 awards ceremony. He’s retaking the stage, this time without Nicki Minaj and Jack Harlow, with whom he co-hosted in 2022, the VMAs announced Thursday.

The show will be broadcast by CBS for the first time, and also simulcast on MTV and available for streaming on Paramount+ in the United States.

Lady Gaga is leading this year’s awards with 12 nominations, including Artiste of the Year. The Mayhem singer was nearly tied with Bruno Mars, who has 11 nods. The pair’s duet, Die with a Smile, is up for four awards, including Song of the year.

Gaga and Mars are followed by Lamar with 10 nominations, ROSÉ and Carpenter with eight each, Ariana Grande and The Weeknd with seven each and Billie Eilish with six. Charli XCX has five nominations, while Bad Bunny, Doechii, Ed Sheeran, Jelly Roll, Miley Cyrus and Tate McRae have four nominations each.

Fan voting across the 19 categories is live now on the VMAs website. Voting closes on Sept. 5 at 6 p.m. Eastern. The public can vote up to 10 times a day until voting closes.