The central musical performance of last night’s inaugural NBA Awards came from 2 Chainz and Nicki Minaj. First, the duo performed their Pretty Girls Like Trap Music single “Realize” in front of spiky-helmeted dancers who looked like extras from the movie Metropolis. Nicki, dressed in white furs, then ran through her Remy-Ma-shading track “No Frauds,” as if in response to the insults Remy Ma included in her BET Awards acceptance speech on Sunday night.
Nicki Minaj & 2 Chainz perform “Realize” at the 2017 NBA Awards pic.twitter.com/F1E1CXGdlW
— NICKI EXCLUSIVE (@NickiExclusive) June 27, 2017
Minaj concluded with a performance of her verse from Katy Perry’s “Swish Swish,” topical for the NBA awards with its central basketball metaphor:
.@NICKIMINAJ performs “Swish Swish” at the NBA Awards tonight. pic.twitter.com/vY2SxVcoSE
— Nicki Minaj News (@NickiReigns) June 27, 2017
Minaj’s labelmate Drake also did a bunch of stuff at the show, including playing Steph Curry in a Get Out parody.
[h/t Pitchfork]