Jennifer Lopez‘s two-decade music career will be honored at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards.
The network announced Tuesday that Lopez will receive the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award on Aug. 20 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Lopez, who last performed at the VMAs in 2001, will also perform at the show.
The Bronx-bred performer has released multiple hits and memorable, dance-heavy music videos since the late 1990s, including “If You Had My Love,” ”Waiting for Tonight,” ”I’m Real” and “Jenny From the Block.”
FILE – In this May 20, 2018 file photo
Past recipients of the Vanguard award include Janet Jackson, Rihanna and Beyoncé.
Cardi B is the leading nominee with 10. Lopez earned two nods for her Cardi B collaboration, “Dinero,” which also features DJ Khaled.
After the news broke, several social media users began firing off about how Missy Elliot, who had been rumored to be this year’s recipient, missed out on getting the honor.
“Before Missy? Y’all are whack.”
“Y’all sacrificed Missy… for this? 🤷🏽♂️🤦🏽♂️.”
“😕 would’ve been better off with Missy Elliot. What is a memorable J.Lo video? 🤷🏾♀️.”
https://twitter.com/TruthTellerAsh/status/1024365265558155264
— Overton Synclaire (@let_josh_tellit) July 31, 2018
Missy Elliot’s videos are known for their whimsey and special effects, as seen in “Get Ur Freak On” and “Work It.” Not to mention her penchant for sleek visuals and choreography, as evidenced in videos as recent as 2017’s “I’m Better.”
Still, Elliot herself gave Lopez her love.
“🤗❤Congratulations to @jlo smash up the stage🙌🏾I am humbly grateful for the shout out too🙏🏾,” the performer tweeted Tuesday.
Associated Press contributed to this story.
