We’ve seen some amazing hip-hop moments at the VMAs through the years. Still, when we think back on VMA history, we can’t help but think about what could’ve been if Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. had lived to realize their full potential. For starters, neither ever performed at the VMAs — hard to believe right?

The death of these two rap greats, who were both gunned down in 1996 and 1997 respectively, still affects the hip-hop community, but above all else, we’re grateful for the time that we did get with them. Let’s look back at ‘Pac and Biggie’s key VMA moments.

Biggie And Michael Jackson

In 1995, when Michael Jackson and sister Janet’s “Scream” won the VMA in the Best Dance Video category, it was the King of New York who presented the King of Pop with his Moonman.

‘Pac And Snoop Present Best Hard Rock Award

Tupac and Snopp Dogg were the ultimate hard rocks when they were signed to Death Row Records, so who better to present the Best Hard Rock award at the 1996 VMAs than “2 of Americaz Most Wanted.”

Ms. Wallace Reps For Brooklyn

Big won his very first Moonman at the 1997 MTV VMAs, sadly he wasn’t around to give one of his spirited award speeches. Still, it was quite moving when his mother Voletta Wallace accepted the honor and shouted: “Big up to Brooklyn” just like her son would’ve.

Diddy’s Tribute

That same year, Diddy gave Biggie an unforgettable send-off ...

We’re expecting some hip-hop history when Nicki Minaj takes the stage at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. We’re not sure what the Young Money MC has planned, but if we know Nicki she’ll be looking to steal the show when it goes down this Sunday, August 24 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

It won’t be the first time hip-hop has rocked the VMAs, in fact hip-hop has had some pretty unforgettable VMA moments. Here are 12 times hip-hop ruled at the Video Music Awards.

1. “Walk This Way”

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2. The First Award

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In the 1980s, hip-hop was a fast-growing genre that hadn’t quite found a place at mainstream awards shows. In 1989, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince (that’s Will Smith to you) won the first award for Best Rap Video at the VMAs, beating out MC Hammer, Ice T, Kool Moe Dee and Tone Loc.

3. Uncle L

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Before he was an actor on “NCIS,” LL Cool J was a damn good rapper who tore the house down at the 1991 VMAs, performing his classic “Mama Said Knock You Out.”

4. “Murder Was The Case”

Snoop Dogg pulled out all of the stops for his 1994 VMA performance, recreating a ...

All praises due to Marc Anthony, because it was the salsa singer and actor who gave Kanye West his proper MTV Video Music Awards introduction in 2004, right before Yeezy set off an inspiring medley of hits that including “Jesus Walks,” “All Falls Down” and “Through the Wire.”

It was the performance that started ‘Ye’s VMA legend, which will continue 10 years later on Sunday at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, where his “Black Skinhead” is nominated for Best Hip Hop Video.

Yes, technically West has been impacting the VMAs since the 2001 Award show, when Jay Z performed “Izzo,” a song that Kanye produced, but ever since the G.O.O.D. Music captain graced the stage for the first time in ’04, he’s continued to give fans something to look forward to.

Let’s look back at the legend of Kanye West at the MTV Video Music Awards.

The Introduction

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Just months after releasing his classic debut, The College Dropout, Yeezy blessed the VMAs with three songs off the LP, including a a duet with Chaka Khan.

Yeezus Walks

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Yeezy returned in 2005 and not only performed “Gold Digger” with Jamie Foxx, but took home his first Moonman as well, winning with “Jesus Walks” in the Best Male Video category.

Hype Man

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Yeezy didn’t perform nor did he win a VMA in 2006, but ...

The wait for Jessie J’s “Bang Bang” music video is almost over. On Sunday, August 24 after the British pop star performs at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards alongside Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande, she will premiere the vid on BangBang.mtv.com. But for those who just can’t wait, it seems the trio are giving us a tease in a new Beats by Dr. Dre commercial.

The spot dropped on YouTube on Tuesday, just hours before Nicki broke the Internet with her new “Anaconda” video. The 30-second clip starts with Jessie powering up her Pink Pill XL speaker, which is available exclusively at Target. We also get a glimpse of Ariana rocking out while putting on her make-up and Nicki taking flight in a helicopter.

“It’s me starting a street party that Ariana is then going to attend, and then Nicki turns up on an amazing type of transport, that I wont give away,” Jessie J told MTV News correspondent Christina Garibaldi about the video earlier this month. “And then we all party together on a rooftop and there’s loads of dancers, there’s a dance that you can learn that I made up.”

Could that “amazing type of transport” be a chopper? We think yes.

If DJ Mustard wanted, he could rock the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards playing a set with just records that he produced — he is the show’s house DJ after all, and who’s going to tell him no?

Mustard already rules radio with songs like Trey Songz’s “Na Na,” T.I. and Iggy Azalea’s “No Mediocre,” Ty Dolla $ign’s “Paranoid,” Kid Ink and Chris Brown’s “Show Me,” Tinashe’s “2 On” and YG and Drake’s “Who Do You Love,” just to name a few. So him doing an all-Mustard set isn’t such a bad idea right?

“Nah, I’m not gonna be like that; I’m gonna play everybody’s music, I’m not just gonna play mine,” Mustard told MTV News, before playfully recanting the whole idea with a hearty laugh. “I might just play mine.”

All jokes aside, Mustard is taking his role as 2014 VMA house DJ very seriously, seeing as he has to keep the crowd moving in between performances and awards.

“It’s cool, it’s a blessing, I couldn’t believe it when they told me. So just being a part of that is crazy. I’m ready,” he said. “Everybody likes good music, so when you’re just playing good music and encouraging everybody to have fun, they’ll have fun.”

What do you do when Kanye West tells you that the entire premise behind your next passion project is dead as a doornail? If you’re veteran hip-hop producer Statik Selektah, you completely ignore him.

The Boston-bred DJ and producer released his sixth studio album, What Goes Around, on Tuesday (August 19), and based the entire LP’s musical backbone on old jazz samples. For Statik, it’s a hat tip to the hip-hop producers that he grew up idolizing, like DJ Premier and Pete Rock.

In March 2010, Statik was invited to one of Kanye West’s infamous My Beautiful Dark Fantasy recording sessions in Hawaii, and at the suggestion of Nas, played one particular jazz-infused beat for Yeezy.

“The first beat I played him was the Nas one; Kanye sat there and listened for like 10 seconds and he pressed stop and he was like: ‘It’s cool, but jazz is dead,’” Statik recalled during an interview with MTV News. “I was just happy to be there, but the way he said that to me always stuck in mind. This album was definitely inspired by that.”

What Goes Around doesn’t just blend jazz with hip-hop. On it, Stat also brings worlds together, placing together a gang of MCs that you normally wouldn’t see on one track list. Snoop Dogg teams with Wais P and Ransom on “All the Way (Pimp Hop)” and Bun B and De La Soul’s Posdnous link on “God Knows.”

“I tried to take if A Tribe Called Quest and N.W.A. came ...

Wiz Khalifa is all about his friends, so it’s no surprise that when he packs up every summer for his Under the Influence of Music Tour, the T.G.O.D. captain loads the lineup with his most talented and trusted buddies. Still, that doesn’t mean things don’t get competitive on the road.

MTV News caught up with the Pittsburgh MC when he hit the DTE Energy Music Theatre right outside of in Clarkson, Michigan, on Sunday, August 10. While we were backstage, a group of the tour’s biggest draws, including Ty Dolla $ign, Sage the Gemini, Mack Wilds, Iamsu and Wiz himself, challenged each other to a serious game of flip cup.

What a great way to unwind before the show — and before Wiz drops his third major label LP, Blacc Hollywood, on Tuesday. You have to watch to see who’ll win!

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Rob Markman

Mentally been many places, but I'm Brooklyn's own. Hip-hop gives me life!

@RobMarkman

Dear Jay Z,

I hope this letter finds you well, and why wouldn’t it? You’re Hov, the greatest rapper of all-time.

I’m not sure if you heard the news, but your former Roc-A-Fella protégé Beanie Sigel was released from prison yesterday after serving two years stemming from tax charges.

Now, I know things haven’t been all the way good between you and Beans — we all heard your line on Drake’s “Pound Cake” — but I also know seeing him free brought a smile to your face. No matter what you or any of your former Roc-A-Fella running mates have been through, you guys created a legacy that can’t be diminished. And that brings me to my next point.

Hov, I think it’s time to put the band back together. Listen, I’m not expecting Roc-A-Fella 2.0; that time has passed and it’ll be damn-near impossible to recapture that magic. Still, I do believe the time is right for a Roc-A-Fella reunion tour.

Yes, I know you’re currently On the Run with wifey, but hear me out. You and Dame Dash are both hustlers at heart and the crowds you would draw to see the Roc back together would surely bring in enough paper for everybody. Enough paper to put aside whatever differences for one last summer run.

The line-up would be epic: Jay Z, Kanye West, Beanie Sigel, State Property, Memphis Bleek, Cam’ron and the Diplomats; Clue can DJ, Pain in da Ass can be the host and Just Blaze and ...

Vanilla Ice isn’t a big fan of Wiz Khalifa’s newest “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”-inspired track and wasn’t shy about saying so. The ’90s rap star said Wiz’s “Shell Shocked” sounded “artificial” and that “the corporate world put it together.”

Well, Khalifa heard the critique, and he has absolutely no hard feelings toward Ice. “I felt like his opinion was super-valid, from his standpoint,” Wiz told MTV News, giving two reasons: “Because A) he’s passionate about this music and B) he did have something to do with… ‘The Secret of the Ooze’ so he’s allowed to have personal involvement, he was in on it.”

Ice wrote and performed “Ninja Rap” for the 1991 film “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze” and even appeared in the film. Khalifa’s “Shell Shocked,” which also features Juicy J, Ty Dolla $ign and Madsonik, was recorded for the soundtrack to the newly released “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” reboot.

Related: Vanilla Ice Explains The Legend That Is ‘Ninja Rap’

“With respect to all of the artists, the song doesn’t really do it for me,” the 46-year-old told GQ. “It feels a little artificial — what I mean by that is that it sounds like a bunch of executives in the corporate world put it together. It really does not fit the theme of the Ninja Turtles legend. I think you have to understand, and be a true Ninja, to possess the Magic to really pull off the secret sound.”

While another MC could’ve ...

The shooting death of Ferguson, Missouri, teen Michael Brown has sent shock waves of throughout the nation as protesters have gathered in several cities, including St. Louis, New York, Los Angeles and Washington. The crowds have taken to the streets to denounce police brutality and mourn the unarmed 18-year-old who was shot by an officer on Saturday.

J. Cole protested in a different way on Friday morning (August 15) when he released “Be Free,” a heartfelt dedication to Brown.

“How we feel,” Cole tweeted at about 4:30 a.m. with a Soundcloud link.

“And I’m in denial and it don’t take no X-ray to see right through my smile,” he croons in a raspy voice to start the song.

There’s is no rapping on the track, just Cole singing emotionally, over a sentimental piano. “All we wanna do is be free,” he pleads before asking, “Can you tell me why every time I step outside I see my n—as die?”

To close the track, Cole uses a soundbite from Dorian Johnson, Brown’s friend and an eyewitness to the shooting.

“He turned around, put his hands in the air,” Johnson can be heard saying near the end of the song. “He started to get down but the officer still approached with his weapon drawn and he fired several more shots.”

Rob Markman

Mentally been many places, but I'm Brooklyn's own. Hip-hop gives me life!

@RobMarkman