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Scott Dudelson / Contributor via Getty Images, Astrida Valigorsky / Contributor via Getty Images, and Taylor Hill / Contributor via Getty Images
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GELO, Pusha T and No Malice
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Key Takeaways:
- The 2025 ESPY Awards will feature a high-energy Hip Hop lineup, including Busta Rhymes, Clipse, GELO and Tobe Nwigwe.
- Nwigwe will lead the In Memoriam tribute with David Michael Wyatt, honoring Diogo Jota, George Foreman and Bob Uecker.
- Clipse’s reunion and GELO’s debut album mark major career milestones reflected in their ESPY performances.
The 2025 ESPY Awards lineup is officially here. Announced on Monday (July 14), GELO, Clipse and Busta Rhymes are set to take the stage at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre on Wednesday (July 16).
Accompanied by David Michael Wyatt, Tobe Nwigwe will be delivering the night’s In Memoriam tribute honoring Diogo Jota, George Foreman and Bob Uecker, who all sadly passed away earlier this year. As for the show’s host, comedian Shane Gillis will be in charge of keeping both the audience and viewers at home entertained. “I’m just as surprised as you are that I’m doing this,” he joked in a teaser ahead of the event.
The ESPYs will air live on ABC and ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET. In the meantime, watch the teaser clip below.
The performers’ lineup isn’t exactly surprising. GELO, of course, has deep ties to basketball. He notably played college ball at UCLA before going pro in the JBA, and his brothers Lonzo and LaMelo Ball currently play for the Chicago Bulls and Charlotte Hornets, respectively. The “Tweaker” hitmaker’s inclusion makes even more sense considering he performed during halftime at this year’s NBA All-Star Weekend.
On top of the ESPYs performance, GELO is set to drop his much-awaited debut album, League of My Own, on Friday (July 18). It’s expected to house singles like “Law N Order,” the GloRilla-assisted “Can You Please” and “Booted Up.”
The timing couldn’t be better for Clipse, who’ll be hitting the ESPYs stage fresh off the release of Let God Sort Em Out, their first full-length project in roughly 15 years. Released just last Friday (July 11), the 13-song offering includes features from Kendrick Lamar, John Legend, The-Dream and Tyler, The Creator, with Pharrell Williams behind the boards on every track.
Of course, this year’s ceremony has big shoes to fill. In 2024, Serena Williams hosted and hilariously broke out dancing to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” so hopefully Gillis can match that energy.
