The 2010 VMA Countdown: Eminem Declares Himself The Real Slim Shady

The 2010 MTV Video Music Awards are only a few weeks away. The biggest party of the year features nominated clips by Lady Gaga, Eminem, Jay-Z, Ke$ha and Katy Perry and will feature performances by Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Drake, B.o.B and Florence and the Machine (with many more to be announced). In order to properly prepare yourself for what's to come, every day the MTV Newsroom Blog will deliver a classic moment in the history of the MTV Video Music Awards. Today's installment: Who is the real Slim Shady?

In today's chapter of "30 Days of VMA," we take a look at one of the greatest single performances in the history of the MTV Video Music Awards. Plenty of VMA performances are top-shelf, but there are only a select few that could only be considered iconic. Madonna's writhing around on the stage at the first VMAs in 1984 certainly ranks up there, along with the incredible three-way dance between Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Madonna (again) at the 2003 show. One greatest-of-all-time performance that doesn't involve Madonna is the one that Eminem delivered 10 years ago.

The 2000 MTV Video Music Awards saw the show beam live from Radio City Music Hall in New York City and was full of killer moments, including a blistering performance by Rage Against the Machine, Britney Spears' flesh-colored bodysuit, Macy Gray's pink afro and the tag-team between Christina Aguilera and Fred Durst. But by far the biggest moment was when Eminem hit the stage to perform "The Real Slim Shady" (which later won Video of the Year). Shady began his performance in the street outside Radio City Music Hall surrounded by "clones" — dozens of other guys dressed exactly like him. The army stormed the theater while Em made his way to the stage to finish "The Real Slim Shady" and bust into a savage "The Way I Am." In the performance's best moment, he hit the lyric about sitting next to Carson Daly and Fred Durst just as he was walking past their seats in the aisle. It was, as Mick Foley would say, great TV.

The 27th annual MTV Video Music Awards will be broadcast live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on September 12 at 9 p.m. ET. Fans can go to VMA.MTV.com (or text VMA to 97979 for Verizon subscribers) to vote for the winners from now through September 12.