At the Billboard Music Awards 1999, two A-list artists collaborated on a live duet that’s still astounding fans to this day. Snoop Dogg joined the LA rap-rock icons Red Hot Chili Peppers on stage for a legendary live rendition of their recent hit single “Scar Tissue,” which was up for Top Rock Single of the Year. But despite the single losing to Creed’s “One,” this flashback, crossover performance has gone down in music history, amassing just under 2 million views to date!
1999 saw The Backstreet Boys win Artist of the Year, Britney Spears win Top New Artist, and Cher’s “Believe” claim the Top Hot 100 Song award. Host Kathy Griffin took a moment to reveal the height of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ fame at this point in their career, having just released their career-defining seventh album, “Californication” that summer, and breaking the record with its lead single “Scar Tissue” spending longer at #1 on the modern rock charts than any other in history; 16 weeks total.
The band certainly toned down their rare breed of on-stage mayhem for this ultra-chill song and performance. Despite Flea staying iconically shirtless for this high-level awards show set, fans have commented that this is perhaps the longest amount of time RHCP’s notoriously topless frontman Anthony Kiedis has kept his clothes on stage; another hilarious record broken in the eyes of some fans.
Packed with warm riffs and calm tones, this uncontroversial excerpt from the band’s already extensive discog isn’t pitch perfect, but raw and real, hiding a psychedelic space blues guitar solo in its midst. Performing this hit were Anthony (then aged 37), guitarist John Frusciante (then 29), bassist Flea (a.k.a. Michael Balzary, 37) and drummer Chad Smith (38).
This band might seem a world away from Snoop Dogg at the top of his hip-hop career, but Red Hot Chili Peppers’ defining crossovers of rock and rap make way for some magic to take place. Snoop can be seen jamming on the Billboard stage before embedding a unique solo verse into “Scar Tissue,” never heard before or since. It’s astounding how well Snoop’s crowd-rallying verse slots seamlessly into the hit, leaving The Music Man wondering why the two acts never paired on an official collab while at the peak of their fame.
This isn’t the only time Snoop has collabed with an unexpected star. He’s been cropping up alongside the world’s top artists throughout his career, from Katy Perry’s hit “California Girls,” to Justin Timberlake, Willie Nelson, and Eminem. Fans who stumbled upon this rare Snoop x RHCP vid have commented “I feel like Snoop Dogg has at least one performance with every band that exists,” with another adding hilariously, “Snoop really just be doing anything […] Snoop will just pop up anywhere chilling like he really just does whatever he wants with whoever.”
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