Metro Boomin took over the Prudential Center at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards on Tuesday night (Sept. 12), bringing together a slew of his hip-hop heavyweight friends for a medley of “Superhero” and “Calling.”

While Metro and his turntable levitated over the stage, Future, Swae Lee, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and NAV traded verses down below, surrounded by a foggy laboratory landscape filled with rocks and elevators. The performance was a showcase of today’s biggest hip-hop talent, which is fitting given that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the genre.

“Future is an anomaly,” Metro previously told Billboard of his frequent collaborator. “You don’t get to see too many people of any industry perform and deliver at the rate and level that he does for this amount of time. I met him and started working with him when I was 18 to [my current age of] 29, and he was on before that. It’s a true testament to his grind and his will.” 

“Superhero” peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, while “Calling” peaked at No. 41. Over on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs, “Superhero” bowed at No. 2, while “Calling” climbed to No. 13. “Superhero” appears on Metro Boomin’s 2022 album Heroes & Villains, which topped the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart in December.

Metro Boomin was nominated for four awards at this year’s ceremony, including album of the year for Heroes & Villains; best hip-hop for his Future collab “Superhero (Heroes and Villains)”; and best collaboration and best R&B for his The Weeknd, 21 Savage and Diddy team-up “Creepin’ (Remix).”