Stayve Jerome Thomas, better known by his stage name Slim Thug, is an American rapper. He gained mainstream attention for his guest performance alongside Paul Wall on Mike Jones' 2004 single "Still Tippin'." The following year, he made a guest appearance alongside Bun B on Beyoncé's 2005 single "Check on It", which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 and won an MTV Music Video Award. Capitalizing on this, he signed with Interscope Geffen A&M and the Neptunes' Star Trak Entertainment to release his debut studio album Already Platinum (2005), which peaked at number two on the Billboard 200. Furthermore, he made a guest appearance on Gwen Stefani's 2005 single "Luxurious", which peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B was first awarded in 1993 under the name Best R&B Video, and it was given every year until 2006. The following year MTV revamped the VMAs and eliminated all the genre categories. However, in 2008, when MTV returned the Video Music Awards to their previous format, Best R&B Video did not return despite four other genre awards doing so. It was only in 2019 that the R&B award returned to the VMAs, now under the shorter name of Best R&B.