Lil Mama found herself at the center of a backlash after she crashed Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ 2009 performance at the MTV Video Music Awards.
She reflected on the fallout in a recent episode of The Jay Hill Podcast, telling the host, around the 1:01 hour mark, that Tyrese called her the morning after the show to ask her about the performance.
“I had to deal with Ed Lover on the radio in the morning, Wendy Williams, Angie Martinez, who talked to Jay, and he was just like, ‘Yeah, you know. I didn’t like it.’ He was so angry and I was just trying my best to do everything I could do,” she told the host.
“After a while, I was like, ‘Forgive yourself, bro. Move forward,'" she continued. “Bro, I was hurt. I was depressed. I was like, ‘Yo, what’s going on?’ And then you got everybody telling you, ‘You’re doing bad.’ People pointing at you, like, ‘What did you do?’”
It took her some time to bounce back mentally, saying she eventually realized just how “blessed” she is when thinking about what other people have struggled and endured.
The infamous moment saw Lil Mama spontaneously joining Keys and Hov onstage as they performed “Empire State of Mind.” Lil Mama commented on the incident in 2021, saying, per Revolt, “I entered the industry as a teenage Black girl from Brooklyn and Harlem, New York. These situations are with mature adults at least 10 years my senior. I reached out in private to create an opportunity for communication and clarity."
Keys also discussed the performance that year, telling Morning Hustle that she “never knew she was even on the stage. “Look, this is what my music does to people. What can we say?”
While Hov previously told Angie Martinez on Hot 97, just after the incident, that Lil Mama’s interruption was “out of line,” it seemed he later changed his tune. “Things happen. Of course, we love her,” he told Rob Markman in 2021. “Yes, she’s forgiven. It’s all love and she was coming from a place of love.”
Lil Mama subsequently thanked Keys and Jay-Z for being so understanding.
“I appreciate hearing this portion of last night's conversation,” Lil Mama wrote on Instagram. “This has always been my stance , Love. Love for both my big brother, big sister and my city. It brings clarity to all of us as a community to actually hear these words from our legendary leaders.”
