The MTV Video Music Awards is always an unhinged event. No moment better represents that than when Lil Mama hopped on the stage as Jay-Z and Alicia Keys performed their hit, “Empire State of Mind,” in 2009.
It’s even more embarrassing when you notice that Beyoncé tried her best to make sure that the “Lip Gloss” rapper didn’t ruin the show. But even Queen Bey didn’t have enough power. This occurred same night that Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift and yelled, “Beyoncé had one of the best music videos of all time!”
It’s been more than 15 years since this happened, and Lil Mama is finally speaking up about it.
During a recent appearance on “The Jay Hill Podcast,” Lil Mama revisited her viral moment (among other things). “Yeah, in the beginning, I was hurt,” she said. “Tyrese called my phone as soon as I got home. He was like, ‘Bro, you didn’t tell me you was performing!’ First of all, my heart is racing. I’m already mad embarrassed.”
“I had to deal with Ed Lover on the radio in the morning, Wendy Williams, Angie Martinez, who talked to Jau, 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. After a while, I was like, ‘Forgive yourself, bro. Move forward.”
Although Hov was not happy with Lil Mama initially, he has since forgiven her, saying in 2021 during a conversation with Genius on Twitter Spaces, “She’s a New Yorker…she got excited. Things happen. Of course we love her… yes, she’s forgiven. It’s all love and she was coming from a place of love it’s just…may have been a little too excited.”
Keys also addressed the moment during an interview with Complex in 2021: “Basically, I remember absolutely nothing,” she said. “I think I was so focused on performing. Because when you perform, it’s a lot. You gotta hit it. You gotta nail it. You gotta kill it. It has to be perfect.”
“When I tell you, 100 percent, I was oblivious to the idea that next to him was another person, which kind of scared the shit out of me later when I figured it out.”
Hopefully, Lil Mama does not receive any more hate and that we as a culture can just look at it as a funny moment now.