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And I got up and I started walking towards the stage, and I got up there, and I was just rooting him on, as a champion, picking up my brother.”
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I actually got emotional, and I was like, yeah! New York! Jay! And I started to feel him, started to feel myself, and I just felt the energy. And you know, Alicia Keys is like ‘big lights will inspire you’ and really, I got emotional. So, Lil Mama, why exactly did you do it? “Well, I’m sitting in my seat, two rows away from the stage, and Jay-Z is walking through this tunnel, and there’s this whole adrenaline rush that’s just pumping, he comes onstage and he's singing ‘New Yorkkkk’. And she went on MTV News the following day to discuss the incident. She was unfairly and mercilessly mocked on Twitter and in the media following her little guest appearance on stage that fateful evening. What we all wouldn’t give today to feel something as hard as what she felt that night.Īt the time, Lil Mama's interruption seemed like a big deal, even amid the West-Swift drama of the night. Now is the time to relive, and cherish, Lil Mama's energy in 2009. And it's also one that feels so rare in 2020-a year of pre-recorded Zoom events that lack in any sort of spontaneity. It's a moment that with the hindsight of more than a decade is an entirely harmless and even fun moment of pop culture history. But what we are here to reminisce about today is the deeper cut interruption of the night: when Lil Mama was feeling Alicia Keys and Jay-Z’s rendition of “New York State of Mind” so goddamn hard she just absolutely couldn’t help getting up on that stage herself and rocking out with them. It's a moment that would ignite a bitter, years long feud that would have ripple effects throughout the next decade of popular culture. And that's Kanye West taking the mic from a young Taylor Swift, giving his now-infamous “Imma let you finish” tirade. What do you remember? In the canon of collective pop culture consciousness, there is only one moment from the 2009 VMAs that anyone remembers. Alicia also revealed that she has no hard feeling and totally understands, “I think she really felt the energy of the record.” Watch the clip below.So, this is the 2009 VMAs. “I truly never knew she was ever on the stage,” said Keys.
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Well Keys revealed exclusively to The Morning Hustle that she never even knew the young star was on the stage until after reviewing the footage.
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Lil Mama previously expressed her regret in an emotional interview where she stated that she had not heard from Jay-Z or Keys since the incident over nine years ago. Unless you’ve been under a rock (or simply not born yet), almost everyone remembers when rapper, Lil Mama hijacked the stage during Alicia & Jay-z‘s viral “Empire State Of Mind” performance at the 2011 MTV VMA’s. R&B Heavy-weight Alicia Keys checked in with The Morning Hustle’s Headkrack and Lore’l for an exclusive interview and she dropped straight jewels! Her new album “Keys” drops soon but in the meantime we had to take a walk down memory lane with the star and get some behind the scenes insight on some of her most infamous moments.