Lil Mama opened up about her infamous meltdown during JAY-Z and Alicia Keys’ VMA performance in 2009, and made it clear that the aftermath left her “hurt.”
It’s a confession she made during an interview with the Jay Hill Network on Thursday (March 14), in which she also revealed that the subsequent backlash took a serious toll on her mental health.
“Yes, I was hurt at first,” she began. “As soon as I got home, Tyrese called me. He said, ‘Dude, you didn’t tell me you were acting!’ First of all, my heart was racing. I was going crazy with embarrassment.
“I had to deal with Ed Lover, Wendy Williams, Angie Martinez on the radio in the morning, and they talked to Jay and he was like, ‘Yeah, you know. I didn’t like it. He was angry, and I just tried to do everything I could. After a while, I was like, ‘Forgive yourself, bro. Move on.'”
She continued, “Man, I was hurt. I was frustrated. I was like, ‘Yo, what’s going on? ” And then everyone tells you, “You’re not doing a good job. “People point at you and say, ‘What did you do?'”
Comments on the VMAs begin at 2:35 below.
Back in 2009, Alicia Keys teamed up with JAY-Z to perform their hit song “Empire State of Mind” at the MTV VMAs.
Apparently, Lil’ Mama was so moved by the performance that she jumped on stage to serve as the unofficial hype man—despite Hough’s wife, Beyoncé, tugging on her arm multiple times in an attempt to stop her from trending on Twitter. But no success.
Although “Lil Mama” has since become the butt of many jokes, Keys told The Morning Hustle in October 2021 that she didn’t even know the rapper existed.
“Listen, to this day, I literally never knew she was even on stage — that’s the craziest part of the whole thing to me,” she said. “I’m on that stage, [JAY-Z] In the middle, she’s on the other side of Jay, and I’ve never seen her before. “
Then, back in March 2023, Keys and Lil Mama shared a passionate embrace at an event in New York City, with Teyana Taylor in attendance. While it’s unclear what the event was for — although Revolt hinted it was to celebrate Taylor’s latest film, One Thousand and One — the “Girl on Fire” singer and the rapper-turned-actor ’s “Lip Gloss” video has sparked heated discussions on social media. The media was in an uproar.
“God is moving everything through this MF!” one commenter wrote. Another wrote: “Hopefully she apologizes again because man…”