Alicia Keys Reveals She Wasn’t Even Aware Lil Mama Crashed Her 2009 VMAs Performance With JAY-Z

Lil Mama infamously crashed Alicia Keys and JAY-Z’s performance of “Empire State of Mind” at the 2009 VMAs.

Keys spoke about the moment during an interview on the Morning Hustle Show. The singer was jokingly asked if she ever “forgave” Lil Mama to which she responded, “Of course,” Keys said. “Listen, to this day, I truly never knew she was even on the stage—that’s the craziest part of the whole thing for me. I was on that stage, Jay was in the middle, she was on the other side of Jay, and I never saw her. Never.”

Keys continued, “That was wild to me. … That was then. She’s from New York, too. I think she really felt the energy of the record and she loved it and she couldn’t hold herself back. Look, this is what my music does to people. What can we say?” she said.

The moment went viral, among other highlights from the 2009 VMAs, and Revolt reports that Lil Mama attempted to apologize to both musicians. “I entered the industry as a teenage Black girl from Brooklyn and Harlem, NY,” the “Lip Gloss” rapper told a fan. “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.”

It’s unclear if she ever got a response, but JAY-Z spoke to Angie Martinez shortly after the incident. “To interrupt that moment for us, I don’t think that was the right thing to do. It was a lot of planning that went into that performance. To disrupt that was out of line.”