Lil Mama only released one studio album in her career but off the strength of its lead single, “Lip Gloss,” she managed to be on top of the world. She became a host on America’s Best Dance Crew and further asserted herself into the mainstream consciousness. Unfortunately, much of that hype crumbled with a brief cameo during the 2009 Video Music Awards. While Jay-Z and Alicia Keys performed their hit record, “Empire State Of Mind,” Lil Mama stormed to stage uninvited to stand alongside the two music vets. As you could imagine, Jay nor Alicia Keys were particularly fond of the move.
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With a new album on the way, Alicia Keys recently sat down with the folks at Drink Champs where N.O.R.E asked her how mad she was at Lil Mama for joining her and Hov on stage. It turns out, that she didn’t even notice Lil Mama step on stage until she wrapped up the performance. “All I know is we were on stage. Jay was here, I was here,” she said as she used her hands to demonstrate the distance on stage between her and her collaborator. Alicia explained that she was too focused on the performance to even see anything else that was going on.
“Somehow, however she got over here, I didn’t even bear witness to. The whole show, I was… so focused on making it amazing. I went backstage and Jay was like, ‘So, you ain’t see that?'” she recalled. “He was like, ‘Nah, you ain’t just see what just happened?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, we killed it. That’s what just happened.'”
Lil Mama spoke out about the incident earlier this year, claiming that both Jay-Z and Alicia Keys ignored her efforts to apologize.
“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,” she explained, before adding that she had not “heard back from either party yet. With that, continuously misrepresenting my brand in public won’t be tolerated.”
The full episode of Drink Champs drops tonight.