Music: Lil Mama Said She Tried To Apologize To Jay Z & Alicia Keys But Never Heard Back Update: Forgiveness
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Lil Mama Said She Tried To Apologize To Jay Z & Alicia Keys But Never Heard Back
Posted on April 8, 2021 - By Veronica Wells
The 2009 VMAs was one for the books. Kanye West infamously stole the microphone from Taylor Swift in support of Beyoncé. Lady Gaga brought Kermit the Frog as her date, Janet Jackson danced to “Scream” in honor of her brother Michael, who had passed that year.
And Lil Mama interrupted Jay Z and Alicia Key’s performance of “Empire State of Mind.”
Y’all remember Lil Mama walking up on stage, almost as if she were possessed, to stand a bop with the rapper and singer as if she were a part of the set.
Lil Mama would explain later that she did so because being from New York, she felt inspired to be a part of what she perceived as an iconic moment.
As you can imagine, after all the work Keys and Jay Z put into crafting the song, rehearsing and staging the performance, they were none-too-pleased with Lil Mama’s antics. And they said as much in interviews about that moment afterward.
That same year, Jay Z told Angie Martinez, “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 outta line.”
On the “Today Show,” Keys’ echoed Jay’s sentiment. When Hoda asked about the intrusion, Keys said:
“Of which I’d rather not speak about because the performance was so phenomenal that it really doesn’t matter about anything else.” After some coaxing, later she said, “We can appreciate her being overwhelmed and inspired. But we would have appreciated it if she would have did it from her seat.”
People have often wondered if this was a moment Lil Mama would ever be able to live down. I would say her recent unwarranted and unsolicited comments about Zaya Wade might have taken some heat off of that incident from over a decade ago.
But not so. Recently, someone on Lil Mama’s Instagram page evoked the moment all over again when he asked, “I thought they canceled you back when you jumped up on stage with Alicia and Jay Z?”
Most people would have ignored this comment. But Lil Mama clearly has excess time on her hands these days. And she wrote a paragraph in response.
In it, she shared that she attempted to reach out to both Jay and Alicia in an attempt to apologize but they weren’t exactly here for the olive branch.
In a screenshot obtained by The Neighborhood Talk, Lil Mama wrote:
“I entered the industry as a teenage Black girl from Brooklyn & Harlem NY. 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. I haven’t heard back from either party yet. With that, continuously misrepresenting my brand in public won’t be tolerated….”
We can certainly understand why Jay and Alicia might have ignored this request. What really was there to say? Lil Mama got the attention she wanted in the moment and those two probably felt like they didn’t have anything else to offer her since she already took what she wanted.
See what she had to say to the commenter in the post below.
Posted on April 8, 2021 - By Veronica Wells
The 2009 VMAs was one for the books. Kanye West infamously stole the microphone from Taylor Swift in support of Beyoncé. Lady Gaga brought Kermit the Frog as her date, Janet Jackson danced to “Scream” in honor of her brother Michael, who had passed that year.
And Lil Mama interrupted Jay Z and Alicia Key’s performance of “Empire State of Mind.”
Y’all remember Lil Mama walking up on stage, almost as if she were possessed, to stand a bop with the rapper and singer as if she were a part of the set.
Lil Mama would explain later that she did so because being from New York, she felt inspired to be a part of what she perceived as an iconic moment.
As you can imagine, after all the work Keys and Jay Z put into crafting the song, rehearsing and staging the performance, they were none-too-pleased with Lil Mama’s antics. And they said as much in interviews about that moment afterward.
That same year, Jay Z told Angie Martinez, “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 outta line.”
On the “Today Show,” Keys’ echoed Jay’s sentiment. When Hoda asked about the intrusion, Keys said:
“Of which I’d rather not speak about because the performance was so phenomenal that it really doesn’t matter about anything else.” After some coaxing, later she said, “We can appreciate her being overwhelmed and inspired. But we would have appreciated it if she would have did it from her seat.”
People have often wondered if this was a moment Lil Mama would ever be able to live down. I would say her recent unwarranted and unsolicited comments about Zaya Wade might have taken some heat off of that incident from over a decade ago.
But not so. Recently, someone on Lil Mama’s Instagram page evoked the moment all over again when he asked, “I thought they canceled you back when you jumped up on stage with Alicia and Jay Z?”
Most people would have ignored this comment. But Lil Mama clearly has excess time on her hands these days. And she wrote a paragraph in response.
In it, she shared that she attempted to reach out to both Jay and Alicia in an attempt to apologize but they weren’t exactly here for the olive branch.
In a screenshot obtained by The Neighborhood Talk, Lil Mama wrote:
“I entered the industry as a teenage Black girl from Brooklyn & Harlem NY. 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. I haven’t heard back from either party yet. With that, continuously misrepresenting my brand in public won’t be tolerated….”
We can certainly understand why Jay and Alicia might have ignored this request. What really was there to say? Lil Mama got the attention she wanted in the moment and those two probably felt like they didn’t have anything else to offer her since she already took what she wanted.
See what she had to say to the commenter in the post below.
I don't blame them. That was some disrespectful shit she did.
Tru dat, but when someone tries to apologize you should at least hear them out so you can measure the sincerity of what they are saying.
When we mature, pettiness is not a good look, especially on a man.
I understand where you're coming from, but Jay and Alicia. Could have been looking at it as, they didn't want to feed into the situation any further. Because it was such a bizarre thing to happen back then. But, yeah I would have thought they would have talked it out. After all this time.
Lil Mama - Wikipedia
They were being petty, she was a hyped lil girl. Would they have acted the same if Diddy Diddy bopped his way on stage or Snoop Dogg Crip walked on stage?
I remember being at a video shoot for some local ATL rapper and the director yelled cut because the rappers homie was a little too hyped. Dude was like the Jarobi of the crew. I started laughing hard because dude was really proud of his rapper friend. I was like dude stole the shot and made that scene look great. Everybody on set fell out laughing and we moved him closer to the rapper.
My point is they could have embraced her and admonished her at the same time. She was clearly a hyped Lil girl caught up in the moment.
I remember being at a video shoot for some local ATL rapper and the director yelled cut because the rappers homie was a little too hyped. Dude was like the Jarobi of the crew. I started laughing hard because dude was really proud of his rapper friend. I was like dude stole the shot and made that scene look great. Everybody on set fell out laughing and we moved him closer to the rapper.
My point is they could have embraced her and admonished her at the same time. She was clearly a hyped Lil girl caught up in the moment.
Exactly. They fight for humanitarian causes around the world and god bless em, but kindness starts at home.
So? An apology doesn't carry with it a guaranteed response. You apologize because you're remorseful and hope the other party accepts. They're under no obligation to do so. The fact she's making it about them not responding means it's not a sincere apology at all. So kick rocks.
She got black balled throughout the industry as a result.
Jay Z sounds like a bitch the more and more we learn about him.
SO has Lil Mama paid a steeper price for her disrespect than Kanye did for his?
Is this another example of selective hypocrisy?
Is this another example of selective hypocrisy?
And that's fuckery. The power of Jay and Beyonce in the industry is unhealthy. Kanye must had been rapping bout them : "no one man should have all that power"
let other artists live, my nigga!
Who said Jay blackballed her? Her career was never really that strong, why would he have to?
Also he has no obligation to have a conversation with her.
I don't know if THAT is a fair connect.
What hits has lil mama had since then?
We got kids with no deals no big corporate push making money off SoundCloud
What stopped her from making a hit?
Wasn't she in the TLC biopic and a bunch of reality shows too?
And all the white folks with influence who do nothing but benefit from black folks and never give back...
At all.
And we calling out Jay & B?
Jay Beyonce Alicia and Swizz I'd bet money ain't never done anything to hurt lil mama...
Now I also bet they never went out of their way and HELPED her either.
I need PROOF that those folks blackballed that little black girl
Yall act like lil mama ain't had a bad reputation before and after that
Not only in the industry but with the lgbtq+ community
Homegirl if anything blackballed herself.
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She trying to get an additional 15 more seconds with a 12 year late story about an apology. 20 years from now she going to be like, “I interviewed about my side of the story when I tried to apologize and they still haven’t reached out after it was printed.”
She learned a valuable lesson about respect that day.
Jay Z and Alicia are NOT obligated to accept her apology. That was disrespectful and totally uncalled for when she jumped onstage during THEIR performance! I get it that she was inspired but she could have did all of that from her seat!
I beg to differ. I can’t name one song by Lil Mama. She played Left Eye in the TLC flick. That’s it.
This.
Lil Mama
She was pretty much black balled. The fact you haven't heard anything from her since then should tell you what's up
Alicia was being a bitch and Jay Z acted like a spoiled brat. She was a dumb 19 year old who was hype and acted it out. Yeah she should've knew better but given how these shows go Jay and Alicia should've just went with it.
After that, the jokes were endless and ruthless. Comparing her to bow wow, calling her a 1 hit wonder, TBC making fun of her and when she cried the entire internet continued to roast. Every little come back she tried was just met with laughter and ridicule. All because of that one incident.
I think she's let it go since since but people will never stop bringing that up to her and it's why she cut down on doing interviews.