For 12 years, Hip-Hop mogul Jay-Z has not spoken publicly about his 2009 MTV Video Music Award performance of “Empire State of Mind” with Alicia Keys and the unexpected pop-up during the presentation, Lil Mama.
However, the RocNation founder broke his silence during a Twitter Spaces discussion, acknowledging that the “Lip Gloss” emcee is his “sister” and that she was coming from a “place of love.”
On Tuesday, Dec. 21, in promotion of her new project “Keys,” the Grammy Award-winning vocalist Alicia Keys hosted a Twitter Space conversation for her fans, and in a rare social media sighting, Hov commented on the two’s legendary appearance.
In 2009, fans watched live as the rapper and the seven-season host of MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew” hopped on stage to join Jay’s and Alicia’s set. At the time, the East New York (by way of Harlem) rapper received extreme pushback as the world suspected that the superstars were livid at her insertion into their moment.
But fans wanted to know if they were so mad that a decade later, she still isn’t forgiven?
The billionaire said, “Of course, of course [we forgive her]. C’mon. Don’t do that. That’s our sister. Man, we love her. I wouldn’t recommend people just jumping on other artists’ stages.”
“She’s a New Yorker. … She got excited. Things happen,” he shared compassionately. “Of course we love her. … Yes, she’s forgiven. It’s all love, and she was coming from a place of love. It’s just … may have been a little too excited.”
Lil Mama caught wind of the Brooklyn-bred rapper’s comments and responded on Instagram.
“I appreciate hearing this portion of last nights conversation,” she wrote in her Instagram caption. “This has always been my stance , Love. Love for both my big brother, big sister and my city. It brings clarity to all of us as a community to actually hear these words from our legendary leaders.”
“Hip Hop has always been a culture to me, not just music.. with that, I believe fellowship is very important to cultural growth. Reaching out to say you can do better or even to say your doing great can make the world of difference. “
She ended her caption by thanking Jay and Alicia and suggested that they should have a conversation “together soon.”
Keys also spoke about the infamous moment during a recent appearance on “Drink Champs” with N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN.
“Basically, I remember absolutely nothing. I think I was so focused on performing. Because when you perform, it’s a lot,” she shared. “You gotta hit it. You gotta nail it. You gotta kill it. It has to be perfect.”
“When I tell you, 100 percent, I was oblivious to the idea that next to him was another person, which kind of scared the sh-t out of me later when I figured it out.”
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