A video is circulating on social media of Lil Mama and Alicia Keys hugging it out years after the rapper crashed the “No One” singer’s 2009 MTV Video Music Award performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
Lil Mama infamously jumped on stage during Keys’ performance of “Empire State of Mind” with Jay-Z, unbeknownst to Keys.
The hip-hop artist was criticized for excitedly getting up out of her seat during the awards show and walking on stage during the performance. Jay-Z’s wife, Beyoncé was in the audience and unsuccessfully tried to stop the “Hustler Girl” artist from crashing the show.
A clip of the two ladies hugging at an unknown event was shared on Twitter on March 29. It features Keys wearing a black sweatshirt paired with black pants as she gave a long embrace to the rapper, who was sporting a green sweatsuit.
Singer Teyana Taylor is also seen in the video, which is captioned, “LIL MAMA & ALICIA KEYS HUGGING??? The world is healing.”
Keys told “The Morning Hustle” last October that she didn’t hold a grudge against Lil Mama and didn’t even realize she had crashed the performance until later.
“Till this day I never knew she was even on the stage. That’s the craziest part of the whole thing for me,” said Keys. “I was on that stage. Jay was in the middle. She was on the other side of Jay and I never saw her. Never. So that was wild to me.”
Jay-Z also shared that he forgave Lil Mama during a Twitter Spaces discussion with Rob Markman back in 2021.
“Of course, of course. C’mon. Don’t do that,” said the hip-hop mogul. “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.”
“Of course, we love her,” he continued. “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 heard the discussion and showed her appreciation with a statement on Instagram.
“I appreciate hearing this portion of last night’s conversation,” she wrote. “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.”
The “What It Is” rapper also thanked her fellow artists and noted her hope for an in-person conversation.
Fans loved seeing the two ladies hug it out, but did not miss the chance to reminisce about the infamous VMA stage-crashing performance.
One fan replied with a gif of Oscar-winning actress Mo’Nique‘s character from the film “Precious” telling off her daughter. The post was captioned, “Alicia when they were back stage with no cameras.”
Still, many on social media not only expressed love for the moment but love for the city that inspired the Alicia Keys and Jay-Z collaboration.
