Alicia Keys is finally revealing what JAY-Z really thought about Lil Mama crashing their performance of “Empire State of Mind” at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
During a recent interview on REVOLT’s “Drink Champs,” the Songs In A Minor vocalist gave a detailed look into the incident. “The truth of all the truths — all I know, we was on that stage,” she said. “JAY was here, I was here. In my head, I was such a gorilla at the time and I was like, ‘This is what’s happening. I’m going to destroy this record tonight.’ … Somehow, however she got over here, I didn’t even bear witness to. The whole show I was iced — so focused on making it amazing.”
Keys added, “I went backstage and JAY was like, ‘So, you ain’t see that?’ And I was like, ‘What?’ And he was like, ‘Nah, you ain’t just see what just happened?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, we killed it. That’s what happened.'”
As REVOLT previously reported, back in October, the “If I Ain’t Got You” singer said that she forgave Lil Mama for the incident during an interview on “The Morning Hustle Show.”
“Of course,” Keys said. “Of course. 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.”
She added, “So umm, that was wild to me. But I absolutely — it’s not even a statement. That was then. You know, she’s from New York, too. You know, 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?”
Earlier this year, the “Shawty Get Loose” rapper revealed that she attempted to reach out to both JAY and Keys to apologize for storming the stage, however, neither individual got back to her.
Check out a clip of Keys‘ recent comments about the performance below.