Why Did Lil Mama Go Onstage? The Rapper Routinely Gets Asked About Her 2009 VMAs Moment

While MTV's Video Music Awards, aka the VMAs, are still alive and well, the "back in my day" in me misses when the award show was once appointed television. There was nothing like seeing moments like Michael Jackson mistakenly naming an award for himself or Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera kissing Madonna on the VMAs stage live. However, I would argue (and can) that there was something special in the sauce at the 2009 VMAs.

For those who don't remember (or weren't alive) when the 2009 event happened, it was not a fun night for Beyonce, which upset me and my homegirls. First, Kanye West told Taylor Swift she didn't deserve an award of Queen Bey, sparking a feud that exists today. Then, her husband, Jay-Z, was caught in the crossfires of one of the most awkward award show performances ever, thanks to rapper and actor Lil Mama.

Lil Mama's legendary moment came when she brought herself onstage during Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' performance of "Empire State of Mind." I can still remember the cringe I felt watching it live, and I recently felt the cringe again when I rewatched it. For research purposes, of course.

Despite doing much more than crashing a stage in her lifetime, Lil Mama's performance has followed her career. Many have often wondered why she took the stage.

Lil Mama has addressed her VMAs performance several times over the years. In March 2024, she spoke out about it when it was addressed again during an interview on The Jay Hill Podcast. The conversation included her saying that, despite reports that she was inebriated during the performance, she confirmed she was sober at the time of the performance and was dealing with the loss of her grandmother when the event happened.

Lil Mama said the backlash on social media and those who interviewed Jay about the ordeal, including radio personalities like Wendy Williams, Ed Lover, and Angie Martinez. She said the backlash left her "depressed" for a while before finally making amends with the situation

"After a while, I was like, ‘Forgive yourself, bro. Move forward,'" Lil Mama recalled. "Bro, I was hurt. I was depressed. I was like, ‘Yo, what’s going on?’ And then you got everybody telling you, ‘You’re doing bad.’ People pointing at you, like, ‘What did you do?’”

As Lil Mama continues learning to hold space for herself and her past mishap, her "collaborators," Jay and Alicia, have more than moved on from the situation. Though the CrazySexyCool actor said in her The Jay Hill Podcast interview that the Brooklyn rapper was "so angry" at her for going onstage, he confirmed in a 2021 conversation with Genius’ Rob Markman on Twitter Spaces that he and the "Lip Gloss" queen are good. However, he wouldn't have done the same thing.

"Of course, of course,” Jay said about forgiving Lil Mama. “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...”

The 4:44 rapper's comments came after Alicia discussed the situation several months prior. In an interview with Complex, Alicia said that, while she knows Lil Mama was onstage thanks to the many, many videos and memes about the situation, she didn't remember her being there in the moment because she was laser-focused on giving a good show.

"I was oblivious to the idea that next to him was another person, which kind of scared the s--t out of me later when I figured it out," Alicia recalled.

While Jay and Alicia have forgiven Lil Mama, unfortunately for her, the internet will never forget.