The 2024 Tony Awards featured a treat. Jay-Z and Alicia Keys performed their 2009 smash single “Empire State of Mind.”
The crowd roared with feelings of nostalgia as the iconic duo took center stage.
“We at the Tony Awards tonight,” Keys said before the performance, per Rolling Stone. “Had to do something crazy. It’s my hometown.”
Alicia Keys just surprised everyone with Jay Z during her Empire State of Mind performance at tonight’s Tony Awards. “I had to do something crazy! It’s my home town! pic.twitter.com/QOa97iHZoC
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) June 17, 2024
Lil Mama Details Backlash From 2009 VMAs
Jay-Z and Keys’ Empire State of Mind was one of the biggest songs in 2009. It became the unofficial anthem for New York City. So it only made sense for the duo to headline the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Especially because they took place in Jay-Z’s hometown of Brooklyn.
But even though it was Keys and Jay-Z slated to be the main event that closed the award show, it was local rapper Lil Mama who was the focus. Lil Mama crashed the performance which led to a lot of backlash for the Harlem rapper.
“I had to deal with Ed Lover on the radio in the morning, Wendy Williams, Angie Martinez, who talked to Jay, and he was just like, ‘Yeah, you know. I didn’t like it.’ He was so angry and I was just trying my best to do everything I could do,” she said of crashing the performance.
“After a while, I was like, ‘Forgive yourself, bro. Move forward. 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?’”
Jay-Z Comes to Beyonce’s Defense
Act one of Beyonce’s Renaissance series tipped the scales in a way the music industry hasn’t seen in some time. But still, the Houston artist hasn’t won Album of the Year at the Grammys.
Beyonce’s husband, Jay-Z, was quick to come to her defense at the 2024 award show. While accepting the Dr Dre Global Impact Award, he slammed the Grammy committee for never choosing his wife for the award.
“We love y’all. We want y’all to get it right. I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than anyone and never won Album of the Year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work,” he said.
“Even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work. Think about that. The most Grammys… never won album of the year. That doesn’t work.”