Calling all hip hop practitioners, it's that time again. I need to be honest I didn't realize we we're still talking about the post MTV awards drama. You have to love Jay-Z in all of his witty glory. Recently Mr. Number 1 Record in the Country Hov called into the radio station to chop it up with Angie Martinez. Among the chit chatter Martinez brought up how did Jay feel about Lil Mama crashing his performance of Empire State Of Mind featuring Alicia Keys. Once the smoke cleared these are the pieces left standing.

Usually Hov downplays such opportunities to allow minute subject matter his space-time. Much to my surprise Jay did have an opinion on the circumstance and it was totally understandable.

Mr. Carter stated, "I would never do that, I would never have the nerve to do that. I thought it was the equivalent to what Kanye did to Taylor Swift, but nobody really talked about that because I'm not a little sweet girl from Middle America...We worked really hard...People put in weeks to make that performance happen. If you look at those screens, we had to go to Yankee Stadium. We did rehearsals, run-throughs...I was a little angry, yeah. But what I'ma do, fight Lil Mama?"

I guess it's kind of similar to when a little white girl gets kidnapped and the media goes crazy, but when a young minority is found on the losing end of the stick you never hear a peep.

This is an interesting view on the events at hand. It honestly makes a lot of sense. Lil Mama being a performer too should be able to relate to all of the hours, days, and weeks that can go into perfecting a great performance. A well-organized stage show can be the ticket to introducing an artist's new material to an audience. An artist and his or her team must be strategic and calculating towards what gets exposed to the public. It's called being a professional. Not to mention all of the money that goes into props and equipment to produce a quality show. No one should take it upon themselves to tamper with another person's brand and in effect that's what the young tike did by rudely inserting herself unto the program. It was a genuinely awkward surprise.

Jay's view aligns with Keys as Alicia already made it a point to express that, "I can appreciate her overwhelmed and inspired, but we would have preferred her doing it from her seat," Keys said on the Today Show Wednesday morning (September 16). Keys seemed very irritated but the show must go on.

Since the awards Lil Mama has attempted to explain her stance saying that she was consumed with excitement and pride as the song chanted out eclectic stories of the five boroughs. Lil Mama clearly meant no disrespect and only wanted to demonstrate her love and respect for her home state by paying homage in her own way. She also has kept the pot boiling by recently releasing a freestyle touching on the subject using the same beat as Hov's hit song. Let's keep in mind that she's still young and in a stage a development towards maturity. 

- By Sha'Linda Jeanine