Kelis said in 1999 that she just wanted to ‘Get Along With You’ on her second single.
Fast forward to 2022, that’s not the case right now between her and former friend/producer, Pharrell Williams.
Kelis previously spoke in 2020 about her issues with Pharrell and his producing partner, Chad Hugo— better known collectively as The Neptunes.
Kelis revealed in an interview with ‘The Guardian’ that the producing partners swindled her out of her writing credits and publishing for her first two albums ‘Kaleidoscope’ and ‘Wanderland’ unbeknownst to her.
“I was told we were going to split the whole thing 33/33/33, which we didn’t do,” Kelis told The Guardian, claiming she was “blatently lied to and tricked” in the process.
Kelis identifies “the Neptunes and their management and their lawyers” as the people responsible for her not seeing any of the profits from the sales of either Kaleidoscope or Wanderland. “Their argument is: ‘Well, you signed [the contracts].’ I’m like: ‘Yeah, I signed what I was told, and I was too young and too stupid to double-check it.’”
Despite never having previously spoken publicly about the allegations, Kelis says they’ve been on her mind for years. She recounts an occasion “a few years back” when Pharrell acknowledged her from the stage with a nod during a performance: “I’m like, OK, I’m not going to yell back: ‘You stole all my publishing!’ So you end up nodding back and everyone thinks everything’s great.”
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Now the messiness has carried over to 2022, as Kelis just found out that one of her songs (initially presumed to be ‘Get Along With You’) had been sampled for a song titled ‘Energy‘ on Beyonce‘s new album ‘Renaissance‘ that dropped on Friday. It was later confirmed that the song that was sampled was actually her hit single ‘Milkshake.’
According to Kelis, she was not aware and only found out once fans began tagging her on social media once the album’s song credits hit the net. She addressed the matter from her Bounty and Full business page on Instagram.
Now Beyoncé you know better than that. I love you to the moon and back but I can’t defend this pic.twitter.com/ZHzlncPbsD
— EternalQueenOfRap (@EternalQueenOf1) July 28, 2022
As expected, social media is on fire over the matter and debating whether Kelis has the right to be upset.
Okay Queens listen!!
Not too much on Kelis. That lady still grieving and that manifests in strange ways.
Look away!
— Big Red (@HassanSayyed) July 28, 2022
Y’all are really acting like Kelis hasn’t BEEN talking about how wrong Pharrell did her for YEARS when it came to her music, and she’s clearly angry because he did this shit AGAIN. Had another artist that WASN’T Bey been involved, you all would be sympathetic. pic.twitter.com/XZ7T3959Bz
— AD III 👑/July 30th ♌️🦁 (@anseldeangelo) July 28, 2022
Beyoncé gave Kelis Credit for a song she didn’t receive credit on when the song was released because she didnt write or produce the song.Beyoncé was the first and only one to give Kelis credit for the song, now she will receive financial benefits because of Beyoncé “exploitation” https://t.co/ynKngnz0Qm
— 👑 Mr. Weeks 👑 (@WonderKing82) July 28, 2022
Pharrell is gonna use the royalties he gets off this from still owning Kelis’s masters to release a sneaker that says “EQUALITY” 🙏🏾 https://t.co/xH3GxSIPqK
— No Context Jordan Coley (@GifGordon) July 25, 2022
Kelis is well within her right to be mad, she’s just like….mad at the wrong person. Talk to that Happy nigga!
— Herb Ertlinger (@Juli_nPls) July 28, 2022
Folks are gaslighting Kelis & trying to invalidate her feelings. But any person would be upset to see their work as an artist constantly being stolen or not receiving credit. Like, yeah, The Neptunes owns her masters. But that’s the whole point. They exploited & stole from her.
— Bella Goth (@HotCommieGal) July 28, 2022
Kelis doesn’t own the song, or the masters for it, it belongs to Pharrell. Bey never had to clear anything w Kelis. pic.twitter.com/Ns19JI4dbm
— CareBear🤗 (@4everRnbGenius) July 28, 2022
Pharrell until you do right by KELIS everything you think about is going to CRUMBLE pic.twitter.com/4VaNV9t1Ir
— 玉♡ (@mahogany_mamii) July 28, 2022
How is it not Beyoncé’s problem when she is the one who sampled a Kelis song? It’s fuck the original artist if they don’t own their masters? Not even a phone call or text like “hey I love your work and I’d like to sample it”? Come on 😭😭😭 https://t.co/bmxaY6AeUW
— Rossification 🦭 (@RossiSongo) July 28, 2022
And not for nothing, Kelis is for sure THE blueprint and rarely, if ever, receives her just credit. She’s really Muva.
— Kiy ♡ (@PinKIYSensei) July 28, 2022
Kelis is a very delusional woman
That album came out in 1999….aint no way u couldn’t rectify any publishing issues relating to that album which actually UNDERPERFORMED.
No one needs to reach out to u when u don’t own any part of the composition
— Niel (@Niell_Standard) July 28, 2022
Y’all are being very nasty to Kelis.. Like, as many times as y’all have shared Kelis on y’all’s pages for pioneering a certain sound/aesthetic. Y’all should really keep that same energy by respecting her as a person who was wronged & is still wronged by the industry.
— Bella Goth (@HotCommieGal) July 28, 2022
Kelis took to her personal IG page to address the matter and her issues with Pharrell, and Bey head-on!
View this post on InstagramView this post on Instagram
Following a weekend filled with backlash aimed at Kelis, Beyonce officially removed the sample and credits from her album on Tuesday. You can stream Bey’s new album HERE!
