Kelis Blasts Beyonce: She’s a THIEF With NO SOUL!
Long, long ago, Jay Z vs. Nas was the hip hop world’s most intense feud.
Now, Nas’ ex-wife is picking up the baton and hurling it directly at Mrs. Carter herself, Beyonce.
(We should note that the current feud has nothing to do with the Jay vs. Nas beef, we just love coincidences and hip hop history.)
As you’ve likely heard by now, Bey’s long-awaited Renaissance album leaked online this week several days ahead of its scheduled release date.
The album features a track called “Energy,” which features a sample from Kelis’ 2000 song “Get Along With You.”
It might’ve been a lovely tribute from one R&B queen to another.
The only problem is, the sample wasn’t cleared with Kelis, who only found out about it after Bey’s album was released.
Understandably upset, Kelis took to Instagram, where she went off on Bey in epic fashion:
“Some of the people in this business have no soul or integrity and they have everybody fooled,” Kelis wrote in response to a fan’s comment about the sample.
“I heard about this the same way everybody else did,” the “Milkshake” singer added.
Several commenters pointed out that Beyonce was already creatively indebted to Kelis, as it’s widely believed that Bey’s vocals on her song “Ring the Alarm” were inspired by the aggressive style that Kelis popularized early in her career.
Kelis’ disdain for her fellow songstress was made evident when one fan suggested that she should “admire” Beyonce, leading Kelis to quip, “Admire is not the word.”
When one Instagram user pointed out that Kelis did receive a songwriting credit on the album, the 42-year-old clapped back, “It’s not a collab it’s theft.”
“My mind is blown too because of the level of disrespect and utter ignorance of all 3 parties involved,” she continued.
The third party she’s alluding to seems to be mega-producer Pharrell, who collaborated on the Kelis song, and then apparently sold the sample to Beyonce with out the singer’s permission.
On Twitter and elsewhere, fans pointed out that this was not the first time that Kelis expressed her frustration with Pharrell.
“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 sh-t AGAIN,” one person tweeted.
“Had another artist that WASN’T Bey been involved, you all would be sympathetic.”
Another user encouraged Beyonce fans to hold back their criticism, noting that Kelis just lost her husband in 2020 at the age of 37.
“kelis has every right to be angry with all the hell she’s been through in the industry, especially at the hands of pharrell,” this person wrote.
“she just experienced an insurmountable loss & learned w/the rest of us that the man who f-cked her over is yet again making money off of her.
In a statement about the album released this morning, Beyonce made no reference to the Kelis controversy, but did thank her husband and kids for their help on her latest release.
“I want to give a special thank you to Rumi, Sir and Blue for allowing me the space, creativity, and inspiration,” she said, referencing her three children with Jay-Z.
“And a special thanks to my husband and muse, who held me down during those late nights in the studio.”
We’ll have further updates on this developing story as more information becomes available.
