Did Kelis play herself coming for Beyoncé’s ❝thievery❞?


Apparently, Kelis was FUMING after finding out Beyoncé sampled her song on her new album 'Renaissance' without her permission. 

Bey’s 'Energy' pulls from 'Milshake' off Kelis’ 2003 album 'Tasty,' both of which were produced by The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams). In a comment left on her “bountyandfull” Instagram account, Kelis calls out Bey, Pharrell and Chad Hugo for disrespecting her. 



This is absolutely mind boggling because Kelis’s name does not originally appear on the songwriting and production credits for 'Milkshake,' unlike Pharrell and Chad who are both listed. 

Anyone would think she sampled Kelis's vocals but when you listen to both songs, you can barely hear the sample! The only thing that was used was the distant drum pattern (that Pharrell literally produced). No vocals. 




She addressed certain people in her comment section going on to say, “It’s not a collab it’s theft.” 
...
She even went back on Instagram and doubled down on her remarks in a video message (below). If she felt Beyoncé stole from her, why not go through the proper channels and sue like many other artists rather than make a social media spectacle of herself for attention? 


I'm not trying to shade Kelis because I love her music and in the past I myself have called out Beyoncé for previous unfair practices but this is REACHING for sure. Beyoncé credited Pharrell who produced the original sample so this should not have been an issue. Had Pharrell used this sample for an UNKNOWN artist we would not have heard a peep from Kelis. It seems her upset stems from mega star Beyoncé not publicly giving her her flowers because maybe just maybe that would have given her some major clout.

4 Comments:

Anonymous said...

For the life of me I can’t hear any sample or comparison between the two whatsoever, or between Energy and Milkshake (I’ve read different reports on which song it’s meant to sample. Kelis has a right to feel how she feels if it does sample her work but I think her rant was over the top and embarrassing - Remi

Toya said...

I know right! You'd think it was a complete copy n paste job but the sample is very vague, almost not audibly visible. She could have kept that rant to herself.

Anonymous said...

I understand where Kelis is coming from (literally years of mistreatment and the Neptunes playing her). How bad was it to just call her beforhead ?

Anonymous said...

I get that she is upset about how things were handled and it seems the underlying problem is the beef between her and Pharrell as an intentional slight towards her but I don’t hear the sample or at least not much of it to warrant this response. Beyoncé is not innocent but this is a stretch on Kelis’s part. Plus I’m over “artists keep stealing my stuff” attitude. Unless it’s blatant, the reality is everyone borrows from others. - Rosee