Kelis is not here for Beyoncé sampling her music… without her knowledge.
Wednesday, Queen Bey’s seventh studio album, “Renaissance,” leaked and fans quickly noticed the track “Heat” features a sample of a Kelis song.
Original reports said the song sampled Kelis’ 1999 single “Get Along With You.” However, it was later revealed that the song actually included an interpolation from Kelis’ 2003 hit song “Milkshake.”
While a Kelis fan page was celebrating the news, the singer was not amused.
“My mind is blown too because the level of disrespect and utter ignorance of all 3 parties involved is astounding,” she wrote from her chef page under the Instagram post. “I heard about this the same way everyone else did. Nothing is ever as it seems, some of the people in this business have no soul or integrity and they have everyone fooled.”
A fan commented “Awesome…that’s a collab the world really needs.” Kelis replied, “It’s not a collab it’s theft.”
In another reply, the singer called the situation “ridiculous.”
Later Thursday evening, Kelis further explained her stance in videos posted on Instagram.
“I just heard the record everyone is saying has my sample. But it’s beyond this song at this point.”
She captioned a second Instagram post, “This was a TRIGGER for me. ‘Milkshake’ alone is one of the most licensed records of our generation. I am a creator, I’m an innovator, I have done more then left my mark on an era of music and style that will go down in history. But there are bully’s and secrets and gangsters in this industry that smile and get away with it until someone says enough is enough. So I’m saying it today . I’m coming for what’s mine and I want reparations.”
In the videos, Kelis continued calling out Beyonce, saying it was “stupid and disrespectful” of her to sample the song without reaching out beforehand. She also called out Pharrell, credited with Chad Hugo as a writer and producer of the song. It is unclear whether Beyonce was legally obligated to reach out to Kelis to clear the sample before the album’s release.
Renaissance officially drops Friday, July 29.
