Kelis says Beyoncé stole her sample on Renaissance

Kelis just found out her song ‘Get Along With You’ will be sampled on Beyoncé’s Renaissance and calls it theft.

Musician Kelis recently found out that her song ‘Get Along With You’ will be sampled on Beyoncé’s track ‘Energy’ from her upcoming album Renaissance. According to her statements on Instagram, she found out at the same time everyone else did, when the album leaked only days before its release.

‘Get Along With You’ is from Kelis’ 1999 debut album Kaleidoscope and was produced by The Neptunes. Kelis has repeatedly been exploited for her music and has struggled to gain ownership over her own work, even stating that she did not receive any money for her first two albums, both of which were produced by The Neptunes.

In addition, Kelis received no songwriting credits on either of the albums and when she chose to work with a variety of producers on her 2003 album Tasty, The Neptunes told the artist they would not work with her again. To add even more salt to the wound, in the songwriting credits for ‘Energy,’ her name appears to be missing while Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo are credited.

“@Beyonce‘s RENAISSANCE album will include a @kelis sample on the song ‘Energy’. 🤯”

“My mind is blown too because the level of disrespect and utter ignorance of all 3 parties involved is astounding . 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”

“Awesome… Thats a collab the world really needs”

“@havootu it’s not a collab it’s theft”

Here is the music video for Kelis’ ‘Get Along With You’

Beyoncé recently spoke about the project on her website and what it meant to her to formulate it during the Covid-19 pandemic. She also revealed that the album will be a three-part project, read below for her full statement:

“THIS THREE-ACT PROJECT WAS RECORDED OVER THREE YEARS DURING THE PANDEMIC. A TIME TO BE STILL, BUT ALSO A TIME I FOUND TO BE THE MOST CREATIVE.

CREATING THIS ALBUM ALLOWED ME A PLACE TO DREAM AND TO FIND ESCAPE DURING A SCARY TIME FOR THE WORLD. IT ALLOWED ME TO FEEL FREE AND ADVENTUROUS IN A TIME WHEN LITTLE ELSE WAS MOVING. MY INTENTION WAS TO CREATE A SAFE PLACE, A PLACE WITHOUT JUDGMENT. A PLACE TO BE FREE OF PERFECTIONISM AND OVERTHINKING. A PLACE TO SCREAM, RELEASE, FEEL FREEDOM. IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY OF EXPLORATION.

I WANT TO GIVE A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO RUMI, SIR, AND BLUE FOR ALLOWING ME THE SPACE, CREATIVITY, AND INSPIRATION. AND A SPECIAL THANKS TO MY BEAUTIFUL HUSBAND AND MUSE, WHO HELD ME DOWN DURING THOSE LATE NIGHTS IN THE STUDIO A BIG THANK YOU TO MY UNCLE JONNY. HE WAS MY GODMOTHER AND THE FIRST PERSON TO EXPOSE ME TO A LOT OF THE MUSIC AND CULTURE THAT SERVE AS INSPIRATION FOR THIS ALBUM. THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE PIONEERS WHO ORIGINATE CULTURE, TO ALL OF THE FALLEN ANGELS WHOSE CONTRIBUTIONS HAVE GONE UNRECOGNIZED FOR FAR TOO LONG. THIS IS A CELEBRATION FOR YOU. THANK YOU TO MY PARKWOOD CREW, MY SLAB, DREAM, AND ALL OF THE TALENTED PRODUCERS INVOLVED MAMA, I LUHHHH YOU, TO MY FATHER, MY 0.5, MY FIRST TEACHER: YOU INSPIRE ME IN EVERY MOVE THAT I MAKE. I LOVE YOU

TO ALL OF MY FANS: I HOPE YOU FIND JOY IN THIS MUSIC. I HOPE IT INSPIRES YOU TO RELEASE THE WIGGLE. HA! AND TO FEEL AS UNIQUE, STRONG, AND SEXY AS YOU ARE.

LOVE Y’ALL DEEP, B”

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