A celebrity feud is heating up after singer Kelis launched a series of Instagram rants targeting Beyoncé and Pharrell Williams, labeling Bey as “disrespectful” and a thief.
Even before Beyoncé’s new Renaissance album dropped, the star was already dealing with leaks, and it all began after one Instagram fan account began spreading details about the tracks.
The account was highlighting one of the new songs, “Energy,” which samples the Neptunes-produced song “Get Along With You,” from Kelis’ debut 1999 album.
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Using her celebrity chef account @bountyandfull, Kelis took to the comments section. “My mind is blown too because the level of disrespect and utter ignorance of all 3 parties involved is astounding,” she wrote.
“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.”
Replying to another comment, Kelis wrote: “it’s not a collab, it’s theft.” When another user wrote, “I always felt like Beyonce really admire (sic) Kelis,” she replied: “admire is not the word.”
Then, taking to her own Instagram account, Kelis posted two videos slamming the stars.
“I said what I said, ’cause it’s the truth,” Kelis, who recently lost her husband, Mike Mora, to cancer, writes in the caption.
“You don’t have to like it or agree. Facts are facts. If you’re a sheep keep it movin’ this convo will be over your head. I didn’t ask for this, but I’m not afraid of it either.”
In the videos, Kelis says she’s “an artist and sensitive about my shit.”
“The reality is that my real beef is not only with Beyoncé because at the end of the day she’s sampled a record, she’s copied me before.. it’s fine.
“The issue is that not only are we Black female artists in an industry where there’s not many of us,” but she and Beyoncé have “met each other, we know each other, we have mutual friends, it’s not hard, she can contact, right? It’s just common decency, especially because… I know what I own and what I don’t own.
“I also know the lies that were told, I know the things that were stolen,” she says cryptically.
“It’s not about me being mad at Beyonce. She is one issue because it was stupid and disrespectful, and she should have at least reached out.”
Kelis then launches at Pharrell, claiming that he purposely sampled her track without asking her and that it was a “direct hit at me.”
“He does this stuff all the time, it’s very petty,” she says.
“I have the right to be frustrated.”
In another video caption, she writes: “I just heard the record everyone is saying has my sample. But it’s beyond this song at this point. 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 (sic) left my mark on an era of music and style that will go down in history. But there are bully’s (sic) 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. Peace.”
She again takes aim at Beyoncé and Pharrell for “a lot of hypocrisy and a lot of nonsense,” citing a previous interview in which Pharrell talked about artists’ rights and recognition.
“He has writing credits on my records, all my singles coincidentally, and he ain’t never wrote a song, a lyric a day in his life.”
Of Beyoncé, Kelis says, “all the stuff she sings about, all the empowerment… all this female empowerment stuff only counts if you really do it. If you’re really living it and walking the walk.”
Kelis then sings a line from Pharrell’s song “Happy.”
“I’d be happy too if I was stealing publishing and rights to songs and all kinds of stuff. I actually wouldn’t be happy because it’s evil.
“There’s a lot of hypocrisy and someone needs to talk about it and bring it up, it just so happens that I was thrown in this, it’s not like I looked for it.”
She calls Beyoncé’s track thievery and said, “I would never do that to another artist. Something has to be done about it, it happens to a lot of artists and it happens all the time. I try to keep to myself and stay out of the drama.”
Her posts were liked by famous faces including Heidi Klum and Deborah Cox.
No reply yet from Beyoncé or Pharrell.
