Kelis claims she was sampled on Beyoncé’s ‘RENAISSANCE’ without permission

Kelis has claimed that she was sampled on Beyoncé’s new album ‘RENAISSANCE‘ without granting permission.

The singer has alleged that her 2000 track ‘Get Along With You’, which was produced by The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo), was sampled on a song called ‘Energy’.

According to the page source of Apple Music’s ‘RENAISSANCE listing, Williams and Hugo are credited as co-writers for ‘Energy’ but not Kelis.

Commenting on an Instagram post through the verified account for Kelis’ product line Bounty And Full, the musician said: “It’s not a collab it’s theft.”

“My mind is blown too because the level of disrespect and utter ignorance of all 3 parties involved is astounding,” Kelis wrote in another comment. “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.”

She also responded to a social media user who said, “I always felt like Beyoncé really admire [sic] Kelis”, by writing: “admire is not the word.”

Beyoncé has yet not responded to Kelis’ claims. NME has reached out to representatives of both artists for comment.

Kelis. Credit: Getty

In a 2020 interview with The Guardian Kelis spoke out how she has allegedly not been properly compensated for her early work with The Neptunes.

“I thought it was a beautiful and pure, creative safe space, but it ended up not being that at all,” she said.

“I was told we were going to split the whole thing 33/33/33, which we didn’t do,” adding that she was “blatantly lied to and tricked” by “the Neptunes and their management and their lawyers and all that stuff”.

Kelis added that she doesn’t make any money from her first two albums, ‘Kaleidoscope’ (1999) and ‘Wanderland’ (2001), both of which were produced by The Neptunes. ‘Get Along With You’ was released as the third single on ‘Kaleidoscope’ in 2000.

Meanwhile, Kelis performed a medley of her hits and enlisted a DJ for a buoyant mash-up of club and pop classics during her recent set at Truck Festival. Read the full review here.