Kelis is a legendary artist in the music industry and we will forever treat her as such.
She has given us hits like “Milkshake,” “Bounce,” and “Trick Me” — just to name a few. Plus, let’s not forget all of the trendsetting moments she has had throughout her career.
Despite her success as a musician, the 42-year-old has previously opened up about allegedly not receiving profits from her first two projects.
How it All Started
Both her 1999 “Kaleidoscope” and 2001 “Wanderland” albums were produced by The Neptunes, the production duo made up of Virginia natives Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo.
In a 2020 interview with The Guardian, Kelis revealed that she has never seen a dime from either of the bodies of work.
“I was told we were going to split the whole thing 33/33/33. which we didn’t do,” she alleged.
According to Kelis, it took years for her to notice that she never received publishing money accumulated from the first two projects.
“Their argument is: ‘Well, you signed it.’ I’m like ‘Yeah, I signed what I was told, and I was too young and too stupid to double-check it,'” she continued.
The Issue
At the time, the “Bossy” singer shared that her faith has kept her from being bitter about the entire situation.
However, Kelis spoke out after another Neptune-produced track has been sampled on Beyoncé’s latest “Renaissance” album.
Although Kelis’ vocals do not appear on the “Energy” track from Queen Bey’s new project, the sample from the 1999 “Get Along With You” does credit Williams and Hugo as co-writers. On the track, however, Kelis is not included as a contributor.
