When Kelis burst into the scene a little over twenty years ago she did so with the support of Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams. Today, as she looks back on her career with wiser eyes, she says she was scammed by the pair and cheated out of millions. Her story below… The ‘Trick Me’ singer claims she was told she, Williams and Hugo would split their share of the songs they worked on three ways.
Alas, she says her collaborators went back on their word which meant she didn’t see a penny in publishing for her first two albums.
She told ‘The Guardian’:
I was told we were going to split the whole thing 33/33/33, which we didn’t do.
She claims the duo’s team employed legal muscle to ice her out of the credits and that she didn’t notice what had happened until years later because she was generating money from touring and “just the fact that I wasn’t poor felt like enough.”
Chad and Pharrell are yet to respond.
Poor kelis
Pharrell pretending to be a nice, woke, intellectual man when he’s nothing but a thief.
He used kelis and when he was done he threw her away.
Love kelis. Her only crime was she was way ahead of her time.
Her sound, her looks, her videos, her vibe etc everything was too ahead of it’s time.
Facts.
Sorry honey, her voice is too deep for me. Better put out more cookbooks than albums
Yikes. The music business is so sleazy. This is why artists need to have a reputable entertainment attorney representing them BEFORE they sign any agreements.
Indeed. Especially younger artists.
Publishing is extremely complicated. I love Kelis, but she wrote nothing on her first two albums. The Neptunes produced ALL the songs. All of them! On, at the time, one on the biggest labels at the time, Virgin Records. Plus Kelis didn’t really sell albums until her third album, with milkshake
Actually if you check you will see Kelis is listed as with CO WRITING credits for a few songs on her first and half a dozen on her Sophmore album – so it would be pretty shady if they listed her as co-writer but she never got co-writing publishing royalties.
Her music was hot and ahead of its time but I don’t trust anything she says after how ugly and bitter the venom she spewed was over her breakup with Nas and child support. She seems like she hates men period.
Agreed, however the only reason I may possibly believe her about this one is due to the fact she’s saying it years later and could have been said something but didn’t.
Naz is a woman-beating a**höle! Just like your name, Haterz Gon’ Hate bïiiiiiiïtch
According to Wikipedia, she co-wrote one song off her first album, not a single. Second album she co-wrote six songs, but that album wasn’t even released in the USA. I had to order the CD from Japan off Amazon. She does seem bitter, which begs the question why re-rerelease the album next month, if you aren’t making any money off it. Just do a tour.
They really maniuplate young and gulible artist period.