Report: Beyonce Removes Kelis Sample from ‘Renaissance’ After Controversy Over Credits

‘Milkshake’ singer Kelis stirred up quite the controversy when she took to social media last week to slam Beyonce for allegedly including interpolations of her 1999 song ‘Get Along with You’ and 2003 hit ‘Milkshake’ on the album ‘Renaissance.’

And while criticism from fans (affectionately called the #Beyhive) hasn’t cooled since Kelis called out the music megastar, that process will undoubtedly get helped along as reports have it the Queen Bey has responded by removing the sample.

On Tuesday (August 2), people who utilize TIDAL to stream ‘Renaissance’ noticed Kelis’ name was absent from the list of contributors to the song ‘Energy.’

While said removal has yet to be seen on other streaming services, it’s believed to be well in the works.

During her rant last week, Kelis made it clear her anger was directed mostly at The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo) as they wrote and produced the two songs allegedly sampled without permission. However, she didn’t spare Bey a stinging word or two.

“We’ve got Beyonce who, like I said, out of human decency and artistry and a female and all the empowerment stuff she sings about…I don’t talk about it, I am about it. All this female empowerment stuff, it only counts if you actually do it,” the GRAMMY nominee scolded. Later, she added, “no, it’s not a collaboration. It’s called thievery because the definition of collaboration means we are working together. There’s no working together – you’re not even checking to see if everything’s cool. That’s a problem. I would never do that to another artist.”

Although Bey has not made an official statement about the removal (as of time reported), it comes as the latest in a string of headline-grabbing events tied to her new album’s release including a leak ahead of its slated July 29 drop as well as backlash from disability advocates for the inclusion of “offensive” lyrics.