Kelis has claimed that the Neptunes, which consists of Pharrell and Chad Hugo, stole the profits and publishing from her first two albums Kaleidoscope and Wanderland. On the 20th anniversary of her debut album, she told The Guardian that she was “blantantly lied to and tricked” by “The Neptunes and their management and their lawyers and all that stuff.” She added, “I was told we were going to split the whole thing 33/33/33, which we didn’t do.”
Kelis said she didn't make any more from the sales of her first two albums and it actually took her a few years to realize it because she was making money from touring “and just the fact that I wasn’t poor felt like enough.”
The singer admitted that she signed the contract but she brand new to the business. She explained, “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.'”
KELIS SAID SHE SAW PHARRELL AT AN INDUSTRY EVENT A FEW YEARS BACK
Kelis said that she saw Pharrell a few years back at an industry event. She told the magazine,”And he did that thing to me that he’s notorious for, which is making a nod from the stage to someone in the audience, so it seems like there’s mutual respect, when in reality …” I’m like, OK, I’m not going to yell back: ‘You stole all my publishing!’ So you end up nodding back and everyone thinks everything’s great. Like, whatever.”
Kelis said that she isn't angry with The Neptunes. She explained, “To be honest with you, I think if it were not for my faith, I feel like that would probably be the case. It’s very clear to me, especially being on a farm, that whatever you put in the ground, that is what’s going to come back to you.”
On if she'd ever work with Pharrell again, she said, “Ummm, at that point there’s having faith and there is also just stupidity.”
KELIS SAYS NAS IS STILL AN ABSENTEE DAD
Meanwhile, Kelis also opened up about her ex-husband Nas, saying that he is still an absentee dad to their 10-year-old son Knight. She explained, “My kid is a really happy child, because I don’t tell him when his father says he’s going to come and doesn’t show up.”
She also revealed that Knight was the reason she left Nas, who was physically abusive. She said, “I thought, you know, I can endure a lot, but I’m not prepared to bring someone else into this. So I’m done.”
On her new marriage to photographer Mike Mora and their four-year-old son Shepherd, she said, “Well, I’m a very private person, and whether it’s the stuff with the Neptunes and being assaulted from a business perspective, to then being assaulted in the home, I fought so hard to have my own voice, even with the umbrella of these men looming over what I was trying to do. I’m not broken. But I don’t feel like protecting the sanctity of the black man any more.”