Kelis Claims She Was 'Blatantly Lied To & Tricked' By Pharrell

Kelis may forgive, but she doesn't forget.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, the "Milkshake" singer got candid about her early career, specifically her first two albums — Kaleidoscope (1999), and Wanderland (2001) — which were entirely produced by her once close friends The Neptunes, aka Pharrell and Chad Hugo, who she met through a mutual friend at performing arts school when she was 19.

During the sit-down, Kelis claimed that her partnership with Pharrell and Chad went sour when she found out that her friends were allegedly ripping her off. "I thought it was a beautiful and pure, creative safe space. But it ended up not being that at all,” she explained. "I was told we were going to split the whole thing 33/33/33, which we didn’t do."

Kelis added that she was “blatantly lied to and tricked" by not only the production duo, but “the Neptunes and their management and their lawyers and all that stuff."

At first, she said she didn't notice the lack of income from her music because she was touring, "and just the fact that I wasn't poor felt enough." The 40-year-old singer continued, "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.'"

Despite this, she said she's not angry and is "just stating the facts," explaining that she carries no anger because of her faith. “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,” she shared.

Kelis went on to recall a few years back when she saw Pharrell performing at an industry event, “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.”

As for if she'd be down to work with Pharrell all these years later, well, in her words: "there’s having faith and there is also just stupidity.”

Photo: Getty Images