Chaka Khan is a legend in music. With nearly 50 years of work in the music industry, her songs have been covered by many and have stood the test of time. While she is still touring and touching the hearts of many with her melodies, she recently stopped by Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live to talk about her career and made sure not to hold back on anything.
Khan talked about musical greats such as Prince, Mary J. Blige and Whitney Houston, but things took a turn when Kanye West‘s name was brought up. She was asked about how she felt when she heard that West had sampled her song “Through the Fire” for his hit track, “Through the Wire.”
She stated that the two talked before the track was ever put out or even started production. Khan also went as far as to say that she did not like the end result of the song. “He called me when he just got out of the hospital. He said, ‘You were so instrumental in my healing process. I changed the words a little bit to the song but I had to eat through a wire. Jaws wired shut through a straw.’ It meant that much to me. It really got my heart, tugged at my string. I was like, yeah, use it.”
“Then when it came out, I was pissed,” she said. “It was a little insulting. Not insulting, I thought it was stupid. If I’d known he was gonna do that (referring to the high-pitched chorus), I would have said, ‘Hell no.'” Khan then said that she never told Ye how much she didn’t like “Through the Wire,” but she also says that her silence might have been enough for him to get the message.