Chaka Khan moved on from her feud with Kanye West, who famously sampled her for his breakthrough single “Through the Wire.” The legendary singer told Rolling Stone her issues with Ye were a thing of the past as she was not “hanging on to any silly grudges” about the sample anymore.
“That was my fault, too, for feeling salty about that in any way,” Chaka Khan said. “Because if I understood the rap game more completely, like I do now, then that wouldn’t have been a big deal to me.”
Kanye received Chaka’s permission to sample her song “Through the Fire,” but she did not realize her voice would be sped up on his track. Chaka publicly complained about the alteration of her voice, noting how the experience changed the way she responded to sample requests. She most recently expressed her displeasure with Kanye’s “Through the Wire” in a 2022 interview with Good Day DC.
“I was upset about sounding like a chipmunk ’cause he didn’t put that when he asked could he sample my song,” she told Good Day DC. “He didn’t mention that he was going to speed it up three times its normal speed. Had he, I would’ve had something to say. But since I didn’t think of that, believe me, I think of it now. [Regarding samples] I ask, ‘How are we gonna do this?'”
Good Day DC asked Chaka if she ever heard from Kanye after she aired out her grievance with him. According to the Queen of Funk, he never reached out to her.
“No,” she said. “I’m not looking to hear from Kanye either. I’ve not heard from him and I’m not looking to hear from him. That’s what he did. That’s what he did with his music.”
Revisit “Through the Fire” and “Through the Wire” below.