If you haven’t heard by now…Chaka Khan is never one to censor her words, nor her feelings. If she does not like you, or something about you, rest assured you will either get a funny look from her, or a direct calling out from this living icon. Kanye West is no exception to this fact.

Chaka recently voiced her opinion, yet again, about Kanye’s homage to her, by sampling her song, “Through The Fire,” for his debut single, “Through The Wire.” It turns out, she hated it! However, a move she made with Kanye afterwards has some folks confused.

A few years ago, Chaka told Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper this regarding Kanye’s sampling of her song:

“I didn’t like at all what he did with my song because he made me sound like a chipmunk… I didn’t know that he was going to take my vocal and speed it up. I didn’t give him permission to do that and yet the song kickstarted his entire career.”

Fast forward to 2022 — during a recent interview on Fox 5 (video below) — Chaka is still goin’ off about what she hates about Kanye’s sampling of her song. She also said she has zero desire to chop it up with ‘Ye going forward.

Here’s What’s Confusing About Chaka’s Statements

Don’t get me wrong, ’round here at I Love Old School Music…we love us some Chaka…but we’ve also gotta call a spade a spade when we see it.

What’s confusing about Chaka’s continued disdain for the way Kanye sampled her vocals is that she showed up to perform that very song — “Through The Wire” with Kanye in 2004 AFTER he’d already released the song for his “College Dropout” album that same year. ‘Ye’s album released in February 2004…and 6 months later in August 2004, there was Chaka on stage, singing her heart out with him at the 2004 VMA Awards.

So, the question is: What transpired afterwards? Because from the looks of their collaborative performance (below), everything was al good between them.

The Reality Is…

At any rate, let’s be real….we all know that Kanye isn’t always the most likable personality and he sometimes comes across like a jerk to many, BUT that doesn’t negate the fact that the dude is a solid producer/artist.

As phenomenal as Chaka Khan is, the harsh reality is that Kanye will likely reach a broader audience than Chaka by the end of his career…go figure! On the flip side, does Chaka deserves the same amount — if not more — accolades than Kanye? ABSOLUTELY. But unfortunately, the opportunities for today’s artists are different than what they were during Chaka’s era.

So, although Chaka’s point of view about her dislike for Kanye’s song is understandable, we can’t ignore the fact that when Kanye released his 2004 “Through The Wire” single, it reintroduced Chaka to a much broader audience of generation X’ers and Millennials at that time, who otherwise would not have paid as much attention to — or may have missed altogether — her beautiful legacy.

Now, when it comes to Kanye’s questionable political views and whatnot…nah, that’s where I’d suggest the brotha just stick to what he does best – be a creative force for the culture.