[via ContactMusic]
[quote_box_center]

The Ain’t Nobody hitmaker claims she did not know West would speed up and alter the vocals from her 1985 single when he sampled it on Through the Wire, which launched his career in [2004].

She tells Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper, “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.”

[/quote_box_center]

Okay so let’s look at this for a moment. Now we all know that Kanye isn’t always the most likable personality because he can sometimes be a little harsh with his words…he’s just like Chaka, he has a very uncensored personality. So yeah, sometimes he may come across like a jerk to many, BUT that doesn’t negate the fact that the dude is a great producer and a good artist. The fact of the matter is that Chaka Khan has sold a whopping 70 million records throughout her career and Kanye has sold 21 million records and 100 million digital downloads. Kanye has also racked up from his hundreds of songwriting and producer’s credits.

As phenomenal as Chaka Khan is, the harsh reality is that Kanye West actually will have reached a broader audience and made more of a musical/cultural impact than Chaka by the end of his career…go figure! Do I think Chaka deserves the same amount, if not more, accolades than Kanye? ABSOLUTELY. It’s just the opportunities for today’s artists are different than what they were during Chaka’s era. So I’m saying all of this to say that although I definitely understand Chaka’s point of view about her dislike for Kanye’s song, I cannot ignore the fact that when Kanye released his “Through The Wire” single in 2004, it reintroduced Chaka to a much broader audience of generation X’ers and generation Y’ers, who otherwise would not have paid much attention to, or probably even missed, her beautiful legacy altogether. Kanye used Chaka’s song in a way that still maintained the integrity of her music and for that, I can also appreciate his version for what it is.
Let’s face it, Chaka’s song could have gotten into the hands of some of these newer so-called artists and producers, who rap about nothing other than “being in love with the coco (cocaine),” jewelry, cars and “hoes” all day, and many of whom cannot seem to rap on beat to save their lives. So maybe Chaka would disagree with me on this, but I’m grateful her song landed in the hands of Kanye instead.

With that said, let’s turn the page to get our jam on to Chaka’s Through The Fire and we’ve even thrown in Kanye’s version just for the fun of it…