Chaka Khan Abandons Grievance Against Kanye West Regarding The Sampling of Her Song

After years since Kanye West sampled her timeless track ‘Through the Fire’ for his breakthrough single ‘Through the Wire’, Chaka Khan has had a change of heart regarding the rapper's utilisation of the song.

Image courtesy: The Harvard Crimson

Kanye West initially released ‘Through the Wire’, incorporating a pitched-up sample from Chaka Khan's 1984 single. Despite the R&B singer's assertions that she was never informed by West about how he intended to use the song for his track, she eventually cleared the sample at the urging of her son.

Image courtesy: People

In an interview, she characterised it as an "insult," and as recently as last year, she expressed being "upset about sounding like a chipmunk" as Kanye West never communicated his intention to alter the pitch.

Image courtesy: YouTube

“That was my fault, too, for feeling salty about that in any way,” she told Rolling Stone. “Because if I understood the rap game more completely, like I do now, then that wouldn’t have been a big deal to me.” When asked if it bothers her to this day, she responded, “No, I’m done. Please. I’m not hanging on to any silly grudges.”

-Sushmita Sarkar