Chaka Khan Said She Was ‘Pissed’ When She Heard Kanye West’s “Through The Wire” Sample

For many hip hop heads, when #KanyeWest’s “Through the Wire,” from his “College Dropout” album dropped in ‘03, it was an instant classic.

The song from the golden age of Kanye even earned him a #Grammy nomination but come to find out, the inspiration behind the song wasn’t very happy with it initially.

Kanye’s song sampled legend #ChakaKhan’s 1985 mega hit “Through the Fire” and now more than a decade later, Chaka is letting people know how she really feels about the sample after she gave Kanye her blessing to use her song. 

“I was pissed,” Chaka said during a recent appearance on #Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen.” “It was a little insulting. Not insulting, I thought it was stupid. If I’d known he was gonna do that, I would have said, ‘Hell no.'”

Chaka said the song turned out very differently than she had expected. She admits to originally giving Kanye permission to sample her song after they spoke on the phone following his infamous car accident.

“He called me when he just got out of the hospital,” Chaka said. “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 strings. I was like, ‘Yeah, use it.'”

She described that the sped up pace of the “Through the Fire” chorus in Kanye’s song as what she was most upset about.

When Andy asked Chaka if Kanye ever knew about her thoughts on his song, she said no but she said she gave him “crickets” and felt her silence said it all.

Sis did however say she got a little coin from Kanye’s song.

What are your thoughts on this one, Roommates? Let us know!

TSR STAFF: Christina C! @cdelafresh