Chaka Khan. Source: Santiago Felipe / Getty
Chaka Khan is a legend in R&B and pays attention to those who have come after her. She admires some of the new talents but isn’t a fan of those who use auto-tune. It has become a staple in music over the past 20 years and some artists depend on it quite heavily. The “Sweet Thing” singer had some advice for the auto-tune lovers.
“There is some great stuff out there and there are some great artists,” she told Page Six at the Angel Ball in New York City. “There’s some very fine young artists out there doing great great work that I am impressed with. But the others, they just need to get them a job at the Post Office — they are always hiring!,” she added, “People are using Auto-tune. They need to get to the Post Office quick.”
The Grammy-award winning singer said she also noticed that some of R&B’s stars don’t have much confidence.
“I feel very sad. It saddens me deeply that so much… insecurity is present in these girls,” she said. “They really need to know that they are the gold and that they really are precious.”
Chaka Khan Has No Problem Speaking Her Mind
Another thing Chaka Khan wasn’t a fan of was the way Kanye West sampled her song “Through the Fire” for his breakout single “Through the Wire.” During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live! With Andy Cohen, she said when she gave him permission to sample her song, she thought it would sound “differently than the song turned out.”
Khan said West called her and explained how he ate through a feeding tube after a car accident. She said she was touched by his story and agreed to the 1984 track being sampled. But when she heard the final product, she wasn’t happy because it was sped up.
It was a little insulting,” she said. “Not insulting — I thought it was stupid. If I’d known he was gonna do that, I would have said, ‘Hell no.’”
On Good Day DC, she said West didn’t mention it would be altered that much.
“[Kanye] didn’t mention that he was gonna speed it up, you know, three times its normal speed,” she said. “Had he, I would’ve had something to say. But since I didn’t think of that, believe me, I think of it now. I ask, ‘How are we gonna do this?’”
