Videos by According2HipHop
Brandy is not mincing any words in her new memoir, Phases. Including when it comes to her beef with rap star Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
Brandy Recalls Clash With Kanye Over ‘Afrodisiac’ Album
In her new book, Brandy recounts a time when she and the Grammy-winner clashed over creative differences on her 2004 studio album, Afrodisiac. Specifically that track, Where you wanna be.
“I didn’t understand why Kanye was fighting me on it. I just wanted a different mix of the vocals. We went back and forth for days, and I refused to make another concession, especially not about how my voice was presented,” she writes as heard through BuzzingPop on X. “He barely looked up from the soundboard. ‘Nah, I can’t do that.’ His eyes met mine, unflinching, a challenge in their depths: ‘I can’t because I turned it in already.’ [I asked what he meant by that]. He shrugged, turning back to his work as though this conversation was already over. ‘You’ll be aight,’ he said with a smug grin that set my teeth on edge.”
Brandy goes on to say that the dispute may seem minor on the surface. But she felt as if West was “stripping away” her creative agency on a “deeply personal” project. Especially after Atlantic Records offered West two placements on the album “without consulting” her.
“That may sound like a minor disagreement to someone on the outside looking in. But to me, it represented a stripping away of my agency on a deeply personal project,” she continued. “But I couldn’t afford to be upset or angry. I still had a video to shoot and a record to promote with Kanye. I’d also promised [Atlantic executive Gee Roberson] that I would return the favor and do a record on Kanye’s sophomore album, ‘Late Registration’. So, I swallowed my pride along with the lump in my throat, forced a smile that didn’t reach my eyes, and nodded like this was all part of the process.”
At the time of writing, Ye has not responded to Brandy’s claims.
