The 10-time GRAMMY winner didn't hold back while letting her feelings known.
It's been over two months since Rolling Stone released its "200 Greatest Singers of All Time" list, but only now has Chaka Khan gotten wind of it, and she's not having it.
While speaking to host Andrew Goldman on Los Angeles magazine's The Originals podcast, the Queen of Funk didn't pull any punches when sharing her exact feelings about the list. On top of directing her wrath at Rolling Stone editors for creating a list she says sows division, Khan also went off on those who landed ahead of her, like Mary J. Blige.
For starters, when Khan hopped on the podcast, she said she hadn't heard of the list. Goldman told her about it and reeled off where she and others ranked, and it seriously rankled her. For the record, Khan came in at No. 29, well ahead of other legendary singers like Diana Ross (No. 87), Janis Joplin (No. 78), Tina Turner (No. 55) and Mick Jagger (No. 52).
When told Mariah Carey landed at No. 5, Khan quipped, "That must be payola or some s**t like that."
Next, Adele, who came in at No. 22. Goldman delivered the news thinking it would get Khan's approval. No dice.
"OK, I quit," she said.
Khan also had some parting shots for Rolling Stone editors when she was informed Blige landed four spots ahead of her at No. 25.
"They are blind as a motherf**king bat!" she shouted. "They need hearing aids ... these must be the children of Helen Keller!"
Joan Baez, the contemporary folk singer who in April 2017 was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, came in at No. 189 on the list, but that didn't prevent Khan to throw major shade her way.
"Let's be honest, the b**ch cannot sing!" she said. "Now, she was a good writer."
For what it's worth, Khan did offer major kudos to Aretha Franklin (No. 1), Whitney Houston (No. 2) and Beyonce (No. 8), saying "justice" was served with Franklin's ranking, calling Houston and Beyonce's rankings "great."
As for the list itself, Khan feels such lists have ulterior motives.
"See, what people who are doing lists like that really wanna do it seems to me -- and I could be wrong, but I doubt it -- they are trying to, in some way, maybe not knowingly, put us on a hate list where [we say] ‘They’re doing better than me. I should feel some type of way,'" Khan said. "That’s ridiculous. I refuse to be in a space where I look at my fellow artists and they’re pitting us against each other."
The 10-time GRAMMY winner recently spoke to ET and reflected on a storied 50-year career in the music business. She took a lot of pride in that, knowing that at any given performance, she can look out into the audience and see fans across several generations.
"I've got five generations in any given audience," said Khan, who last summer dropped "Woman Like Me, her latest single. "Five generations of people, and I think that's significant."
RELATED CONTENT:
