‘Common decency’: Beyoncé’s Renaissance sparks debate about the politics of music sampling

‘It doesn’t matter that she didn’t actually infringe Kelis’s rights. The point is that people think she did’ … Beyoncé. Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters

Robin Stone found out that her seminal 90s house hit Show Me Love was sampled on Break My Soul, the lead single from Beyoncé’s new album Renaissance, at the same time as everyone else. As the performer rather than the writer and producer of the song, her approval wasn’t required to clear its use – nor does she receive any income from it.

While Stone sees the nod as a compliment and proof of her 30-year relevancy, it also brings up old wounds. The writers of the song, Allen George and Fred McFarlane “never gave me my proper credit”, she says. “That first note is mine, the ad-libs are all mine, I added flavour to it. They’ve been eating at my table and I’ve been feeding their families for well over 30 years.”