Nas also felt Kelis hanging with certain people — like Jay-Z — would negatively affect his image, which he’d use as another excuse to fight.
“He is obsessed with his image. That’s why people think he’s phenomenal and I’m some raging, crazy bitch because he gives a damn and I don’t care. I’m like ‘I’ll be that'”.
It would be after Kelis filed for divorce and had their son that she’d see a much darker side of Nas.
In October 2009, 3 months after Kelis gave birth to their son Knight, Kelis returned to the L.A. home she shared with Nas to see a foreclosure notice. Kelis said their agreement during their marriage was that Kelis would cover the down payment on their properties and Nas would pay the mortgage. Kelis, carrying a 3 month old baby, called Nas and told him there was a foreclosure notice on the door.
Nas’s reply: “go f*ck yourself”.
The singer was terrified, she says. She’d spent the entire previous year in culinary school. The year before that, she’d ended her 10 year run with her label and decided to leave the music industry behind. Now, there she was: a single mother with no money. So she grudgingly returned to music and released her 2010 album “Flesh Tone” to make ends.
“I was in the worst time of my life”, says Kelis. “I was devastated. It was hard, and I had to pull it together because it was me and this baby.”
“I needed help. I wanted help. I asked for help. There was no help. So, when you dip in and wanna come around, that’s fine. But you haven’t been a parent and you haven’t been around for a very long time. So to show up now, yes, I’m angry”.
According to Kelis, his child support payments just became consistent 2 years ago. Their son Knight turns 9 in July.