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Reports have been made that Kelis has been dropped from Jive, the label that houses such artists as Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and R. Kelly. Formally signed to Pharrell William’s Star Trak Music, with distribution through Virgin Records, rumors are that Kelis has been dropped due to disappointing numbers on her 2006 release, Kelis Was Here, despite plenty of guest spots, including a collaboration with her husband, Nas.

This doesn’t come as a surprise though. Kelis has been complaining about Jive for a while in recent interviews. Even though Star Trak’s distribution was through Virgin, it was later moved to Arista and, through the SonyBMG merger, she ended up with Jive.

“It was a case of being in the ever-shrinking world of the record industry and finding herself on a label she wasn’t signed to and without a champion,” says Kelis’ manager, Jeff Rabhan. “She’s a different kind of artist — very image and style-driven. It’s either something you get or you don’t.”

We’ll see though. Kelis hasn’t been able to do good numbers for quite some time. 2003′s “Milkshake” was a huge single, but the album Tasty only managed to be certified gold. Meanwhile, Kelis has been working on an indie dance record with Cee-Lo, which should be interesting (they collaborated on her last single, “Lil’ Star”), as well as a pop record with Guy Chambers that will be shopped around soon.

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