Kelis Pleads Not Guilty In Child Custody Feud With Ex-Husband Nas

According to Music News, singer Kelis has entered a not guilty plea in response to charges she violated her child custody agreement with ex-husband Nas close to 20 times. Her rapper ex, Nas, has asked a family court judge to hold her in contempt after accusing his former wife of willfully ignoring the official custodial agreement they signed for their son, Knight.

Kelis and Nas got married in June 2005 and then divorced in May 2010. Knight was born in 2009, a year before the divorce was finalized. In 2014, she re-married to real estate agent Mike Mora. They had their first child together, Shepherd, in 2015.

Nas has alleged that the “Trick Me” hitmaker violated the custody order at least 17 times since January 2018. He also claims she is planning to relocate to Colombia with their kid, without his consent.

The Blast reported that Kelis entered a not guilty plea to 20 contempt of court charges in response to Nas’ latest allegations on April 12. A new trial has been scheduled for June 20. If Kelis is found guilty, she could face fines or even jail time.

Nas claimed Kelis broke their regular arrangement by keeping Knight over the New Year’s holiday, a clear violation of the custody agreement.

“In or around December of 2018, Petitioner (Kelis) moved to Cartagena, Colombia and took the minor child without my consent,” his legal filing read.

“On Christmas, Petitioner informed me by text message that although her ‘plan’ had been to bring the minor child back to me in Los Angeles for New Year’s, the plan had changed. She then stated that the new plan was to come back on January 4, 2019.”

The “I Can” rapper also revealed that Kelis had removed their son from a school in Los Angeles without him knowing and stated he was not able to communicate with Knight while he was out of the country.

Nas is also seeking $8,000 Kelis was previously ordered to pay in sanctions.

Kelis burst onto the music scene in the late ’90s. Her debut single, “Caught Out There,” peaked at No. 4 in the U.K. and No. 54 in the U.S. It was taken from her debut studio album Kaleidoscope, which was produced by American duo, The Neptunes, composed of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo.

In 2003, she released her most successful album to date, Tasty. It contained the hit songs, “Milkshake,” “Trick Me,” and “Millionaire,” featuring Andre 3000.

Nas, on the other hand, burst onto the rap scene in the early ’90s. His debut album Illmatic has become a hip-hop classic. His second studio album It Was Written became his first of five albums to top the U.S. albums chart.

Last year, he released his 12th studio album, Nasir, that peaked in the top five in the U.S.