Nevertheless, Khan was curious to hear who else appeared in the top 200. Some of Rolling Stone's decisions struck her as apt, like granting Aretha Franklin the top spot ("As she fucking should be") and including Joan Baez on the bubble, at #189 ("let's be honest, the bitch cannot sing. Now, she was a good writer.") In granting Mariah Carey the #5 spot, however, Khan suspects the kind of industry chicanery that has long dogged the singer ("That must be payola or some shit like that.").
It was Adele's inclusion, a few spaces ahead of Khan at #22, that brought on a momentary existential crisis. ("Okay, I quit.") However, nothing seemed to prepare Khan for the news that longtime frenemy Mary J. Blige appears on the list just ahead of her, at #25. Khan remarked on Rolling Stone's editors. "They are blind as a motherfucking bat! They need hearing aids...These must be the children of Helen Keller!"
The history: Though decades ago in concert, Khan had been known to introduce the 1975 Rufus ballad, "Sweet Thing" as "the song Mary J. Blige fucked up" after the "queen of hip-hop soul" covered the song for her 1992 debut album. The pair appeared to have been enjoying a long détente, and Blige even sang on Khan's 2007 song, "Funk This." Now thanks to Rolling Stone, that truce may have run its course.
