The-Dream has called out Diane Warren after she appeared to criticise Beyoncé for crediting multiple writers on each of her new songs.
On Monday, the prolific songwriter took to Twitter and asked followers, "How can there be 24 writers on a song? That's 23 more than are on mine."
Many people considered the comment to reference the credits on Beyoncé's seventh studio album Renaissance, particularly the 24 credited songwriters on Alien Superstar.
In response, The-Dream explained that the number of credits was due to the samples used in the music.
"You mean how's does our (Black) culture have so many writers, well it started because we couldn't afford certain things starting out, so we started sampling and it became an Artform, a major part of the Black Culture (hip hop) in America (sic)," he wrote in the comments section. "Had that era not happen who knows. U good? Btw I know it's not a one on one writing contest you looking for from no one over here...... you don't want that smoke And you know I love you, but come on. Stop acting like your records haven't been sampled (sic)."
The-Dream is credited as a writer on a number of Renaissance tracks, including I'm That Girl, Cozy, and Break My Soul, under his real name Terius Nash.
Later, Warren insisted that she hadn't meant any "disrespect" by her comments.
"I didn't mean that as an attack or as disrespect. I didn't know this, thank U for making me aware of it. No need to be mean about it," the Rhythm of the Night writer replied to The-Dream.
And in a separate post, Warren issued an apology to Beyoncé.
"Ok, I meant no disrespect to @Beyonce, who I've worked with and admire. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding," she added.
