Dancehall star Valiant might have said he wanted to stay clear of “beef and “passa” in his latest track ‘Rasta’, it, however, has become a main topic, while Reggae singer Kabaka Pyramid expressed his bemusement at the cultural appropriation of the religion being the latest fad.
Pyramid who is currently on a tour of Europe, took to Twitter to share his views on the matter of Rastafarianism. Views which seemingly come in the wake of the release of Valiant’s latest dancehall hit-‘Rasta’.
“When we seh we wah inspire di next generation, dis is NOT what we meant. Rasta a joke ting a Jamaica now apparently. Aright” 👌🏾
🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️
While the Grammy winner did not specifically refer to the song or artiste, users surmised the comment to be a swipe or reference to Valiant’s track.
One user replied; “Its simple Grammy kid, no beef, no passa is making references to some rasta who believe in peace and unity but the other parts of the song is clearly not for Rasta….” Music Producer Countree Hype responded.
He also added; “look how many things me see Rasta a do ? And Unuh nah talk on that ,we respect you G but this never have to post maybe a you PR post it still anyway blessing No Beef!! No Passa!!!”
While that statement was ignored by Kabaka, he was more engaging with another user who raised questions about Jamaicans not having an issue with foreigners using the culture for commercial gain.
“Why would I outcry about a foreigner mentioning our ting? You totally lost me here. Should I expect them to have integrity and understand what Rastafari is about?” he responded.
Kabaka further added; “Maybe I shouldnt expect dat from Jamaicans either, yasso we get di biggest fight”
He also noted that such is the industry that anything will be used as a “gimmick” or mockery to gain attention from the masses.
Another user also challenged Kabaka’s sentiment around the topic.
“Valiant get the rasta artiste dem cross which is expected…Some saying dem a tek rasta ting for joke ting in Ja nowadays but truth be told the Rasta artiste dem nowadays lose dem militancy certain way.”
To which Kabaka responded; “U a real disappointment bredda. The Cant breathe singer expressed. U a dash roun words like “militancy” an “commercial” wid no sense of reality. I muss bun out everything i see publicly an then do have no career to feed my people dem. What militant mean? Me fi a shoot ppl an not do music videos or win Grammys?”
There has been no official response from Valiant or his team up to the time of reporting.
