I-Octane Declares Himself “Poor People Lawyer,” Takes Aim At PM Andrew Holness

I-Octane, who over the last week declared himself the “Poor People Lawyer”, launched a stinging online crusade against Prime Minister Andrew Holness and penned a song for Jamaica’s poor, but, many Dancehall fans are skeptical about what they have described as his “sudden renewed interest” in the plight of the masses.

Over the last several days Octane has been lashing Andrew Holness, pointing out that many people in the ghettoes were hungry and the Prime Minister was doing nothing to help.

He also, among other things, questioned the loyalty of his wealthy compatriots who emerged from humble beginnings, and questioned whether he should be “the only famous person using his platform to “promote the betterment of the people dem”.

“Ninety percent a who famous come from di ghetto.  So a me alone remember poverty? A me alone remember hungry? Suh a me alone oonu waan sacrifice?” he declared in one of his videos.

The most contentious video was on in which Octane showed himself at the Riverton City dump in Kingston, pointing out a bag where chicken feet which had been discarded was scavenged by residents and packaged for consumption, and rebuked the government for allowing hungry people to resort to eating garbage due to the lockdown.

“LOOK AT THIS 👉 PEOPLE NUH FI LIVE LIKE THIS 😔😔 👉 ALL WHO OUT THERE IN THE WORLD AND CAN HELP SUM DEM PEOPLE YAH INNA JAMAICA WEH A SUFFER PLEASE 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻@andrewholnessjm 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀,” he captioned the post. 

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However, some followers pointed out that this was not the case, as the residents had been, for years, salvaging and selling the discarded food and other items, in Downtown Kingston and raking in lots of cash.

“FIRST OF ALL!! clears throat… The big or medium size companies dispose of the expired poultry…. The people of Riverton For many years decide to go thru it and use it for their personal use… Riverton citizens use the dump to make money…. When “uptown” dispose of their clothing Riverton citizens…. Wash and sell it downtown… Same for the poultry… Same for scrap metal…,’ treasured_treasurez wrote.

He was backed up by kamielll who posted two article headlines, one published by The Gleaner on March 28, 2015 titled Meat dumped at Riverton on sale Downtown and another from April 16, 2018 in The Star tabloid titled Riverton meat being sold dirt cheap Downtown as evidence.

“This has been happening for years where spoilt goods are thrown away and they go to the dump pick it up and then sell them again. It was already in the news,” she said.

In one of his Meditation Corna posts, Octane wrote: “SO GHETTO/ POOR PEOPLE DON’T HAVE NO RIGHTS BOUT YAH.  #ioctanemeditationcorna 🔥@andrewholnessjm. A JUST THE POOR PEOPLE THEM RIGHTS I DEAL WITH BRO GAD ZEEN 👉 I DON’T CARE BOUT POLITICIANS OR POLITICS”.

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He was supported by Tommy Lee Sparta who wrote: “People a suffer People a dead so time will tell if a the right thing or the wrong.

It was not all condemnation for Octane though, as were fans like shella_aalverorecords and  doitlike_chyna who praised him for what they regarded as his ‘standing up for the poor, unlike other artistes’.

“U know say no joke thing buff artist nuh really business bout the poor after them start make the millions inuh …so me respect u fi that cause it wicked out deh,” shella_aalverorecords while doitlike_chyna added: “👏👏👏👏👏exactly soon as they start make it dem prefer fi hype”… A dis nuff a dem artist yah fi a do instead of thinking about dem self N hw fi hype pon ppl kmdt.

However liamsummers00005 said he was not impressed with Octane’ pontification, and said he believed that the artiste’s flurry of pro-poor posts was simply to promote his new song about sufferation titled Stop.

“kmft what U respect him for? Because clearly he is just trying to push his new song.   These mf’s don’t business about poor people. Yes I said it @realioctane can take 1 million out of the millions him have since him care for the poor.  Just take 1 mil out of the millions and just buy up some food and give away. That na kill him,” he wrote.

“Don’t look for help Andrew never help the people when dem use to save dem little money and buy baton spray fi come burn fire for you and pay for your shows so don’t look help go take d mill from the accounts and me sure others will see and help you while you are at it,” he added.

His sentiments were also echoed by rnrlogisticsllc6 who added: “dah bredda ya nah try duh shyt jus watch if anuh prop him a use di ppl dem as fi him video or whatever he ain’t tryna change nthn.”

Another fan likklebless, noted that over the years he had lost confidence in Octane who seemed to have strayed from his cultural songs and had become more materialistic, but with his recent song he seemed to have redeemed himself.

“U just mek me start rate u again ,,nah lie when u just bust n do the first album my life ,etc n the second album a the sickest ting then u got rich n tun hype rasta nuff hyping n material song mi did loose off a u but u earn it back by start do the right ting n not for ur self alone ,,,zinc fence,” he wrote.

However, thesituationmorgan argued to the contrary, noting that in his opinion Octane was grandstanding and not being genuine. He also pointed out that it did not make sense other artistes copycat Octane’s modus operandi.

“What exactly should they be doing, capitalizing off the poor, using the poor to push music and views? Because that’s all this artiste is doing right now. What worth have this artiste bring to his people other than lip service? They use there wealth and fame to gain viral moments and distract the people,” he said.

“Giving a little here and there is just hypocrisy to say they are doing. How many school, institutions or organizations have they built to save our people? I’m not telling a man how to spend his money, just don’t talk about the poor unless ur ready to be abt it,” he added.

In one of his earliest posts, Octane had called Jamaicans living overseas to help poor Jamaicans in light of the lockdown, noting that the all-night rain had flooded out many who were without money and food.

“THE NEXT THING @andrewholnessjm I AM STILL WAITING FAR YOU TO TELL WHAT WE CAN BOUT DO TO HELP THESE PEOPLE [ not a over night thing because I know you’re not GOD] BUT A LONG TERM PLAN BRO GAD,” he had written.

“IN THE MEAN WHILE ALL WHO OVERSEAS AND CAN HELP MEK WE START IT AND SHOW ANDREW HOLNESS SAY WE CAN STAND TOGETHER,” he added.

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This statement however, did not go down well with some followers, among them _williams_soph.

“This is not the way to go about it if you want to come together with the PM and help the poor I think you should try and have a meeting with him not going on social media cussing him that nah go help and it certainly not professional,” she said.