Kabaka Pyramid Has ‘Beef And Passa’ Over Valiant’s New Song ‘Rasta’
Valiant’s ‘slack’ references in his new song titled Rasta have not gone down well with Reggae Grammy-winner Kabaka Pyramid.
The Reggae singer took to Twitter on Sunday evening and made a veiled statement, lamenting how the Rastafarian faith was being treated and mocked in Jamaica.
“When we seh we wah inspire di next generation, dis is NOT what we meant. Rasta a joke ting a Jamaica now apparently. Aright,” Kabaka wrote.
His statement had caught the attention of Countree Hype — one of the song’s producers — who decided to intervene, even though Kabaka had initially made no references to Valiant.
“It’s 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….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!!!” the producer said.
Released on March 5, Rasta has so far picked up 1.4 million views on YouTube. In the song, Valiant boasts that he’s living like a ‘Rasta’, and that he needs “No beef, no passa,” a reference to Rastafarians’ reluctance to indulge in certain foods and their penchant for being conflict-avoidant (“No beef, no passa”).
The song’s official video featured symbols often associated with Rastas and it wraps up with a clip of Valiant and crew attempting to get an actual Rasta man to sing the song’s hook.
Countree Hype’s response to Pyramid eventually made its way over to ZJ Spark’s IG page, where the discussion as to whether or not the Well Done artist’s Twitter lamentation about the Rastafarian faith being made a mockery of, triggered much “beef and passa” and robust encounters between Kabaka himself, and Valiant’s fans.
“So girl a drink cum smoothie is singing bout Rasta??? Aright den. And i am the selective one! “Once you trod Rastafari you accept being di minority and discriminated against inna colonial hypocritical Jamaica. A nuh nuttn new. We a get fight fi decades. Gwaan mock di ting, a so it go,” Kabaka noted sarcastically.
“Also, mek me know is when Koffee did seh she a Rasta…,” Kabaka wrote on another post, in response to persons who said he turned a blind eye to the rumors and speculations about the Toast artist.
“She a wah? When she seh dat?” he asked of dj_876 a while later after the follower asked him: “y u neva have the same energy fi koffee weh do song with sam smith an she a Rasta!”
Kabaka went on to comment on the fact that despite Valiant’s immense talent, he had to resort to gimmickry in order to get his big musical break.
“When a man wid actual talent haffi sing bout Dunce an Sciance fi get anybody attention, dat tell u more bout SOCIETY dan di artist himself. Unnu need fi check unnu mental health. Di dj dem weh get him conscious song dem, unnu play dem? Me neva hear bout him, why is that?? A my fault mi neva hear bout him? Look how much conscious artist a try a ting an nah get heard. An di one artist weh stay conscious right tru an neva run down commercial song unnu a diss ya now. Mi love unnu same way. An me a gwaan shell dem show ya pon tour 🤣🤣🤣🤣,” the Kontraband artist noted.
As the dispute continued, Kabaka was tackled by Dancehall star Konshens, who claimed that many Rastafarians were doing worse than Valiant.
“Naah, respectfully i dont think being a Jamaican means u have a responsibility to preserve rasta integrity,especially if u nuh believe inna rasta faith.🤷🏾♂️ Actual rastas been doing alot more to 💩 pan rasta culture than any gimmick valliant can pull. Mi nuh like dah loud up yah fi di singa,” Konshens stated.
Kabaka was also rebuked by @streetdisciplemusic who accused him of being selective with his expressions of outrage, as he had not criticized his Reggae Revival colleagues Lila Iké, Koffee, and Jesse Royal when they supposedly engaged in behavior considered an affront to Rastafarians.
“People would have agreed with you but it seem like you and others who claim rasta have selective outrage when it comes to onuh own..such as information disclosed by Lila Ike ..koffee and shared by Foota Hype, who really a bun di fire str8t and also Jesse Royal and the Santa clause connection wasn’t called out by you…Now if u had said something then, folks could understand where you are coming from…,” he said.
“Even tho I in particular never thought the line was dissing rasta as he was living clean like them even tho if we get technical one could call out other things. One could go far back as when sizzla saying any we see dem we a giv dem gunshot knowing is LOVE rasta preach..anyhow..more life still but this one suggests selective outrage from you part..ask Chris Rock and he can share something about selective anger etc,” he added.
Another follower dishaine_partyholic also joined in rebuking Kabaka, claiming that Koffee had done worse than Valiant, and received no denouncement from Kabaka.
“Uno low di man mek him tek him slice a di cake! Uno have strength fi Valiant but silent with the video Koffee drop! Uno a no real Rasta! Uno a Rasta when uno feel like! SELECTIVE RASTA uno be!” he said.
However, one follower tootuffi, rose to Kabaka’s defense, declaring that the artist was dealing with “truths and rights”.
“So Kabaka can’t have an opinion about a next Jamaican a disrespect him Faith fi likes? As Marley said, If the cap fit, let them wear it. But don’t try to disrespect another man faith fi money, and try play victim. If unnuh wanna make money off a slackness and folly, gwan go do it, but keep Rasta and our culture out unnuh freaking mouth…,” he ordered.