Valiant Says He Didn’t Disrespect Rastafarians With New Song ‘Rasta’
Dancehall artist Valiant has explained that his intention was not to disrespect Rastafarians with his new song titled Rasta. The North Carolina deejay was speaking during a recent interview on Zip 103 FM’s Zip Code, when he was asked to respond to criticisms from Reggae Grammy-winner Kabaka Pyramid about the controversial track.
“Big up Kabaka Pyramid—congratulations pon yuh Grammy. Yuh done know seh a big ting dat. A big move dat,” Valiant began.
“Fi me now, nuff people nuh really understand wordplay and certain song. Mi neva disrespect nuh Rasta. Mi nah disrespect…I don’t think Rasta is our culture, but Rasta is a way of life; a di way most Jamaicans live.”
He continued: “The whole title a di song—from yuh hear di song start yuh hear ‘Man a live like Rasta, no beef no Passa….’ A word play.”
The artist said his lyrics were merely a play on words that were blown out of proportion. “So ‘man a live like Rasta, no beef…’ mi neva seh pasta, but yah go expect pasta cause mi seh Rasta,” he reasoned.
“Yuh know, dung inna the song mi nuh seh ntn bout no Rasta. We just use dat fi ketch dem.”
On March 12, following the release of Rasta, Kabaka lamented how the Rastafarian faith was being treated and mocked in Jamaica.
In the song, which has so far gained over 1.9 million views on YouTube, 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.
Valiant’s explanation has earned him mixed responses from Instagram users.
“Badman yuh nuh owe no bwoy nor gyal any explanation. Kabaka and him freaky gang not in any position to tell anybody anything about Rastafarian,” @neil.357 said.
@markbrown6193 concurred saying, “Tell the Rasta boy, them a Rasta when it suits them !!!”
@meagainstdem however retorted with, “Is he implying that @kabakapyramid nuh know worldplay…bruh him not even close to P level 😂”
@king_clutch18 was seemingly peeved and scolded the newcomer, “Hey boy u too hype on show off.”
On March 14, the St. Mary artist had appeared on a Live to vent his frustrations about seasoned artists in the industry, who are “bad mind” towards their younger counterparts, and he vowed never to become one of them.
“Mi just deh yah ah meds, like mi just grateful fi everything wah gwan and ting but more while yuh siddung and like yuh overthink, you just overthink,” Valiant said.
“Mi hope when mi start achieve some bigger tings and the support still deh deh…mi nuh get badmind fi nuh younger generation or mi heart [doesn’t] get dutty and seh some tings fi try tear dung di Dancehall weh we a try build,” he continued.