Valiant Chalks Up Recent Criticism Of His Music To “Bad Mind”

Dancehall artist Valiant has seemingly responded to recent criticism of his music, chalking it all up to a case of “bad mind.”

The March 5 release of his song Rasta, which likens his non-confrontational approach to having no “beef and passa” — the way Rastafarians do — struck a nerve with fellow artist Kabaka Pyramid.

The 2023 Grammy award winner, who told the Recording Academy that he hoped this year’s Reggae Grammy nominees would inspire more positivity in Jamaican music, took to Twitter (on March 12) to share his view that the song was offensive and that it made a mockery of the Rastafarian faith.

“When we seh we wah inspire di next generation, dis is NOT what we meant. Rasta a joke ting a Jamaica now apparently. Aright,” he wrote.

On Tuesday, Valiant appeared on Instagram 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 began.

“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.

On Sunday, Kabaka had also pointed out that despite Valiant’s immense talent, he has had to resort to gimmickry in order to get his big musical break.

“When a man wid actual talent haffi sing bout Dunce an’ Siance fi get anybody attention, dat tell u more bout SOCIETY dan di artist himself,” Kabaka wrote in a comment.

“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 🤣🤣🤣🤣.”

Instead of responding directly to the criticism, Valiant said he’d take the high road and promote unity in Jamaican music.

“We ah try create unity in a di ting and di ting work bro … we fi positive. You have some people weh you look up to ah try tear down yuh mindset. Dat make you feel like get corrupt,” he said on the Live session.

The St. Mary deejay also urged the young talents coming up in the industry to continue pushing their music despite what others think.

“Mi just hope seh the new generation weh a come up and a do the music just stay focus same way bro, cause the cake big for everybody fi eat a piece a food,” he added.

Valiant, whose real name is Raheem Bowes, rose to prominence in October 2022 after being captured on camera engaging in a conversation at one of his music video shoots, where he glibly uttered the words “kotch e hat, a lie.”

The clip went viral, resulting in many music fans seeking him out after discovering he was a recording artist.  

In December, he took the top five positions on YouTube’s Jamaica Music Charts with the controversial Dunce Cheque, St. Mary, Siance, North Carolina, and C.A.L. (Cut all Losses).

According to Valiant, those songs, which include one or more references to lotto scamming/fraud, MDMA (molly), obeah (spell casting), moderate gunplay, and/or explicit sexual activity, are simply what the masses in the Caribbean want to hear.

However, earlier this week, the artist also became the focus of a letter to the Editor in The Gleaner titled, “ Why is dancehall artiste Valiant at UWI carnival ?”

The letter, written by a University of the West Indies (UWI) student, was an objection to the deejay performing at the UWI Mona Carnival on the basis that his songs “promote scamming, violence and drugs.”