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I can’t say I had ever heard of DJ Megan Ryte before, and my life was none the poorer for it, but it’s hard not to feel a little miffed after listening to her latest track.

Also, irony is clearly dead, because imagine opening a music video with a definition of ‘culture vulture’ – “a person or an organization making profit using honorable practices from a culture they do not care for” – when you’ve nicked the bloody beat.

Allegedly.

I did say I’d let you decide.

Let’s get the basics via DJ Mag:

DJ and radio host Megan Ryte dropped a new track and video, titled ‘Culture’, at the beginning of this week. Featuring will.i.am and A$AP Ferg, Ryte called the track a “statement record”, and said the song, alongside her debut album, “represents me as a DJ but also as a label owner, executive, A&R, producer, and all-around creative.”

That last word is interesting, given that the beat is remarkably similar to South African gqom pioneer DJ Lag’s ‘Ice Drop’, which was originally released in 2016.

Have a listen to the first minute or so of Ryte’s beat, which dropped on November 20:

Comments have been disabled on that video, following the backlash, but the dislike count is mounting.

Bottom right – 15 000 and mounting:

Now for DJ Lag’s ‘Ice Drop’, and some remarkable similarities:

I don’t think we’re going to need a long, protracted legal battle, like ‘Stairway to Heaven’, to sort this one out.

Even the visuals mirror each other.

In addition to disabling comments on the YouTube video, Ryte has also limited comments on her Instagram posts.

Ryte has yet to issue a public statement, but DJ Lag has responded via Twitter:

“In our tradition respect comes first.”

Ice Drop is our CULTURE 🇿🇦 https://t.co/ZtRx1vzQbx pic.twitter.com/TaGEgT3R0F

— DJ LAG (@RealDJLag) November 25, 2020

No need to read between the lines with that one.

[source:djmag]