Sizzla Kalonji shocked fans on Thursday morning as he shared several videos online ripping up and burning plaques he received from collaborator DJ Khaled.
While the reggae/dancehall legend has not directly stated the reason for his outburst of anger at the American whom he was once close to, he revealed in videos that he was insulted by the producer. On Thursday morning, Sizzla Kalonji moved with quiet determination as he smashed and tore up plaques showing album covers by DJ Khaled.
In one video, Sizzla is seen ripping up a plaque or large framed photo of DJ Khaled’s album cover Grateful, which features his older son Asahd when he was one year old and posed for Paper magazine in 2017.
“Selassie I,” Sizzla says as he rips up the cover.
In the background, another man who is videoing says, “Dadda buss him. Whole heap years Dadda buss Khaled…Whole heap a years dadda feed him.”
Sizzla eventually tears up the framed photo and says, “babies are innocent,” before taking the cover and erecting it on a wall, seemingly not destroying the photo. In other videos, he removes the images of the children and places them in a separate pile on the wall.
The “Solid As A Rock” artist then proceeds to smash and destroy another poster for Khaled’s album Father of Asahd. The album features Sizzla on one track, “Holy Mountain,” alongside Buju Banton, Sizzla, Mavado, and 070 Shake.
“Get rid of him. Him nuh rate Rasta. You need a magnifying glass fi see that. Yuh nuh rate Rasta, mi show you how we deal wid red neck,” one person narrates while Sizzla rips and tears up the plaques.
It seems that the artist’s people are upset at the font on the plaque. A small commemorative note on the plaque reads, “presented to Sizzla. To commemorate RIAA Platinum certification of more than 1,000,000 copies of the We The Best / Rocnation/ Epic Records album Father of Asahd.”
In another video, the plaques are sprayed with gasoline and set alight while Sizzla hints at his grouse with the American producer.
“Asahd di boss. bun that. yuh insult me. Yuh not the best, you di worse. Weh you feel like DJ Khaled, yuh can style Sizzla? ah me buss you, man, August Town buss yuh. jokey jokey,” he called Khaled.
“More fyah pon that,” he added. “Bout unu a fyah King and fyah this. Show yuh wah gwan. Bun! Wrong plaque yuh send come gi wi.”
In another video, DJ Khaled said, “You insulted me, man. You insulted Jamaica.” In an interesting twist, he takes the child’s photo and asks for it to be placed in his studio noting that Asahd is “my godchild.”
DJ Khaled has not reacted to Sizzla’s burning his plaques and claiming he disrespected him.
DJ Khaled has previously collaborated with a number of Jamaican artists on his many projects, including Buju Banton, Barrington Levy, Skillibeng, and others. However, the producer has received much pushback from critics who accuse him of using Jamaican culture and profiting from it. Khaled’s prominence arguably grew when he started visiting Jamaica and being embraced by the likes of Sizzla and others in the 1990s. He has also spoken about the impact of his Jamaican visits and relationships on his career.
