Konshens has responded to allegations that I-Octane stole his style and bit his lyrics.
The two dancehall stars have been beefing for years so naturally their respective fans will pounce on any signs of missteps on either side. I-Octane dropped his new video “Backaz” last weekend and almost immediately fans say they saw similarities in the lyrical content and video to Konshens’ song of the same name, released in 2020.
“Konshens the dread sing over yuh song outta all the backaz songs him choose yours,” one fan wrote while fellow dancehall artist Kemar Highcon said, “Wonder if dem finally catch it, Then again Why dem Neva bore dem nose too.”
Konshens took a more diplomatic approach in responding to the striking similarities between his song and I-Octane’s. “Stop tagging me!! Unnu is a set a informer,” the Subkonshus deejay wrote while sharing snippets of his song, as well as songs from Demarco and Vybz Kartel about “Backaz.”
“No man dont own ‘backaz’, backaz is fi di gal dem nuh matter whose song it sound closest to,” the deejay added. “And Konshens did not invent overalls!! One man rock it wid a rasta chain another rock it with nufffff expensive chains clearly different so Stop it now.”
Konshens and I-Octane got into a heated beef in 2019 after the “My Life” singer called out the “Realest Song” deejay for his outfit. Octane also accused Konshens of sacrificing his brother Delus, who died of suicide in 2016. Still, the “Bruk Off Yuh Back” deejay brushes off the allegation saying that the back-and-forth with Octane is purely for fun for him.
“These exchanges between me and I-Octane in my eyes was just a fun vibe between peers, when him say things I laugh and expected him woulda jus laugh when me say things because me nah mek up stories or say nutt personal,” he wrote. “But aparently a me alone did a laugh an him did a tek everything personal with real hatred behind it. To the point where my brother that passed away name get mentioned.”
I-Octane has since reacted to the allegations by questioning why a Rastafarian can’t sing and perform “Backaz.” “So Rasta no fi gi gyal backaz too?” he asked.