Social media has been up in arms over will.i.am’s brand-new collaboration. The Black Eyed Peas frontman released produced and featured on Megan Ryte’s new single ‘Culture’. The track, which features A$AP Ferg, has been accused of using the exact same beat as DJ Lag’s 2017 track ‘Ice Drop’.
Mzansi was not having any of it and quickly called out the super producer for blatantly plagiarising his single.
The video for ‘Culture’ opens by displaying the definition of a ‘Culture Vulture’: “a person or an organization making profit using honorable practices from a culture they do not care for.” It currently has more than 17,000 dislikes on YouTube compared to just over 1,000 likes, and the comments have been turned off.
Now, will.i.am has released an apology and asked fans not to blame Megan for the ‘mistake’ and that it was his fault. “I wanna take the time to apologise to Megan Ryte from the bottom of my heart: Megan, I am truly sorry for putting you in this situation. And I want everyone to know that Megan doesn’t deserve the hate you’re throwing at her because Megan didn’t do anything wrong,” the star says.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CIDL7N_lWu2/
He adds: “The person that’s at fault is myself. When the song was turned in, I turned in the credit information to Megan. And I obviously got the credit information wrong. And when I realised I made a mistake, I tried to fix it. And at that point in time it was already too late. So to that, I apologise to DJ Lag … I’m so sorry for getting the information wrong.”
However, DJ Lag, who produced the track ‘My Power’ from Beyoncé’s ‘The Lion King: The Gift’ album, was unphased by the apology. In a statement to the Sowetan, DJ Lag says “Culture has used my track Ice Drop without my permission. We are dealing with this with my management at Black Major and hope that I can share news on the outcome with everyone soon.”
DJ Lag thanked South Africans for their support during this time. “I’m absolutely aware that South Africa has my back. The people’s support has made this whole event manageable,” DJ Lag said. “I’m grateful to my people here at home and across the world and to all the media who chose to cover the truth.”
Listen to the two tracks below:
