New York DJ and musician, Megan Ryte has been accused of stealing a DJ Lag song.
On November 20, the DJ, executive producer and radio personality dropped the video for her latest single, Culture, which features will.i.am and ASAP Ferg. On Wednesday, however, Ryte became the subject of social media controversy after fans pointed out the striking similarities between her song and DJ Lag’s 2016 gqom release, Ice Drop.
Like Ice Drop, Ryte’s Culture is led by a propulsive, drum line with a bass-heavy melody. And, similarly both videos feature drone shots taken around townships/housing projects in the artist’s respective cities.
Ryte is yet to issue a comment and has locked the comment section of her Instagram account and her YouTube video. DJ Lag, though, quote tweeted a snippet of Ice Drop in response to Ryte’s video. He later followed up with a tweet that read: “In our tradition, respect comes first” in response to another tweet by Ryte.
No stranger to this nature of misfortune, a 2018 forensic copyright investigation found that Distruction Boyz summertime banger, Omunye, was a plagiarised copy of DJ Lag's Trip To New York, released three months earlier.
A 31-page report concluded:
The instrumental was acquired from Cape Town-based producer Mphyd, who copied several key elements from Lag’s recording and passed them off as his own.
While Durban duo denied the allegations of theft, passing responsibility to Mphyd, Gqom enthusiasts found it strange that Distruction Boyz, childhood friends of DJ Lag, had not heard his song before, or listened to his EP, which was distributed to his networks via whatsapp.
Black Major, who represent DJ Lag, could not be reached for comment by time of publishing.
