Bounty Killer Says Dancehall Today Lacks Creativity
The new generation of Dancehall music is limited, lacking creativity and a storyline, according to a man that vaunts many accolades in the business, well earning him the right to point fingers.
In an interview with CVM TV on Friday night, dancehall veteran Bounty Killer sat with host Judith Bodley in an episode of E-Live Unplugged to talk about his journey from Rodney Price, pre-fame to becoming the 5-Star General.
As the topics sifted through growing-up down the road from Shabba Ranks in Seaview Gardens, grabbing the mic for the first time, transitioning from Bounty Hunter to Bounty Killer, hearing his debut single Skin Clean play on the radio and all the chatter in between, he eventually got into discussing the current state of dancehall music.
Simply put, Bounty said the newer artistes of today have limited their musical repertoire to just 5 topics. These are namely:
- Dancing, we can look to Ding Dong and Konshens for this,
- Money, this sounds a lot like Squash and randomly, Stylo G,
- Weed, these could be many but Aidonia and Popcaan are popular weed heads,
- Scamming, well Gold Gad takes the cake and Skillibeng’s Brik Pon Brik is still ripping up the airwaves,
- Guns, almost all the deejays now, however Chronic Law and Jahvillani are pretty stand out names.
The Warlord said, “Every deejay you know, ah one a dem sump’n him a sing bout.”
Bounty said dancehall artistes from back in the ’80s and ’90s were imaginative and far more creative than the deejays of today. Even though the new-gen music leads focus on utilizing ‘metaphors, syllables, rhymes and world play’, in their songs, they tend to lose track and the ability to grasp a concept, which leaves them null of a plot or storyline.
The question that sprouted the conversation was, what makes a dancehall song a good song? Bounty said it’s just the depth of the lyrical content and not necessarily the topic. He drew examples on Lt. Stitchie’s, Wear Yuh Size, Professor Nuts’, Inna Di Bus and General Degree’s, Granny as some of the most inventive Dancehall tracks of all time.
While these songs were simply about shoes, a bus ride, and a miserable Granny, they all had a captivating story with masterful deliveries. “Yuh nah hear nu ‘out a dis worl’ song again,” he said.
Recent hits such as Masicka’s Grandfather, Dexta Daps’ Breaking News, and Govana’s Convo series might appease the grunggadzilla’s appetite for lyrical content, or not.
Watch the full episode of Bounty Killer’s E-Live Unplugged interview here –