Skillibeng Says He Wasn’t ‘Scammed’, Bounty Killer Says Artistes Must Stop Promoting It
Dancehall artiste Skillibeng issued an alert yesterday in an article with The Star, stating that his customers were the recent target of scammers.
The deejay says impersonators have been profiting from his name by defrauding potential clients out of large sums of money for several months now. However, he has also objected to The Star’s headline, which read that Skillibeng himself was “being scammed.”
The irony seems quite blatant, after all, Skillibeng has made a name for himself explicitly condoning and even portraying the likes of a scammer in his 2019 hit single Brik Pan Brik. It turns out the single and its message was simply a façade. After gaining recognition and success from the track, the 22-year-old dancehall artiste refuted claims that he was promoting scamming.
“The term ‘brik pan brik’ represents stacks of money, so I don’t want anyone to get this twisted. I have a wide variety of music and I personally don’t promote scamming, only artistry in my music.” Skillibeng told The Weekend Star in an interview last year.
Though the deejay hasn’t been swindled directly by the predators, he is resolute in shutting down their ruthless pursuit once and for all. “It a get from bad to worse because dem a take some big money and a promise the people dem all kinda dubs and thing, so me affi come out and talk bout it now. Mi see say dem nah stop and time too hard fi people a send dem hard-earned money to these people and nah get nothing in return,” he told The Star.
Skillibeng said the scammers have cloned his Instagram page, blocking both him and his manager Gutty Bling, so while they have made several attempts to lock down their operation, the fake page keeps reappearing. “Mi affi try get rid a dem thing yah and di only way me can really do dat a fi make the people dem know say the only way dem can do business wid Skillibeng is if dem link Gutty Bling or the info weh deh pan my Instagram page which is verified. Those are the only legit avenues to get to Skillibeng,” he added.
The Star posted a clip of the article to their Instagram page yesterday, to which many readers voiced their opinion on the matter.
Skillibeng (@skillibeng) eventually made a comment as he felt the newspaper headline was not correct. “@thejamaicastar, customers of @skillibeng are being scammed not me!” he said.
Replies to Skilli’s comment started a mini-debate about the headline.
“If them a use yo image, a tek money you fi a get, that mean ya get scam mi fam,” reasoned one reply. “He’s losing customers and other potential clients,” said another.
Skillibeng responded, “Money I know nothing about isn’t mine… I’m not the one losing money, my customers are.”
Another fan responded to that saying, “Money that supposed to be coming to you is being Stolen…you are being scammed Also.”
Another concerned citizen that chimed in was none other than dancehall veteran Bounty Killer (@grunggaadzilla). His comment read, “That’s why artiste must not be endorsing banga fone since dem a get bang too.”
Others tolled in sharing the same views, “What you sow u shall reap. Him say Brick pon brick,” and another reader said, “Well mi nuh see nothing wrong with that, children live what they learn… nuh him tell we seh brik pon brik,” and “Scamma dem say brik pon brik too,” followed also harping on Skilli’s ironic single.
A fan responded to Bounty saying, “@grunggaadzilla yea but some of them take it as a disrespect instead of learning from it.”
Killer replied, “@rudegyalmusic Automatically that’s what I’m doing instead to go di ignorant route it’s more beneficial to reason with the youths than fighting with them I learned that over yrs so I adjusted my approach today.”
Two weeks ago, the Warlord lashed out at lotto scammers in Jamaica. “Di yute dem nowadays dem naw tink di right way. Jamaican yute dem, a short-cut dem a deal wid. Nuh man nuh waa work. Nowadays a man tink seh a nine-to-five a eediat ting… every man a talk bout banga phone and scamming and ray-ray,” he said.
He added that the scammers’ penchant for quick money, was only leading them astray to a hype lifestyle that is always short-lived.
Killer stands in opposition to some of his peers in Dancehall, who have released songs that glorified the lifestyle.
Vybz Kartel and Gaza Slim’s Reparations was banned from airwaves several years ago for glorifying scamming as restitution for slavery and colonialism. Before her conversion, Lady Saw released Scamma in 2015. Intence and Gold Gad have also penned lyrics about the activity.