Bounty Killer Shares Cover Art For New Album ‘King Of Kingston’ And A “Side Note”
On the heels of Alkaline’s Top Prize album release, Dancehall heavyweight Bounty Killer has thrown down the gauntlet to his Dancehall compatriots, declaring that his Damion “Junior Gong” produced King of Kingston album, which is soon to be released, will eclipse and outshine all others.
Bounty Killer unveiled the new artwork for the upcoming album yesterday along with a word of advice to all those other artists who plan on debuting albums of their own this year.
The cover, courtesy of Supreme Graphics portrays, a poised-looking Bounty donning a shiny gold crown with looming storm clouds in the backdrop that is suggestive of the dynamism of what’s to come. The unveiling arrived via Bounty’s official Instagram page where he captioned the post, “Thy Kingdom Coming…Loading!!” along with the album’s title.
Then in another share, he announced the album might be coming sooner than we think. He declared “Y’album alerts the coming is near🔜” but afforded his compatriots the opportunity to launch their projects before King Of Kingston drops because once it does there is no chance their albums or “little dumpling thing” as he calls them, will even get noticed.
“Since everybody and dem granny making album this year all of a sudden let me make this clear all who and who dropping dem little dumpling thing dweet fast and move bcuz when GIANT a feed up a pudding pan kerosene tin business in other words the BIGGEST BADDEST and the BEST dancehall Y’album for the last two decades is…………..LOADING,” he wrote.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CO3G5DXppRf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Killer’s cover reveal and very confident announcement has heightened the anticipation of the fans, several of whom thought the title couldn’t have been more fitting. “The real king 👑 of the dancehall u bounty killer,” said one. Others agreed, “Oh my god! The real King 🤴😮😍”,
Many are happy to see the legendary deejay back on the scene in full force to show these youngbloods how Dancehall is really done. “Cover shot king 👑 so happy fi si di I buss out bare hits all these years dah one yah ah guh put some abc lyricist back ah di drawing board,” said one fan. Another joined in saying, “Show dem wat a album is killer.”
Reggae singer Richie Stephens was also spotted in the comments, sending praises to his friend: “Most anticipated album right now🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥👏.” The two collaborated on several hit songs back in the day, Maniac, Magnet, and Pot Of Gold to name a few.
However, one follower body_movesound, seemed to have gotten under the Warlord’s skin after he implied that Bounty was throwing shade at ‘one particular artiste’.
“Why da side note seems like a one main artist it a guh after,” he wrote, to which a furious Bounty responded: “@body_movesound Chunk off inna yu artiste and soak it up a who yu mon obviously u living in a different life time😅😂😅”.
Another follower, theblacgad876also, sought to provoke Bounty, claiming that he was only making posts about his album because Alkaline’s Top Prize had made him feel insecure. “Alkaline album a get to you already 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 you need some new age writer killa mek me see you do it without a feature,” he jeered.
Bounty had first announced last August that his “real, hardcore Dancehall” album was in the works via Junior Gong’s Ghetto Youths International label, during an interview with radio disc jockey Nikki Z last August, his last being Ghetto Dictionary, which was released by VP Records in 2002.
Bounty also revealed this month that American producer, DJ Khaled will also be producing a song off the album. He was recently featured on Khaled’s latest album on the track, Where You Come From and appeared in the music video alongside Buju Banton, Capleton, and Barrington Levy.
Bounty and Damian Marley are no stranger to working together. Both men, along with Eek-a-mouse, had collaborated on the hit track Khaki Suit, from Damian’s Grammy-winning Welcome to Jamrock album, back in 2005.
Marley is also no stranger to being an executive producer, having produced Third World’s Grammy-nominated album titled More Work To Be Done in 2019 as well as Kabaka Pyramid’s Kontraband in 2018.
Since he exploded onto the Dancehall scene in the early 1990s, Bounty Killer has released several studio album, his first being Roots, Reality and Culture which was released in 1994.
That album consisted of 15-tracks and included hits such as Kill for Fun, his breakout song Coppershot, Spy Fi Die and Gun Thirsty. That same year the One General followed up with his Down in the Ghetto album which featured 14 tracks including How the West was Won, Inspired by God, Defend the Poor, Dead this Time, and See you no more.
Ghetto Dictionary: The Mystery, which featured 20 tracks, included hits such as Mystery, the weed anthem High Grade Forever, Sufferah featuring Wayne Marshall, Pot of Gold featuring Richie Stephens, Arrow, and the title track Ghetto Dictionary.
Two more albums followed in 1996; No Argument on the Greensleeves label and My Xperience which was released by VP Records.
No Argument was huge, scoring with hits such as Scare Him, Seek God, More Gal, Mama, Miss Ivy Last Son and Action Speak Louder than Words, while My Xperience featured 20 tracks including Fed Up, Guns and Roses, The Lord is my Light and Salvation and Benz and Bimma.
The 1997 King Jammy-produced Ghetto Gramma also consisted of 20 tracks, among them Smoke the Herb, Book Book Book, Report You Missing and Fear No Evil.
The Callaloo Bed native’s 13-track Next Millennium album followed in 1998 with hits such as Eagle and Di Hawk, It’s a Party featuring Wyclef Jean, Can’t Believe Mi Eyes, and Reggae Party, a collab with Third World and Shaggy were among the hit tracks on that production.
In 1999 the Warlord released The 5th Element, which featured the classics Anytime and Look, which were banned from radio airwaves, Bullz of Chicago, and the title track 5th Element.
Bounty also featured on No Doubt’s Grammy Award-winning, gold-selling track Hey Baby from their fifth studio album RockSteady in 2001. The song was released as the album’s lead single and peaked at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100 char and reached the top-ten in several other countries, including Australia, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.