Merciless Back In The Spotlight
The Warring Don from Clarendon, Merciless, one of Jamaica’s greatest lyricists, has regained the spotlight in Dancehall, after he performed a rendition of his When Bad Man Phone Ring, a song which dates back to 2010, at Boom Box Fridays.
The clip of Merciless’ performance of the song which has been making the rounds on social media, racked up more than 260,000 views after it was shared on Teino Evans’ Next Friday YouTube channel.
It also got massive responses from music producer and Reggae Sumfest executive Skatta Burrell and Dancehall superstar, Busy Signal.
Skatta took to Instagram where he posted a clip of himself singing along to the Merciless’s rendition at Boombox, and hinted that the deejay would be booked for this year’s staging of Reggae Sumfest.
“Who seh mi ready fi sunfest 2022?🔥🔥🔥@warhead_merciless how Yu suh bad?” Skatta posted.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CZDk7oasYYQ/
The song was also a huge hit at Busy Signal’s 43rd birthday party on Monday. Busy showed several videos of himself and his friends including Christopher Martin, vibing at his celebrations with Merciless’ voice blaring in the background. As they laughingly tried their best to elocute the song with the vigour of the Warhead, they pulled up the song over and over while lauding the Clarendonian as the greatest.
“Jah Jah! Woo! Big up Leonard Bartley, aka Merciless,” Busy said, declaring the experience “good energy”.
The overwhelming response to the song, seems to have fired up the Mama Cooking singer, as he has now announced on Instagram, that he has a new music video for the song which will be released soon. He has also been spotted voicing dubplates of the in-demand song in Cross Roads in St. Andrew.
When Bad Man Phone Ring is an interpolation of American singer Bobby Bland’s Members Only which was released in 1985. That song was written by Larry Addison, and even covered by the legendary Jamaican singer-songwriter Tyrone Taylor, who did a masterful reggae cover of the song in 1987.
Merciless, the consummate entertainer, has interpolated numerous American Blues songs, over the years, turning them into gangster songs, among them Chris Brown’s 2007 hit With You and Kool and the Gang’s Celebrate, which he used to jeer Bounty Killer, Ninja Man, Madd Cobra, Beenie Man, Mavado, and Vybz Kartel at Sting 2008, to the delight of the amused audience.
His performance of the song at Boom Box, was among a slew of tracks from his repertoire which he sang at the weekly event, which has been graced with many of Dancehall’s top stars including Beenie Man.
Merciless appears to be on the verge of fulfilling the promise he made five years ago, that he would be releasing a new 12-track album.
In June last year, the self-titled Gyal Dem Gizzada vowed that he would be putting out an album titled Warhead Is Back. At the time he said he would be going outside of his comfort zone and will be drawing for American music genres instead of sticking to solely Dancehall.
Two years ago, Merciless, whose given name is Leonard Bartley, had also told The Star tabloid that he was working on a dancehall mixtape, and was also compiling a 10-track gospel album.
Since he skyrocketed onto the Dancehall scene in 1994, Merciless has recorded three albums including Mr. Merciless in 1994 and Len’ Out Mi Mercy in 1995.
In January last year, veteran Dancehall artist and producer, Mr. G. (formerly Goofy) said it was Stone Love that served as the catalyst that propelled Merciless, from a virtual unknown to one of Dancehall’s most revered sons, in just one night at the House of Leo nightclub in Kingston.
Mr. G said when Stone Love selector Rory played the first line of the dubplate Len out Mi Mercy, which had been voiced for the sound system by Merciless, the House of Leo erupted in wild cheers, and the deejay became an immediate star.
Len out Mi Mercy was a massive hit in Jamaica and it started Merciless’ prolific streak as songwriter and deejay. He followed up with a string of other hits including Mavis, which was the top Reggae single in Jamaica in 1995 and also recorded Ole Gallis, Whaddup, Mama Cookin, Gizzada, Let Dem Have It, and God Alone with Little Hero and Action Fire.
Merciless, who turns 51 on July 1, also collaborated with Lady Saw for Baby Mother and Long Till It Bend.
In the late 1990s and 2000s, engaged in several high-profile on-stage battles with fellow deejays Beenie Man, Ninjaman and Bounty Killer.
His most famous clash took place at Sting 2000 when he single-handedly crushed a combined force of Ninjaman, Bounty Killer and Beenie Man, who tried to ambush him in a lyrical face-off at Sting 2000 at the Jamworld Entertainment Complex in Portmore.
The clash, which is one of the most talked-about in Dancehall history, turned Merciless’ three rivals into the laughing stock of the nation following the Boxing Day music show.
During the showdown, Merciless, clad in full military combat gear, defeated Ninja Man, then summoned Bounty Killer and rubbished him, before proceeded to frontally take on and dispose of Beenie Man, as he extemporized his way to victory.