Bounty Killer On His Delayed ‘King Of Kingston’ Album: “Everything A Gwaan”
Bounty Killer has affirmed that his King of Kingston album is still in the making, despite having missed his proposed December release date.
A few days ago, the Dancehall star told a curious fan that everything was copacetic with the album, after the follower asked: “Wah gwan fi KOK?”
“Everything a gwaan fi it🤏🏿,” the Coppershot artist said in response.
The Warlord, in August last year, had seemingly ended the speculation surrounding the release time for King of Kingston, when he announced that his fans should expect a Christmas album.
Bounty had initially announced in August 2020 that the album was in the works. Weeks prior, the Living Dangerously artist had said that the long-awaited album was “95.5 percent complete.”
December,. however, came and passed and the album’s release did not materialize.
Earlier in the year, Bounty had announced that some of the most iconic Dancehall and Reggae artists, as well as several Hip Hop legends, would be featured on King of Kingston, among them Barrington Levy, Sanchez, Chronixx, his Alliance ‘pure four’ members: Bling Dawg, Busy Signal and Wayne Marshall; Vybz Kartel, “possibly” Mavado, Richie Stephens, Busta Rhymes, and Snoop Dogg.
He even expressed hope for a “dream collab” with Reggae legend Bob Marley.
King of Kingston is being executive-produced by Marley’s son, Damian “Jr Gong” Marley.
If it is released this year, the album will come exactly 20 years after the release of the Seaview Gardens native’s Grammy-nominated Ghetto Dictionary, his last album, which was released by VP Records in 2002 and which featured 20 tracks including hits such as Mystery, High Grade Forever, Sufferah featuring Wayne Marshall and Pot of Gold featuring Richie Stephens and Arrow.
In an Onstage interview last year, Bounty had re-emphasized that King of Kingston was going to be another tour de force.
The 49 year old, who has long-said he was in no rush to complete the album, had also pointed out that he was also cognizant of the fact that his fans were waiting with bated breath for its release.
Nevertheless, he had said he would only release King of Kingston when the time was absolutely right, as he always makes it a point of his duty to ensure that his album tracks are always meticulously written and produced before being put out for public consumption.
Bounty Killer has released several studio albums since rose to stardom, in the early 1990s. His first was the 15-track Roots, Reality and Culture, which was released in 1994 and consisted of hits such as Spy Fi Die, Kill for Fun, his breakout song Coppershot and Gun Thirsty.
Down in the Ghetto, his sophomore album followed mere months later and featured 14 tracks, among them Inspired by God, How the West was Won, Defend the Poor, Dead this Time, and See you no more.
No Argument was released in 1996 by Greensleeves and included Dancehall classics such as Scare Him, Seek God, More Gal, Mama, Miss Ivy Last Son and Action Speak Louder than Words.
That same year, Bounty followed up with the 20-track My Xperience which was released by VP Records and contained hits such as The Lord is my Light and Salvation, Fed Up, Guns and Roses, and Benz and Bimma.
Ghetto Gramma, released by King Jammy’s in 1997 consisted of 20 track, among them the weed anthem Smoke the Herb, Book Book Book, Report You Missing, Fear No Evil and Income.
Bounty was back a year later with the 13-track Next Millennium album, which included the gangster anthem 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.
In 1999, he released The 5th Element which featured the Bullz of Chicago, the title track 5th Element as well as the classics Anytime and Look, which were written and produced by the legendary Dave Kelly of Madhouse Records.
In November last year, Bounty had declared that he was not producing King of Kingston to in a bid to compete with anyone, whether younger artists or his contemporaries, but that it was “more of a template to guide” those do not “understand fully about the roots of the dancehall culture”.
“18yrs ago I dropped my last album then launched Alliance to run dancehall, I never ever needed the hype,” Bounty had stated on Instagram.
“No competition isn’t there… still the two most murderous man inna music today is Mad Cobra and myself and he’s on this Al-bomb😂😂,” he later added.
His ‘no-compete’ statement though, was a far cry from remarks he made earlier in 2021, when he noted on Instagram that other artists should step aside and make way for King of Kingston, as it was going to eclipse and outshine all others.
The Warlord had later said that he had been hearing many complaints “from genuine music fans and music lovers across the globe, about the sound state and condition of dancehall today.
According to him, while change was inevitable, he had “decided to gather a bunch of artiste producers, musicians and writers to try and remind today’s fans what authentic hardcore international dancehall sounds like, Bcuz the radio mostly plays rap and trap also the cable ppl getting it mixed up”.