Bounty Killer Says Sugar Minott, Boom Dandimite Inspired His Mentorship Of Younger Dancehall Artists

Bounty Killer has credited late Reggae singer and producer Sugar Minott and his late friend and artist Boom Dandimite as the inspirations behind his lifelong commitment to mentoring younger artists and helping them break into the music industry.

During a recent interview on the ‘Off The Record’ podcast, the Dancehall icon explained how he modeled his mentorship approach on Minott, who was known for launching the careers of many Reggae and Dancehall acts through his Youth Promotion sound system and label. He named some of the talents Minott had nurtured.

“That’s what I saw Sugar Minott did with people like Yam Bolo, Junior Reid, just to name a few like White Mice, a whole lot of great great artists. Tenor Saw — just look up the man called Sugar Minott.”

Bounty explained that his journey as a mentor began with encouragement from Boom Dandimite, who pushed him to record officially and aim for longevity instead of hustling through dubplates alone.

“It was really my friend Boom Dandimite, my late great friend also, R.I.P. Dandimite, who would have been here right now. He was the one who encouraged me to go to the studio cuz I used to just do dub plate and try to hustle and then Dandimite said, ‘No, that’s not how it go. You got to get record cuz a dub plate not going to last for life. You’re not going to collect any royalty, you’re not going to have any pension. It’s just like a quick meal.’”

After breaking through, Bounty brought in Dandimite’s group, the Scare Dem Crew, and soon became a big brother figure to many young talents, who began looking to him as a mentor — even though he didn’t initially see himself that way.

“It start from my friend encouraging me. So, I just felt like I should give back to my friends. And that’s why I start this mentoring thing cuz I bring Scare Dem. So other young artists start to look to me like, ‘Yeah, I’m a mentor.’ And I never even knew that I was a mentor. I was just playing a big brother. Trying to help back a brother,” Bounty continued.

Bounty also rejected the notion that helping others would hurt his own shine — an attitude he said was common among artists who fear being outdone. “I thought that when you get in through the door, you leave the door open,” he said.

Through his mentorship — and his famed Alliance crew, which was established in 2003 — Bounty Killer helped launch the careers of Mavado, Busy Signal, Vybz Kartel, Aidonia, Wayne Marshall, and others, creating what he called “generations” of artists who have carried Dancehall forward.