INTERVIEW : BOUNTY KILLER
Interview by : Cyril Le Tallec & Benoit Collin
Pictures by : Benoit Collin
on Saturday, April 19th 2008 - 9 987 views
He had promised us an interview, but only after his concert. Usually empty promises. But the Warlord kept his word and received us in his dressing room as he came off stage. Hardly the best conditions for an interview, but still an opportunity to raise some of the questions we were burning to ask him. All under the inquisitive gaze of Future Troubles and Einstein, who don't let him out of their sight.
Reggaefrance / What releases should we expect soon?
Bounty Killer / The first of my upcoming releases will be the Alliance album, it’s a much-awaited album. We are working to get it out this summer. And I’m working on my solo project, “Extra Bullet”, which will come out this year or next year. Those are the two projects we are working on at the moment. We are here to spread our name, and to please our fans.
You are one of the only artists in Jamaica who has been breaking young artists since your own beginnings. Who will be next?
There are several. We don’t have just one! You see Einstein doing his thing here, you see Flexx, who’s breaking through, doing his thing. We have several in the pipeline, working very hard to break through. We have Bugle and Serani, we have Flexx and Einstein… so four young birds ready to open their wings. You’ll see: any one of them could be the next sensation.
You also sing for all the new producers on the island.
Yes, most of the time, because we don’t only build artists’ careers, we build those of producers, selectas, disc jockeys, deejays too…
How do you make your choice?
Well, my choice is based on talent, it’s not really a matter of personality or connections… It’s really talent. Because the people who love the Alliance love talent. So I don’t want to bring them somebody I like but somebody who can really make a difference. It’s not a matter of choosing between people who want to join the Alliance. There are just people who have a certain talent, we simply take them with us and show them how to improve, because they want that advice.
You started with King Jammy’s, were you born in Waterhouse?
No, I was born in Trenchtown, and I grew up in Rivertown, Seaview Gardens, which is right next to Waterhouse. They are neighbouring communities, next door. King Jammy’s was the nearest studio. Just across the gully…
Do you remember how you worked on your lyrics?
It was really what I was going through at the time. Yuh understand? I got shot, I knew suffering, poverty, violence and crime… Most of my lyrics tell what goes on in Colora Bell, in Rivertown and in Seaview. That’s what I came across, it’s also other people’s experience.
Several concerts have been cancelled in Europe, what happened?
There aren’t several, there are a few. Only two. It’s nothing. They can’t cancel me (the gay rights groups, editor’s note). They can cancel the concert, but they don’t hurt me, they hurt the audience. Stopping me from earning money won’t make me stop. I already have enough money. I just earn more money. They are trying to stop the Alliance and Bounty Killer, but they won’t get rid of us.
Your last album dates back to 2002, “Ghetto Dictionnary”. Last year, a best of came out…
(He cuts in) It’s a compilation, not a best of, only a little of the best. That’s why I didn’t want to do a “best of”, because the best of myself is yet to come. It’s just the best of the past. You understand, they are putting it out only as a compilation but I wouldn’t call it the best of Bounty Killer. I’m still young, vibrant and in shape. The best is yet to come, it’s just the best of what I’ve done so far. They compiled it, and it’s a good project.
Today, what do you expect from your career?
Well, I don’t expect anything any more, I’ve already done everything, I enjoy myself now, I keep myself going. Staying young and full of energy, having the strength to race among the young ones, it’s good, it keeps you fit and shows you there’s still a lot left to do and a long way to go. I’ve done it all. I’m not trying to reach goals, because I’m not looking to sign with a record company, or to sell a million records. I’ve already reached more than a million people and I can show you! So selling records… I do it and I break records (play on words with “records”, disques in English, editor’s note) I’m not even trying to sell them. Selling records isn’t as good as setting records and breaking them.
The violence of the lyrics is being criticised more and more in Jamaica.
Violence is everywhere in Jamaicans’ daily lives, so it’s inevitable that it is also in the music, in sport, it’s everywhere. Jamaica is a small, very violent country. There is a lot of slavery in the blood, a lot of Port Royal pirates, Henry Morgan… Do you know the seven national heroes? Nanny, the Maroons, Paul Bogle? There are a lot of reactions, feelings and bloods mixing: “out of many, one people” (the Jamaican national motto, editor’s note). It took many different peoples to build Jamaica. We have all the worst kinds of thinking. There are Syrians, French, Jamaicans, Chinese, Africans… Jamaica is the world.
Ian Boyle (Jamaican journalist and writer) wrote an uncompromising article on dancehall, “From Bob Marley to Mavado”, which you must have heard about…
It’s stupid because it leaves out a great many artists. And why not From Bob Marley to Luciano? Sizzla? (he gets carried away) Anthony B? Capleton? Buju Banton? Bounty Killer? Beenie Man? Spragga Benz? Mavado is so popular today that they use him as a scapegoat. Dancehall builds a lot of good artists. Where are the I-Waynes, Fantan Mojah, Gyptian, Jah Mason, Lutan Fyah? Where are all those conscious artists that dancehall helped break through? Tarrus Riley? He didn’t break through at a roots or cultural concert or festival, it was on a dancehall stage that he really broke through with She's Royal! It’s dancehall, which preaches all that negativity, that put out such a positive song. Dancehall is a pot: everything is in the pot. And when the pot boils, if you skim off the scum, you’ll find sauce. All anybody talks about is the scum of dancehall, but not the sauce, the observations that dancehall makes. Dancehall has the good, the bad and the brilliant. Everybody can find what they like in it.
How do you see the evolution of dancehall since the early days?
I’m delighted because today, dancehall reaches the Billboard, the British Top 100, dancehall reaches the world. It’s time for dancehall artists to give the best of themselves, right to the end. Because dancehall is on the map now. It’s no longer like in the days when there was only reggae. Dancehall is the heir of reggae, as reggae was the heir of ska. Dancehall is the next millennium of Jamaican music. They are all Jamaican musics, but the feeling is different, like when we went from rock to hip hop. You have R&B and soul, but those are American musics. So we’re talking about Jamaican music, about Caribbean music, like soca, calypso, reggae, dancehall, merengue, ska… all these musics were made in different eras, with different feelings, but they are all Caribbean musics.
Do you listen to other music than reggae?
Well, I chose reggae, but I listen to every style of music. But if I have to buy an album, it’s more likely to be a reggae, dancehall or rap album. I don’t buy every kind of music, but I listen to it. I even listen to rock, not all of it, I’m not going to listen to the Marilyn Manson album or to those who spout Satanist rubbish, but I’ll listen to those who make sense: U2, Maroon 5… completely different artists! It’s music, you support it.
You were one of the first to connect Jamaica with the New York hip hop scene, with your combination with the Fugees.
It started with Super Cat and Biggie Small (Notorious BIG, editor’s note), then Shabba Ranks with KRS One. I came after Shabba Ranks, with the Fugees, Busta Rhymes, Noriega, Mobb Deep, Ja Rule, Raekwon, all those artists. It’s a pleasure to know that I played a part in the convergence of rap and dancehall. Those sounds rarely reached the international level, but they set the underground on fire, right up to today.
Do you have an idea for a special guest on your solo project?
I don’t want to have many guests on the album, I want to dedicate it to Bounty Killer. I would probably put a Mavado or a Sanchez on the album. I was thinking of inviting Jah Cure… Yuh understand? They are mostly singers that I want to invite. I don’t want deejays.
Why not Stevie Wonder?
Yeah, well, that would be great, but I’m not setting my hopes that high. But if it happens, it would be the most fabulous thing. Because Stevie Wonder is a legend.
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