Bounty Killer—A living "Ghetto Dictionary"

The struggle continues in this millennium, against a backdrop of chaos and corruption reigning supreme over planet earth. Resources, care and education are scarce and unevenly distributed. Love is in hiding. Hate runs rampant.
A God-blessed youth has been dispatched to lead the battle for the oppressed people, the sufferers across the globe. Word, sound and power are his weapons and his defense. He's none other than Jamaica's most wanted, the professor, Miss Ivy's last son, the poor people's governor, warlord and the lord of the dancehall--the mighty, the notorious, the furious Bounty Killer, the baddest dancehall DJ on the planet.

Kingston, Jamaica rocked once more, as Miss Ivy bore her last son into realm as Jamaica teetered on the edge of another bloody chapter, as war was about to be waged on its streets in the name of politics.
Rodney Basil Pryce arrived as the last son in the family of nine children. A child whose destiny would be irrevocably shaped by the landscape of inner city Kingston, where tribalism and poverty battled for the morals of the hungry and the desperate.

Take the one-way-in one-way-out road from Seaview Gardens, cut across Spanish Town Road up to Kingston 11, Waterhouse to be precise. Waterhouse is another area of Kingston that is rarely mentioned in the media without the disenfranchising prefix of a troubled inner-city community, but it is a corner of the planet blessed with a mighty shower of musical talent.

At the hub of the reggae revolution in the 80's and early 90's was record producer King Jammy, whose 1985 timeless 'Sleng-Teng' riddim heralded the arrival of digital dancehall. By the time the young Killer arrived at Jammys, Boom Dandimite had already begun to garner moderate success from the studio. The fact that Dandimite had a tune playing on the radio was all the encouragement Bounty needed.

It was Bounty's vocal Jack-in-the-box rhyming intros that first drew attention. Initially it aroused the interest of sound system operators and then of thousands of dancehall fans around the world listening to audio tapes of live sessions, all intrigued by the unique voice pattern introducing custom built songs played by sound systems like Metro Media and Bodyguard. Bounty's sound system clash classic 'Dud Fi Dub' quickly changed the way in which sound system selectors approached their task.
Setting trends and a whole new pace has been another ever-present element throughout Bounty's career. His impact on sound systems is stronger than ever, as he remains the number one choice for selectors to spin on their turntables.

Bounty Killer has navigated the globe with his musical 'Xperience', thrilling people of all races with his uniquely engaging and explosive stage performances. Whether the listener is American,
Japanese, Nigerian, Colombian or European, Bounty's point-blank message has transcended barriers of race, culture and language.
Controversy has trailed Bounty Killer's career since he first fired 'Copper Shot' back in 1992, and has only intensified over the years. His lyrical content has often been too close to the bone for those "polluticians" trying to conceal truths and rights from those they're supposed to serve. The government of Jamaica banned such songs of freedom as 'Fed Up', 'Can't Believe Mi Eyes', 'Look' and 'Anytime'.

Newspapers and talk shows at the time were flooded with debate over those songs' contents, particularly over lines that made reference to the 'nine'. It fuelled the decisions to ban them, but only served to increase their popularity and poignancy. The last three of those songs were penned in conjunction with dancehall producer Dave Kelly, a singer/songwriter partnership permanently etched into the annals of music history, not just reggae.

Renowned as a sagacious and intensely perceptive orator, Bounty Killer can just as easily hold an audience with his reasoning as he can with his musical performances. Whenever television interviews with Bounty are aired, they grip the nation. One Jamaican TV station had to recently repeat a very in-depth interview with him, due to unprecedented public demand.

Now with the release of 'Ghetto Dictionary'- two volumes containing over forty high caliber tracks - the warlord stands firm on his Reggae foundation.

Volume 1 'The Art Of War' demonstrates Bounty's skill at musically destroying his rivals. The list is as follows: 'Bring the War On' (Intro) featuring DJ Kalid, 'Blood Bath', 'Killa Is A Killa', 'Warlord Nuh Business', 'Man Ah Bad Man The Sequel' featuring TOK, 'Stainless', 'Look Good', 'Which One', 'Death Bound', 'Likkle Dread Bwoy', 'Smile Up', 'Top Ah Top', 'Gunz On The Run', 'Just Dead', 'Gun Mouth', 'Sumfest', 'All Out War', 'After All', 'WARR' and 'War Lady'.

Volume 2 'The Mystery' also demonstrate his versatility with tracks like 'Ghetto Dictionary', 'Sufferah' featuring Wayne Marshall, 'Fed Up' (remix), 'Mystery', 'Outcry', 'Bakardi Slang Refix' (featuring Kardinal Offishall), 'Liberty', 'Restaurant', '100 Rounds', 'High Grade Forever', 'Gunz In The Ghetto' (featuring Morgan Heritage), 'We Need A Leader', 'Eye Water', 'Petty Thief', 'Evils Of The Mind' (featuring Curly Loxx/ARP), 'No Other Like Me' (featuring Anthony Red Roze), 'Party 2 The End Of Time' (featuring Richie Stephens/Wayne Marshall), 'Superstarz', 'Arrow' and 'Pot Of Gold' (featuring Richie Stephens).

Allying himself with VP Records is a clear signal that Bounty is 100% devoted to the promotion of pure, unadulterated reggae/dancehall music. "I'm going as hard as ever," he thunders. "When people hear this album they will hear the sun, the sand, the people, everything about Jamaica."

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