Bounty Killer, a contentious dancehall artist, known internationally for hits like “Hey baby” featuring No Doubt, asserts that Afrobeats, a developing genre, “has no lyrics” in comparison to dancehall.
Bounty Killer, who made the remarks in a now-viral interview with I Never Knew TV, compared dancehall with afrobeats. The dancehall legend claimed that the problem with dancehall is that its “topics,” which are now exclusively restricted to scamming, is the reason why Afrobeats is “taking over.”
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“Afrobeats have no lyrics; they have a lot of melody, grove, and topic. Ye ye ye is not a lyric; it is a topic. The song only has a style, melody and topic,” he remarked.
The Warlord discussed the work of Afrobeats artists, to which Jamaicans are sometimes likened, and used Burna Boy’s Ye as an illustration.
“Ye, ye. Dat a lyrics? Dat a topic. Ye, ye, we know what Ye Ye Ye, mean… those are topics and di melody. Style, melody, topic. Simple!”
One social media account, burna.boy.news, posted immediately after the outrage, saying: One social media account, burna.boy.news, posted immediately after the outrage, saying:”That man na craze did he listen to the verses? Burna Boy knows how to entertain people while sending a message at the same time, YE is about hustling for a better life. This guy na dust full him head mtcheeeeew.”
Mayowabae, a seperate social media user, made the following claim about dancehall artists:”Lol it’s obvious the dancehall artists are getting jealous of the Afrobeat taking over.”
The contemporary situation of dancehall, which is experiencing its own gloom and lethargy, was discussed by Bounty Killer. He said that while being “full of lyrics,” many of the songs being produced lacked melodies and dancehall beats and were satisfied to concentrate on subjects that the rest of the world appeared to be mostly disinterested in hearing.
“It’s just the topics. Dancehall artistes don’t have any topics. They are stupid. They are singing some regional things; some corner argument. They are not singing household argument where every household understand what this means. Chappa argument, scamma pan corna; dat not relatable,” he claimed.
“People caan relate to that in every nation and every country. How far that goes? Fool-fool. People just a sing fi roun di road so that’s why Afrobeats a lead….”
Following the abolition of Billboard’s Reggae Digital Song Sales chart in January 2020, the publication revealed two years later that it has partnered with the music festival and major Afrobeats brand Afro Nation to introduce the first-ever US chart for Afrobeats Songs. The top-downloaded reggae and dancehall songs in the US were rated on the weekly Reggae Digital Song Sales chart, however, years of poor sales may have contributed to that choice. Weekly updates to the Reggae Albums ranking are still being made.
According to local music experts, the declaration seemed to presage the eventual hegemony of African music over dancehall music.
“That’s Dancehall problem – the topics. The topics are limited. None a di chapppa artiste nuh big like Charly Blacks. Party Animal. Everybaddy know bout party. Di word party big inna every nation. Which nation don’t party? Simple. So a dat. Our artiste dem don’t choose di topic right. Di argument is regional and wi a sing inna wi own dialect and wi a talk to wiself. Suh dem music deh just go in di diaspora,” Bounty shared.
Bounty Killer praised the current dancehall’s poetry but criticized the songs’ messages. He thinks that by changing the content, the art form would regain its power.
