An open letter to Bounty Killer

The following is an open letter to Bounty Killer.

Dear Bounty Killer,

I hope this letter finds you in the angriest of moods.

I have been reading about your recent travails i.e. your brushes with the law and I must admit I am extremely disappointed. You may remember that in my last blog I spoke of how I like Beenie Man. But my admiration of him in a purely platonic way did not stop me from pointing out his flaws.

Bounty Killer, I like you in pretty much the same manner. After all, I grew up listening to music from both of you and I think you, Bounty, have some songs that are timeless. If you and other readers of this letter disbelieve me, listen to the lyrics of Look, Anytime and Cyaan Believe Mi Eyes and you will see that they are still relevant a decade later and will be long after you have left the earth.

Anyway, enough of the adulation, time for the chastisement.

Bounty Killer, you like your nemesis Beenie Man have the opportunity to become icons and legends in dancehall history. You, like your nemesis should be elder statesmen in dancehall. You should be producing younger artistes who will take dancehall to the top of BillBoard, the BBC Top 40 and the Canadian charts regularly. I’m not talking about exposing young artistes, allowing them to produce substandard work, then becoming involved in petty squabbles, which hold both them and the music back.

What I’m talking about is putting a young artiste in the international limelight and keeping him or her there by using your experience and knowledge. After all, you have had some international success and you have boasted about giving the world Elephant Man (and Scare Dem), Vybz Kartel as well as Mavado. So, why not use that to your advantage in the form of a studio and management company? Also, why not use this experience to lobby for dancehall to be given the respect it deserves as a legitimate art form, which reflects the voice of the people instead of the noise that some people perceive it to be?

Instead, Bounty Killer you have been finding yourself before the courts too regularly for my liking. I have never looked up to you as a role model neither have I ever looked up to Beenie Man or any other dancehall act for that matter. You see I don’t idolise people. But, I’m sure people look up to you as a role model. I don’t know if you see yourself as a role model but your visits to her majesty’s courts is not something I would imagine you would not want youngsters to follow.

While I’m on the subject of youngsters, why can’t you get your sons Vybz Kartel the seemingly talented but wayward writer who left your household three years ago and your equally gifted singjay Mavado to stop going at each other’s throats. Aren’t you afraid that they may literally cause harm to each other. Why can’t you as the father intervene? Why not let them come together, sit down combine their talents and produce a memorable GLOBAL HIT – not a local one, or one that’s going to just peak at 65 on Billboard Hot 100 and then be forgotten. Instead get them to do one which will be as catchy and popular as Shaggy’s ‘It Wasn’t Me’.

So Bounty, please, I beg of you, can we at least see a new cross, angry miserable man using his bad attitude to take dancehall to the top? Please?

Thank you for reading my letter.

Yours truly,

Idi Amin

PS: Hey you could even appear in the video of the global hit song done by Vybz Kartel and Mavado. But then it wouldn’t be your first time!