Bounty Killer Talks New Music, Boost In Instagram Followers Since Verzuz Clash
It is perhaps now understandable why Bounty Killer was uncharacteristically smiling and laughing throughout the Verzuz clash and appeared perturbed about the possible outcome.
The likely reason? His fan base fattened dramatically.
The dancehall superstar said his Instagram followership skyrocketed by an unprecedented 25,000 in the space of three days after Swizz Beatz and Timbaland announced that he and his long-time arch-rival Beenie Man would be gracing the Verzuz stage live in a musical battle.
“The amount of followers that I got since Swizz Beatz advertise me and Beenie, I knew what it was gonna be like. I get 25,000 followers in three days; that’s history on Instagram,” the Warlord explained in an interview with Jamaica’s CVM television after the event ended on Saturday night.
“I never get 2000 people in less than a week, so for me to get 25,000 followers in three days, I know the impact VERZUZ TV has, so this is something big,” he added.
The Seaview Gardens native paid big respects to dancehall fans, whom he said had pressed Swizz Beatz to ensure the Verzuz clashes featured Jamaican artistes, as the clash phenomenon was started by Jamaicans and later copied by US artistes, and people in other parts of the world, a point he and Beenie Man made clear during Saturday night’s show.
“Jamaicans started this clash thing; the rappers battle. Spinning music, sound system thing is a Jamaican thing… Sound system in every nation; you got them in Germany; you got them in Japan, Switzerland; they are all over, but people need to know it’s from Jamaica. We don’t say we alone have to do it, because we want other culture to do it to show that it’s an international art form, but we always want them to pay homage: it’s from Jamaica,” he said.
“That’s what Swizz Beats trying to do. That’s why he stopped and said: ‘I need to involve Jamaica’. Because it (VERZUZ) started off in America but people kept tagging him saying ‘what about Jamaica?’ That’s when he called me, because people demanding this. This was by popular demand. Swizz had no idea dat he should do this with the Jamaicans. It’s really the fans that demanded it worked; it was good,” the Living Dangerously artiste added.
The superstar, whose real name is Rodney Pryce, said the show, for him, was a very welcome change, as since Jamaica was placed under quarantine more than two months ago due to the COVID-19 virus, he, like other Jamaicans, was restricted to doing mundane activities.
“This is great because that got me out the house to do what I do best and I entertained other people (quarantined) at home. So this is like our Sumfest for the summer because we not gonna have a Sumfest. So this is like a little 2020 Sting, Sumfest for Bounty and Beenie,” he said chuckling.
Bounty said despite performing without having a huge physical audience at the venue, he had no problem adapting to the new way of delivering a performance to the 475,000 people who watched live.
“Music is embedded inside of me, so I can’t see the audience, but I am feeling them, because from the whole week, just the way how the fans been asking and commenting and talking about it, I know the whole adrenalin and the whole magnitude that it brings, so not seeing them, they are virtually in my head,” he explained.
He also noted that said despite the restrictions due to the nightly curfew on the island, he had still been putting out music, among them Gyal Weather with Konshens, which is a remake of his 1995 hit, More Gal, Pioneer, with upcoming artiste Maestro Don and another with Gyptian.
“I am quarantining. I am going to the studio still. But there ain’t other much activities than staying home, watching TV, surfing the web, exercising playing games and just relax,” Bounty said.
“We might stop gatherin but music still makin,” he added in his usual poetic style.