Bounty Killer Says He’s Excited To See Usain Bolt In Music

Bounty Killer says he’s in full support of Usain Bolt’s foray into music production and is willing to be a part of any project that the sprint kingpin, now Dancehall music producer, has in the making.

Speaking on a recent episode of Earn Your Leisure podcast, Bounty, when asked if he would consider working with Usain Bolt, immediately responded in the affirmative, and spoke glowingly of the Clockwork producer.

“Well Usain Bolt is my bredrin and is a fan of mine and he is getting into the music. So who to tell.  And then he is working with Dave Kelly one of my legendary, so who to tell.  I am willing, to be a part of any project he is putting out because I am a supporter of him.  And I like the fact that he is supporting music… so I am excited to see him in music,” he said.

Bounty, who extensively promoted Bolt’s Country Yutes album on his Instagram page last year, told the interviewers that Usain’s love of the music is unquestionable and longstanding and that those who bashed him after he entered the industry, were not being fair to the Trelawny native.

“A lot of people try to bash him and all that, but why you gonna bash him? He’s a music lover.  He is a music guy.  I met Usain as a young sprinter when he was just coming up, at the Asylum (nightclub).  That was where we became familiar with each other; in parties.  And he was always on the dance floor doing the dances.  That’s why you always see him doing di dance dem.  Dat’s him naturally,” Bounty explained.

“So he’s not putting on any front or gwaan like him come and teck up music fi people see him.  No.  He loves music.  He is one of the biggest music supporter.  He is a big Gaza fan.  Memba everybaddy know seh him support Vybz Kartel.   And he is a big fan of Bounty Killer.  Him a big fan of everybaddy.  Only choo Kartel a him favourite,” he added.

Country Yutes peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart.

In April 2021, Bolt had complained on Instagram that his “contributions” to Dancehall and Reggae were being shunned, by the Dancehall fraternity.  His lamentations came almost four months after Popcaan rubbished his Living the Dream single, a collab with his manager and friend NJ.  The Unruly Boss had implied that NJ, who did most of the vocals, lacked musical acumen and also admonished Bolt to help ‘some youth wid real musical talent’ because “them dey ya nuff”.

Weeks after Popcaan’s utterances, Bolt and his A-Team took aim at the Forever artist in a song titled Say Less, which featured himself, NJ, Ricardo ‘Bibi’ Gardner, and Kamal.  However, in early March when the Say Less music video was released, the jeering was revivified as followers declared that the song and video only served as confirmation that “Popcaan was right”.

In mid-September last year, Bolt had conceptualized a strategic master plan for the genre, which he said, once meticulously implemented, will guarantee boundless economic fortunes for Jamaica’s musicians, contending that Dancehall and Reggae are ‘well-loved” and the music is in high demand internationally.

Among his suggested strategies, which he shared on his Instagram page were: collaborative international tours featuring 10 or more Jamaican Dancehall artists at some of the world’s biggest arenas; the creation of a suitable/workable structure for the Dancehall/Reggae industry and the positive promotion/marketing of the two genres globally by all stakeholders.

Taking aim at Reggae and Dancehall detractors, in his lengthy statement which he titled A Lover of Reggae/Dancehall Music, he said that the genres although gigantic, were underestimated and taken for granted.  “When their hype expire them start to push the narrative that nothing not going on in dancehall/ reggae music,” Bolt had declared.   “If everyone keeps pushing that narrative about the music then what we expect the world to say.”

The Olympic champion had also rubbished any notion that the genres were on the decline, contending, that what the industry needed was proper structure. He also pointed to the number of people from other countries and genres who have been sampling Dancehall tracks, the majority of which are decades old, as evidence that the genres are unstoppable.

In January this year, Bolt told the UK Sun that he was working on his second album and that he had several collaborations in the pipeline.  He, however, shied away from divulging the details.   

“We have talked to a few artists in the UK who we would like to work with as well. I would definitely like to do more collaborations on the record,” he had said.