Bounty Killer Pays Homage To Shaggy: “The Biggest Deejay Out Of Jamaica”
Bounty Killer has paid homage to Shaggy, crowning him, unapologetically, Dancehall’s biggest act.
The Coppershot artist shared a video clip of Shaggy, in his element, during a recent performance in Auckland, New Zealand.
In the video, Shaggy was seen performing his hit song Angel, from his Diamond-selling album Hot Shot in front of a massive crowd, his trademark Jamaican flag hanging from his back pocket, as scores of fans galloped into a section of the stadium.
Bounty made the declaration about Shaggy’s greatness, while ordering those in disagreement to dare to challenge his statement.
“The biggest deejay out of Jamaica same way 🇯🇲. Diamond League 💎 who nuh like it bite it and fight it👈🏿,” Bounty wrote.
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His post elicited acknowledgment from Shaggy himself, who replied: “🙏🏾 giv thanx mi general!!!”
Also cheering his along was Dexta Daps, who declared: “Diamon kidddddddd🔥🔥🔥”.
Bounty was hailed by one follower who described him as a huge advocate for his culture.
“This is the Unity dancehall needs. Everyone should take a page out of Bounty’s book. Always and relentlessly pushing the culture forward✊🏽✊🏽,” the follower noted.
As followers continued heaping praises on Shaggy, mrsboss47 showed her support for Bounty’s comments declaring: “Real talk and nuh argument nuh inna dat! No drama!keep it clean and gives to charity a whole lot. Charity brings blessings❤️❤️❤️”.
Other followers sought to point out the difference between Shaggy’s content and the Trap sounds in which many young artists have been dabbling.
“This is what great music brings… Not just a hype for a summer or a stage show in Mobay… Artists nowadays need to not be comfortable with bussing on social media and actually pree bussing in real life and making real money from their music,” djgeniusvi stated, while another piped in: “Good music most Jamaican artist can do this but all them sing about is killing and other sh*t.”
“Mek dem gwaan Mek scamming song and see how long that ago last! Them fly out and perform fi Jamaicans abroad and think them big! Dem nah touch no new hearts and minds and when they do a negativity them infect them with,” giovani_whodat commented.
One man, ba.jam1, also took a jab at some of the Dancehall artistes who have been fighting over the King of Dancehall title.
“Shaggy pulling this huge crowd 2 decades after selling diamond while some guy go around calling himself King? King of what?” he asked.
Another follower had his dissenting comments rubbished by the Warlord, after attempting to downplay Shaggy’s accomplishments and narrowing his successes down to his skin color.
“Stop the misinformation Shaggy is the only Jamaican artiste to ever sold diamond and u can ask Sean Paul who is the biggest Jamaican deejay also!!” Bounty declared.
Over the years, Shaggy has faced scrutiny from some Jamaicans who have sought to downplay his outstanding contribution to Reggae and Dancehall and his mammoth international success, which surpasses many top stars in the United States.
Among the claims, was that his skin color was a factor in his ascension to Dancehall’s global success and that he had the backing of big labels, while omitting the fact that he was not only a singer with good work ethics, but a producer and songwriter of numerous hardcore Dancehall hit songs for other artists.
The issue for the most part had gone unaddressed by Shaggy, for years until one seemingly disquieting instance during a November 2019 discussion between music producers on Instagram, in which Vybz Kartel was reported as saying that Shaggy and his compatriot Sean Paul, did not do “authentic dancehall”, but “dem sell because major label de behind dem” and that “if a major label de behind mackerel she sell gold or platinum a maanin…”.
Three months later, at the 2020 Jamaica Music Conference in February 2020, Shaggy, who holds Jamaica’s Order of Distinction (Commander Class), had declared, during a panel discussion, that his hard work ought not to be undermined when speaking about his success.
He had also stated that he was unapologetic about his accomplishments as he had worked hard and was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but came from a downtown Kingston ghetto, and “never see uptown til mi buss and come back a Jamaica.”
“Me nah tell you I’m the baddest deejay. Me far from it. But mi a go tell unuh, none a unuh nah go outwork me, it will never happen,” Shaggy had said.
In an interview with Soundchat Radio, in May 2021, Shaggy had also addressed being described as not authentically Dancehall, pointing to his Big Yard label under which some of the biggest authentic beats from the genre were produced, including the Street Bullies riddim, which featured Kartel’s Slow Motion, Beenie Man’s Humility and Ce’Cile’s Nah Stress Over Man.
He had also referenced work he had done with Agent Sasco, Konshens and Chico, and others at Dave Kelly’s Madhouse label.
“Sometime I siddung and I hear some man a talk some ting and a seh ‘Shaggy a nuh Dancehall and dis an dat and I seh ‘dude, I wrote your shit. You don’t even realise that… people figet seh Slow Motion come out pon Big Yard wid Vybz Kartel. I went and got that done… Suh mi done listen di hypocrisy an stupidness. Put up or shut up,” he had said.
At the 2020 Music Conference, Shaggy had also addressed the colorism issue, noting that it was a factor internationally, but that Jamaicans should not “dwell on it.”
“Don’t ignore the fact that it (racism) is a part of it. Yes, it is, very much so. The three biggest artistes out of Jamaica – Shaggy, Bob Marley, Sean Paul – a three brown bredda, a nuh coincidence that,” he had stated.
In March this year, Shaggy had released Mi Nuh Know, a song in which the former US Marine, took aim at his critics, reminding naysayers that for decades, he has been flying the Jamaican and the Dancehall flag, and has the coveted accolade of being Jamaica’s only living Diamond-plus selling artist, his Hot Shot album an attestation to that fact.