Mr. Lexx Explains What Started Beef Between Him And Bounty Killer
Dancehall deejay Mr. Lexx is big on unity. In fact, he says he gets along with all his co-workers. Well, except one.
The freestyle maestro and Bounty Killer have had sporadic war of words for more than two decades. Speaking on Razor B’s Tongue Talk podcast on Thursday, Mr. Lexx pinpointed the nature of his breakout as the reason for their spat.
“Mi do a lot of firsts inna the industry and to the impact weh mi buss, because if yuh study back the whole thing, dem a go tell you seh a nuh every artiste get the buss weh me get,” he started.
“It was like a mania when me buss… A couple artistes got threatened by me, that particular one (Bounty Killer) came at me for no reason at all. Mi nuh know di man. Di man spend like eight years constantly (at me).”
He continued, “Before mi buss, a one artiste dem used to buss a year. To the impact weh him and Beenie Man dem have pon the industry, dem leggo one artiste a year. Before me buss was Zebra. Before Zebra was Vegas. Before Vegas buss was Red Rat. Before Red Rat buss, was Goofy – a just one man a year. When me buss, mi come change that. Me seh seven or eight a we can hot at the same time, so, when you see my entourage with 14 man behind me, nine a dem a artiste or aspiring artistes.”
With a distinct flow and tone, Mr. Lexx popularized the rap-deejay style of delivery in dancehall heard on tracks like Full Hundred, Cook, and Good Hole.
He said he almost had a falling out with Beenie Man for using his flow on his 1999 track World Gone Mad, but that they were able to talk things out through mutual respect.
The topic arose as the men spoke about the growing culture of operating in silos in modern dancehall, which Mr. Lexx believes is debilitating the industry.
The entertainer reflected on the communal environment in his heyday.
“Inna my time, as artistes, we woulda gather up 15 a we, bare car line up, and seh, ‘Yo, Portmore a dweet’, and we just gone over deh so and hol’ a joy and everything,” he shared. “It change now. The last 15 artistes weh buss nuh know each other until dem buss.”
He expanded his argument to the demise of juggling rhythm culture which encouraged competition and saw new acts getting their breakthrough and veteran acts still being able to ride the wave.
“Some man voice pon dah rhythm yah and dem nuh waan nobody else voice pon the rhythm and dat help mash up dancehall – dat help mash up juggling,” Mr. Lexx said.
Razor B chimed in to propose that perhaps private conflicts among some artistes are behind increased tailored productions, to which Mr. Lexx said, “It nuh matter if him (generally) and an artiste nuh ‘gree, him nuh waan nobody else pon it.”
Continuing on the singles-based environment, Mr. Lexx said, “Memba when we used to have juggling and we drop a juggling and yuh get all seven, eight hit songs off of it. Dat nuh happen again. Mi nuh know if dem feel threatened by other artistes or wah, or if dem feel other artiste song a go get bigger pon di rhythm than fi dem own.”
“The producer dem stay so too; dem nuh waan nobody else voice pon dem rhythm and it’s kinda crazy, but again, the industry change. It’s just different now.”