Bounty Killer has issued another grave warning that dancehall is receding while other genres of music, like soca, are getting bigger forwards in the Jamaican entertainment space.
The veteran artist posted and deleted his thoughts on the recent Sting chaos that took place on Boxing Day night. At the same time, another party- I Love Soca, was well-attended and featured a more organized event that had no reported violence.
The Sting fiasco has been an embarrassment for the proponents of dancehall, who continue to deny that the music is not connected to “badness” or encourages unruly behavior. The return of Sting sought to bring back the same old rivalry characteristic of 90s dancehall music, and while some were here for it, others felt that the event sought to take the genre a step back.
Among those who have been very vocal is Mr. Vegas, who called the event a ‘disgrace’ and called out promoters for not booking “real” artists and entertainers to promote dancehall music.
Soca party in Jamaica while Sting wasn't looking so good pic.twitter.com/2UOMUeTw9Y
— Urban Islandz (@urbanislandz) December 28, 2022
In response to videos of Trinidadian artist Kes The Band performing in Jamaica before a packed I Love Soca crowd, Bounty Killer had a very ominous warning about the recession of dancehall while other genres were being loved and promoted.
“That flopped sting last night while dancehall is being stuck in a barrel and losing its appeal to the world watch Soca in Jamaica,” the artist wrote.
“Believe it or if we don’t take heed and try to fix the problem right now Soca will be even bigger than dancehall yrs to come here sad but it’s the truth,” Bounty Killer said.
While Bounty Killer is worried that Jamaica will be overrun by soca music, some soca artists also shared that they felt Jamaicans embracing soca more is a good thing.
Artist Moto wrote, “It was about time Jamaica accepted soca 100%. This will be great for the future of the genre. Jamaica has the advantage of popularity and population compared to smaller islands. It be a huge push forward for SOCA. This is a GREAT thing indeed.”
Another wrote, “Well after seeing what was served up at Sting it’s no wonder Sting 93 Beenie Man Vs Bounty Killer Sting 95 Cobra Vs Ninja Man fast forward to sting 2022 Amari Vs Queenie people have to realise that the Dancehall music we know and love is now a deadman walking.”
This year’s Sting was headlined by Skeng Don, Jashii, Valiant, and others, but the artists did not get to perform as police ended the show early after the stage was stormed by unknown persons. Police officers could be seen restraining people while others had their guns drawn during the fracas.
One of the biggest moments of the show was the clash between non-artists Amari and Queenie, which degenerated into a cuss-out on stage. The promoters of Sting have not addressed the criticisms of the show, which returned after a decade of not being hosted and which they promised would be bigger and better than before.
