Bounty Killer has made a controversial claim about Afrobeats, saying the genre “is melodious but lacks lyrics.”
The well-known reggae and dancehall singer claimed recently in an interview with I Never Knew TV that Afrobeats is “like a baby” in comparison to Dancehall. He mocked the popular song “Ye” by Burna Boy, calling it a one-word song with “a lot of melodies and beautiful beat.” Bounty Killer responded that dancehall music is no longer as innovative as it once was when asked if he thinks it still has a place in the global market. Additionally, the 50-year-old said that Jamaican music was “extremely complex” and full of metaphors.
“Afrobeat is like a baby from Dancehall, it’s irrelative. Afrobeat and Jamaican music are similar and Afro is taking nothing from Dancehall, Afro compliments Dancehall.“Afro is leading because Afro has a topic, Afro doesn’t have lyrics, Afrobeat doesn’t even have no lyrics. They have a lot of melody and groove and topic.
“Ye Ye Ye, we know what Ye Ye Ye means… just a topic and a melody. Style, melody, topic, simple. One word with a lot of melodies and the beat is nice and full of groove and style.
“Jamaican music is technical with metaphors. Why are you singing to us in metaphor? Make it simply technical, not technically technical. This is all Dancehall music is today – technically technical.
“They’re making the songs like a test. Nobody wants no puzzle music, people want music to relieve stress but we’re giving music to stress. “Dancehall use to be creative but they’re not creative anymore. That’s Dancehall’s problem. The topics are limited.”
