World of Jamaican Music

Discover artists and hear songs from everyone on the site! Log in to Spotify in this browser to hear full songs. SourcesYour Voice

An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

Remembering Derrick Harriott (1939-2026), rocksteady singer and producer. Read his story →

Bounty Killer

Artist. Dancehall

Active
1992-present
Sunrise
June 12, 1972, Trenchtown, Kingston
Also recorded as
Bounty Hunter
Also known as
The Poor People Governor, Warlord, Five Star General, The Cross Angry One

Rodney Basil Price took the name Bounty Killer and the title Poor People Governor, which he said people gave him because he kept to ghetto themes. He grew up in Riverton City and Seaview Gardens and was shot in the back at fourteen during a political clash, an injury that recurs in his lyrics.

He emerged in the early 1990s, recording for King Jammy and then for Dave Kelly, whose Madhouse riddims carried much of his best work. His early models were Brigadier Jerry and Ranking Joe. The Rough Guide says he was "not simply a gruff-toned chatter": he had at least three distinct voices, combined them in intricate vocal patterns to illustrate his narrative, and could hold interest for the length of an album, which few deejays can. Cham has called it the "rawest, purest delivery" he ever heard from a deejay in the studio. "Down in the Ghetto," "Cellular Phone," "Fed Up," and "Look" cover the ground he returned to throughout: police violence, political corruption, and the gap between Jamaica's politicians and the people who vote for them.

His feud with Beenie Man ran through answer records and stage clashes from the early 1990s, in spite of several public reconciliations. In 2020 the two met again as former rivals in an online Verzuz clash.

The Alliance, the camp he assembled in the 2000s, brought through Mavado, Busy Signal, Vybz Kartel, and Elephant Man among others. The Gully and Gaza feud that dominated dancehall at the end of that decade was fought between two of his own protégés, Mavado and Kartel, after Kartel left the Alliance.

He has worked outside reggae more than most of his contemporaries, recording with the Fugees on "Hip-Hopera" and appearing on No Doubt's "Hey Baby," which won a Grammy in 2003. He remains active and is now among dancehall's senior figures.

Last updated November 4, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Wikipedia lists "Poor People's Governor" among his titles, with "Warlord" and "Five Star General": "Bounty Killer," Wikipedia, accessed October 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounty_Killer. In 1997 he said people "branded" him with the title because he kept to ghetto themes: Shelah Moody, interview, in M. Peggy Quattro, "Bounty Killer: The Poor People's Governor, 1997 Interview & 2020 Update," Reggae Report, June 11, 2020, https://reggaereport.com/bounty-killer-the-poor-peoples-governor-1997-interview-2020-update/.
  2. Barrow and Dalton say he was born in Trench Town and moved to "the equally tough Seaview Gardens and Riverton City areas": Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 334. On the shooting, by "a stray bullet during a gunfight between rival political factions," "Bounty Killer," Wikipedia.
  3. Barrow and Dalton date his debut, "Gun Must Done," to 1990, recorded as Bounty Hunter for King Jammy's brother Trevor "Uncle T" James, and his first hit, "Spy Fi Die," to Jammy's son John John; in 1995 he founded his own Priceless label: Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 334.
  4. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 333-34.
  5. Claudia Gardner, "Cham Says Bounty Killer Has the Greatest Deejay Voice in Dancehall History," DancehallMag, July 25, 2021, https://dancehallmag.com/?p=40813.
  6. On "Look" (Madhouse) and "Letter to the Leaders," Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 334; on the Down in the Ghetto album for Jammy, 335. Barrow and Dalton call him "chillingly convincing on reality themes": 334.
  7. Barrow and Dalton trace the feud to 1992 and note that it continued "in spite of several public reconciliations": Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 336; on their joint album Guns Out, 335. Wikipedia dates their clash at Sting to 1993 and their joint single "Legendary" to 2014: "Bounty Killer," Wikipedia.
  8. Quattro, "Bounty Killer."
  9. On the Alliance and its members, "Bounty Killer," Wikipedia.
  10. Barrow and Dalton note the Fugees among the guests on My Xperience: Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 334.
  11. Wikipedia gives the category as Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal: "Bounty Killer," Wikipedia.

World of Jamaican Music: the whole map