Bounty Killer and Cham give fans a taste of ‘Time Bomb’
Published:Monday | September 25, 2023 | 12:08 AMShanel Lemmie/Staff Reporter
After years of teasing their fans, Bounty Killer and Cham, also known stil as Baby Cham, finally unleashed their joint EP, Time Bomb. Commemorating the moment with a launch party at Di Lot on Constant Spring Road in St Andrew, the duo invited friends, supporters and collaborators to come bask in their success. With no cover charge for the event, the pair benefited from both intentional and coincidental fans who packed the courtyard.
The dress code was ‘red carpet ready’, and some of the audience dressed the part. On stage, Cham and Killer were like ying and yang and seemed to give their captive audience a visual representation of their duality, Cham in his usual two-piece linen set and Killer in a casual all-black outfit.
Prior to them giving their audience a taste of their new material, DJ Rocksteady, Florida’s finest, led the audience in a session of dancehall throwbacks that could rival the memory of any music historian.
Following a multimedia display, equipped with a light show of sorts, Cham emerged militantly delivering the opening lyrics of the title track, Time Bomb.
Not more than two feet in front of a billowing Jamaican flag he deejayed, “Mi touch town pon di rock, circle the block, link up mi madda, give ar two stack.”
Joining in, the ‘Warlord’ emerged with his iconic baritone deejaying, “When party a lock, mi nuh watch clock.”
In similar fashion the two dillied and dallied together, delivering line after line from their seven track EP. Though clearly unfamiliar with the lyrics, the audience had no qualms about attempting to sing along.
“Tick, tick, tick, boom!” they shouted at every opportunity.
Even the renowned Dave Kelly could be spotted from his section of the balcony looking on with an approving smile and accompanying rock. Though the super-producer is famously elusive, his name permeated the evening’s event as Bounty Killer and Cham took every opportunity to praise his contributions to music.
“I don’t think everybody understand the legacy and the contribution of Dave Kelly and Madhouse music to dancehall,” Killer said between songs. “I wondered if you people really understood exactly what that man did. He wrote, he plays, he produces, he mixes, and sings too. Only chu him nah appear pon stage. Not a lot of producers [do those] five entities in the music, and him been doing it from late ‘80s through the ‘90s, and still doing it. We have a lot of other greats, but they are not here doing it any more. Thanks for what they contribute; but he contributed, and is still contributing.”
With no person left standing still, the crowd bounced between both new songs and the hits of old.
Once the ‘Poor People’s Governor’ dropped the famous line, “Bounty Killer giving you originality,” all attempts to turn the party into a through and through stage show was solidified.