Rodney Basil Price, born 12 June 1972 in Trenchtown, Jamaica. One day as he walked from school, he got shot at the age of 14 by a stray bullet and during his recovery in hospital, he decided to call himself Bounty Hunter. Price is a well known Dancehall and Jamaican reggae DJ and popularly known as one of the belligerent Dancehall artists during the 90s. He is one of 9 children and grew up in another ghetto called Riverton City. His aggressive approach towards gun-talk attracted a lot of attention. To many, he appears to have contradictions within his personality, though his fans are able to resonate with his musical content regardless. Black Scorpio sound system was owned and run by Price’s late father, Constance Basil Price. Bounty Hunter was once in retail business selling figurines. He continued performing as Bounty Hunter for area sound systems like Metromedia. He persevered hanging around King Jammy’s studio, hoping to catch a break and upon meeting Uncle T, Jammy’s brother, some of his recordings were then produced in 1990.
One of Bounty Hunter’s early tunes, “Dub Fi Dub,” became a huge dancehall hit and that was the turning point of his name change to Bounty Killer. In 1992 he had a major breakout and released a good number of singles that became major hits such as ” Copper Shot” and “Guns Out,” to mention a few. When Bounty Killer’s debut album “Jamaica’s Most Wanted,” was released in 1993, many of the major hits were featured on it. In 1993, Bounty Killer and Beenie-Man’s lyrical feud began as they had a DJ clash on stage because they both stated that one was imitating the other. Subsequently, they took their battle and recorded a clash album “Guns Out” in 1994. Both rivals decided to call a truce in 2014 and recorded a single together called “Legendary” In 1996, Bounty Killer recorded a 20 track double album titled “My Xperience” which had songs that featured American Hip-hop stars like The Fugees and Busta Rhymes. Bounty Killer had many songs that make it to the American charts such as ” Hip-Hopera” Hardcore New-York rappers like Mobb Deep featured on also on the album “Next Millennium.” The movie Blade had “Deadly Zone” as a soundtrack.
At the Reggae Sumfest, Bounty Killer has been arrested twice and also charged in 2008 for using profanity during his performance. A charity organization called The Bounty Killer foundation was started in 2018 and he has made donations to Kingston Public Hospital in Jamaica which is the same hospital he was treated for that stray gunshot wound in 1986. In 2020, Junior Byles, a reggae artist who suffers from mental illness and cancer received a cash donation through this foundation.
