Bounty Cross over Ele's loss - Does not see gov't input in music !

Last Tuesday, a mere two days before he was scheduled to perform at Reggae Sumfest 2010's Dancehall Night, deejay Elephant Man's Mercedes Benz was seized in a tax evasion operation. Elephant Man performed on his own, then in combination with Bounty Killer at the close of the latter's set with This Is How We Do It.

And on Saturday, during an unexpected appearance along with Mavado at the Sumfest press conference, held at the Iberostar Hotel in Montego Bay, Bounty Killer expressed his dissatisfaction with the relationship between taxation and government input into music.

"I don't see any development of the government towards music," he said, noting that an aspiring artiste cannot get a loan to assist in getting a demo done. However, Bounty said, "when you burst (buss) the taxman after you".

"At least some percentage must go back towards the revenue it come from," he said.

As he was on Dancehall Night, when Bounty was determined to speak on current issues to the audience, at the press conference he also addressed a number of matters. "I am the poor people's governor. I am always on the front defending the people," he said from the get go. Mentioning the killing of Voicemail's Oneil and Cobra being shot and wounded, the incursion into Tivoli and the then just ended state of emergency, he addressed the overall tone of Dancehall Night.

"This morning was really warm and together. I even big up Vybz Kartel over and over. We do not have to be friends and associates, but we have to live in the same alliance. We do not have to be in the same allegiance, but we are all Jamaicans," he said.

He continues to press for some consideration to be given to extending dancehall's official hours. "The 2 o'clock shutting down, it need to be addressed," he said, noting that in the Corporate Area consideration has to be given to other people. "But when we go over like Caymanas Polo Club, that is ridiculous. That is in the bush," he said.

And he advised the power that be "like how them go look for the bad guys in Tivoli, they must go look for the good guys. I want the government to be enforced with a state of urgency, just as they had a state of emergency".

THE JAMAICA STAR