Down In the Ghetto

Down In the Ghetto

“Lock all the barriers and pull all the door, now the Killer gonna defend the poor!” cries Bounty Killer at the outset of “Defend the Poor,” one of a clutch of bracingly aggressive political anthems to appear on Bounty Killer’s 1994 full-length Down in the Ghetto. On this seminal King Jammy–produced effort, Bounty Killer dons the garb of the avenging outlaw hero over a tough-minded set of songs depicting everything from Kingston’s gang-plagued drug trade to the everyday plights of the city’s most impoverished residents. On “How the West was Won,” Bounty Killer pays tribute to the recently deceased Ranking Toyan with a vivid re-imagining of his 1981 hit of the same name. Elsewhere, Bounty Killer crafts vivid first-person tales of crime and violence that have the same blend of impeccable storytelling and visceral immediacy that could be found on New York hip-hop albums of the same period. His recordings with MCs like AZ, Masta Killa, and Prodigy of Mobb Deep rank as some of the era's best hip-hop/dancehall crossover efforts.

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