Mr. Vegas is blasting Grammy-winning Shabba Ranks for seemingly lording himself over other Jamaican artists but not contributing to the culture in any meaningful way. Factions of the dancehall community are rebuking the dancehall legend as they come out in defense of Bounty Killer, who was shaded by Shabba in an interview clip released last week.
The full interview has not been released, but an audio clip with Shabba Rabks sees him refusing to be called “General”, an endearing term many use to refer to Bounty Killer in any way. He and Bounty Killer have been beefing for quite some time now. Shabba replied to the reporter, naming fellow artists General Trees, General Degree, and General Echo as the only three generals in Dancehall, declaring that “any other general a plan fi funeral.”
Bounty Killer previously used the term to diss Shabba. In a surprising twist, Mr. Vegas, a nemesis of Bounty Killer, seemingly defended him as he called out Shabba for being silent and not giving back to Jamaican culture as much as Bounty Killer and other artists.
“The last time I spoke about Shabby Rankin, I said you watch… he’s gonna disappear, and I was correct. Shabba Ranks came the last time, made some sounds, did not release any new music, did not link up with some yute ad voice some songs, did not put out any dancehall tune, he just disappeared again. And this is what Shabba Rankin is not understanding- you do not control the ground again. People respect and rate you as the great deejay Shabba Rankin but you have no relevance on the group when compared to people like Bounty Killer dem and even Buju. Buju do ten years a prison and Buju Banton come forward and deh pon the ground and people see him, him still record music, him still make him presence felt,” Mr. Vegas explained in an Instagram live video.
He continued, “Weh you nah understand Shabba Rankin, every man just as big as dem last number one song bredda…the people dem a ask, what have you done for me lately? You cannot keep coming around every 2,3,4,5 years and expect you gonna get the same level of ratings like weh Killer get pon the ground. Me and Killer nuh good but you affi call a spade a spade.”
This is not the first time other artists have called out Shabba Ranks for not mentoring or putting in work to push the culture. Many artists from Sea View Gardens, where he was raised, have praised Bounty Killer for supporting their careers and helping them up.
According to Mr. Vegas, Sean Paul has done more for Jamaican culture abroad than Shabba Ranks but does not get the level of love and respect Shabba gets. He added that Sean Paul has helped to push younger Jamaican artists like Masick, Busy Signal, and others worldwide.
“Shabba Ranks, you come in like a wukliss fada weh just have a bag a pickney and run leff them… you can’t get the same level of respect on the ground worse yet you come throw shade bredda. You affi understand yuh ego weh you a use for years, that wear off bredda,” Mr. Vegas said to him.
Mr Vegas added that Shabba had missed the opportunity to beef with Bounty when he could have done it a long time ago, which would have advanced dancehall and made artists money.
“You feel good fi hear Shaggy say dancehall dead and you still alive? Shaggy said dancehall dead; dancehall will never get back to that sound… the people weh coulda lift it and put it back on the map, just turn dem back,” Mr Vegas said, chiding Shabba Ranks.
In the meantime, Bounty Killer seemingly reacted to Shabba’s comment. He posted his song “One General” on his Instagram account, produced by NotNice. “Friendly reminder don’t ever forget Uno General x General Echo,” he captioned the video.
Shabba Ranks and Bounty Killer’s beef started in 2022 after Shabba seemingly responded to previous comments by Bounty Killer, where he called out the younger artists for making music that was uneducated and was causing moral decay in society. He was speaking to the trap dancehall music glorifying drugs, lottery scamming and criminality.
Shabba bashed him for “fighting” out the younger artists in an On Stage interview without calling Bounty’s name.
Shabba has not reacted to criticisms from Mr. Vegas and Bounty Killer.
