Bounty Killa, Assassin, Merciless “Hype In the Park”

​@LeoOReggio
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Merciless, born Leonard Bartley 1 July 1971 in the Turner district of Chapelton, Clarendon, Jamaica, is a reggae and dancehall artist. Merciless first found success performing with sound systems. He made his recording début in 1994 with “Lend Out Mi Mercy”, which was a hit in Jamaica and elsewhere, and a string of further hits followed, including “Mavis”, which was the top reggae single in Jamaica in 1995 and used the same riddim as Shaggy’s “Mr. Boombastic”. Like several other dancehall stars, he adopted ‘conscious’ lyrical content in the late 1990s. He is similar in sound to fellow artist Bounty Killer. In the late 2000s he was imprisoned in Florida for fourteen months.
He is also known by the nickname “Warhead”, and engaged in several high-profile on-stage ‘battles’ in the late 1990s and 2000s with fellow deejays Beenie Man, Ninjaman, and Bounty Killer. His rivalry with Bounty Killer did not prevent the two from recording together, with “No One Cares” released in 2000.
The veteran dancehall recording artiste, whose breakthrough came in the early ’90s with his single Len Out Mi Mercy, told Weh Dem Up To that many of the songs in his catalogue, labelled as ‘gun tunes’, were done for the niche market of sound systems and selectors.
“Those type a ‘chunes’ buss me, but I am not going to say I like doing them all the time,” Merciless said. “Dem song deh bring in the dubplate work, and even when me do songs for the girls, I end up have to turn them into something else to please sound man. One good example is Gal Dem Gizzada. Inna di dubs, me haffi do seh supm like ‘ nuh soun’ boy cyaa cross the border’.”
Merciless shared that his mother, Etle Ruby Cole, has for long urged him to retire the violent songs. The last of eight children for Cole, he said he has a very close connection with her and has made every effort to make her comfortable.
As a father of five, Merciless said that he is giving the support to his children that he hoped his father would have given him throughout his career. His two eldest sons are rappers.
He said, “We have to sing for God as well, just like how we pray before we go to bed and when we wake a morning, thanking him for life.

Jeffrey E. Campbell (born 22 December 1982), better known as Agent Sasco, and Assassin, is a Jamaican dancehall deejay.
Campbell grew up in Kintyre, St. Andrew before relocating to Kingston. His career began in 1999 when his lyrics were recorded by Spragga Benz as “Shotta”;[ He soon started recording himself, releasing his first single in 2000. He gained the nickname ‘Assassin’ while at Camperdown High School.
In the mid-2000s, he started an internet-based degree in Business Management from the University of Sunderland. He began using the stage name ‘Agent Sasco’ as it has more “Googleability” than ‘Assassin’. His single “Talk How Mi Feel” reached number one on the Jamaica Countdown Chart in June 2011.
In 2013, he was featured on the song “I’m in It” by American recording artist Kanye West on his 6th solo album, Yeezus.
In February 2015, Assassin was featured on the song “The Blacker the Berry” by Grammy award winner Kendrick Lamar. It was certified gold after selling over 500,000 copies.
On February 15, 2016, on the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, Assassin aka Agent Sasco, was highlighted on the Global platform; with his feature from the politically charged hit single “The Blacker the Berry” during Kendrick Lamar’s highly anticipated Grammy performance.

Rodney Basil Price (born 12 June 1972), known as Bounty Killer, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay. AllMusic describes him as “one of the most aggressive dancehall stars of the ’90s, a street-tough rude boy with an unrepentant flair for gun talk”. He is considered one of the best dancehall lyricists of all-time.
Before his entry into the dancehall industry, Bounty Killer was in the retail industry as an entrepreneur selling figurines. He was then encouraged to record at King Jammy’s studio in Kingston. Price eventually recorded with King Jammy, the first session being in Spring 1992. One of his first tunes was the “Coppershot”, which Jammy was unwilling to release due to its lyrics glorifying gun culture. Jammy’s brother Uncle T disagreed and released the single himself, which went on to become an underground hit in both Jamaica and New York.
In 1993, Price performed at the popular reggae festival Sting (held in Portmore, Jamaica every year on Boxing Day), whereupon he had a high-profile clash with fellow deejay Beenie Man. The rivalry continued through the 1990s, with both accusing the other of a stolen act. They settled their differences after both realized the negative effect their feud was having on the industry. He has also had heated rivalries with several other top deejays, including Merciless, Super Cat and Vybz Kartel, throughout his career.