Bounty Killer is defending Gwen Stefani who has come under scrutiny for cultural appropriation claims in Sean Paul’s “Light My Fire” music video.
The poor people defender blasted Gwen Stefani’s wardrobe critics on his Instagram on Saturday (July 16) after reposting images of Gwen in the video rocking ‘Jamaican colors’ and fishtail braids.
“Nobody f-cks with Gwen Stefani in Reggae or Dancehall. She’s been loving Reggae/Dancehall all her life plus most Jamaican girls today would rather wear a Brazilian weave than a dreadlocks wig, so why the jealousy bcuz she rocks it so well,” Killer wrote.
“Can tell nobody to not celebrate our culture. SHUT UP,” he added.
His latest defense of her image and representation of Jamaica and reggae culture comes 20 years after he collaborated with Gwen’s group No Doubt for the gold hit Hey Baby, a single that peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and gave Bounty Killer his Super Bowl debut in 2002.
However, soon after the collaboration, the DJ became ‘cross, angry and miserable’ about a nude scene played by Adrian Young during his line in the song “The way you rock your hips, you know that it amaze me.”
No Doubt subsequently tried to buy out his rights from the song for US$10,000, an offer that was rejected by the Killer. The figure, according to No Doubt’s business representatives, represents “what Bounty would get if the album sold 2 million copies.”
Bounty Killer has said in the past that Hey Baby is his biggest commercial hit to date and is the song that pays him the most royalties.
“That was my only international pop hit,” he says.
Up to 2017 During an interview with Quizz & Macedon he said he was still angry about the way things played out with the song. “I never even know what the f*ck was Super bowl and I never care,” the short-tempered DJ said.
“When I saw that naked man in the video I wanted to kill No Doubt literally,” Bounty said. “It caused a big problem, it caused publishing problems, it caused relationship problems, everything broke down because that sh*t wasn’t in the video. It was a two-day shoot in California and Mike Myers shoot the f***ing video and no naked guy was in it, a naked guy has nothing to do with the storyline of the f***ing song. So when I saw it I told them take that sh*t out. Because that sh*t is going to cause me problems in my culture,” he continued.
He said they agreed to his terms to take out the naked man but still went ahead with it and “instant everything broke down.”
When No Doubt performed the song on the VH1 and Billboard Music Awards Bounty was not invited and the group’s backing musicians performed Bounty’s part.
The 50 year old’s about turn with No Doubt happened just two years ago when the Sly and Robbie produced single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on March 8, 2021, after selling over 500,000 units.
He commented to IRIEFM “This accomplishment, I am so elated about it and would like to say congratulations to No Doubt on this special accomplishment, big up.”
“Hey Baby 20 years old and now gold strong. I always knew that this collaboration between myself and No Doubt was a special one. This win is not only for me but a definite win for Reggae/Dancehall music. This tells me that the future of our music is solid gold. Kaboom,” he added.
On his Instagram he shared a video of his Superbowl half-time performance at the Louisiana Superdome. “18 years later HEY BABY. Super Bowl with @nodoubt @gwenstefani,” he captioned.
Other successful placements of the reggae rocksteady grove came when it entered the Top 40 Mainstream and reached the top ten on the Top 40 Tracks and Adult Top 40. The song had significant crossover success and reached number five on the Rhythmic Top 40 chart.
The song had similar success in Europe, reaching number five on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles. In the United Kingdom, “Hey Baby” debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart. It reached the top 10 in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, and Norway and the top 20 in Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland.
In Australia, “Hey Baby” debuted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number 28 and peaked four weeks later at number seven. It was listed at number 37 on the 2002 end-of-year chart. On the New Zealand Singles Chart, it reached number two, under Shakira’s “Whenever, Wherever”, for two non-consecutive weeks.
