Kingston and St Andrew municipal board votes to rename Seaview road for Bounty Killer and grant city keys

The Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) has passed a resolution to rename Winchman Road in Seaview Gardens after Rodney Basil Price OD, the dancehall artist widely known as Bounty Killer, and to present him with the keys to the city. The measure followed a request carried to the council floor on behalf of people from that community.

During the session, members put the item to a vote and recorded broad approval, with no abstentions noted from the chair.

One speaker traced Price’s early career to introductions made through the sound-system circuit, recalling that a Seaview resident linked to Stone Love had brought the young artist to record. The entertainer first appeared under the name Bounty Hunter; the speaker said he urged a switch to Bounty Killer because the sharper, confrontational style of the lyrics suggested a different persona, and said a single bearing the Bounty Killer name dated to 1992. The same address referenced the long-running rivalry with fellow deejay Beenie Man, placing early clashes in the 1993 Stone Love setting and on Sting stages and noting that tension ran through the 1990s into the 2000s.

Defending the choice to foreground Price at this stage, the speaker argued that more than thirty-five years of sustained relevance in the genre merited full civic recognition now, while leaving room to salute others later. The address also catalogued charitable activity, citing support to Bustamante Hospital for Children and to Kingston Public Hospital, including donations described as more than sixty-three beds and large quantities of paint, with recurring Labour Day efforts centred on KPH.

Another contributor closed by calling Price a living legend and, alongside personal praise, cited favourite tracks named as "Yuh know?", "Wrong with us?" and "Miserable" as examples of his catalogue.

Dancehall artist Roger Cassell, who performs as Razy B, told the meeting he admired Price’s willingness to speak plainly regardless of consequence. Cassell, who said he was raised in Waterford, described Price as a formative influence on his own career and on many young people from inner-city communities, and pledged full support for the road-naming initiative and wider public acknowledgement of the entertainer’s name across Jamaica.