Bounty Killer wants artistes to plan for retirement - Financial assistance comes in for recovering Stitchie

Bounty Killer has urged artistes to create good, timeless music and invest financially, as the day will come when "your music will be your retirement fund".

Being in the industry for decades, the dancehall legend shared that "having a good musical catalogue" is a sound investment for artistes.

"Anybody with a career, yuh have to make sure you work and yuh put down supmn for retirement. But as an artiste, yuh affi mek sure yuh budget how yuh earn and how yuh spend. Yuh can't a spend more than yuh a earn. Music last forever but income nuh last forever [but] thank God I have music with longevity," he told THE WEEKEND STAR.

"There are some artiste weh dem music nuh mek sense today, suh nuhbaddy naah listen to dat, and dem neva save weh dem have suh dem ago hungry. Thank God I have a good catalogue, suh even if I should be delinquent today, I have a good royalty to collect because I have a strong catalogue," he added.

Bounty Killer also stressed the importance of artistes making long-term financial investments.

"Investment is good; yuh always have to invest. Suh all who a talk bout 'Beast (car) ova house', beast depreciates. Suh nuh matta how much beast yuh have, yuh got to have good strong collateral and investment," said Bounty Killer.

The artiste made these statements in a heartwarming handover of a US$10,000 (approximately J$1.57 million) cheque to assist gospel-reggae singjay Lieutenant Stitchie, who recently suffered a brain hemorrhage which left him "unresponsive".

With a GoFundMe account created by his wife Sophia Laing to assist with his specialised long-term health care, the aim was to raise US$100,000. Upon seeing the initiative, the combined efforts from Shaggy, and through the Bounty Foundation, heartfelt support was given to the ailing artiste in appreciation of his "music, friendship and legacy", according to Bounty Killer.

The cheque, which was handed over by Bounty Killer and his manager Paul 'Bankey' Giscombe, was received by Laing on Stitchie's behalf at PAJ Imports Limited on Constant Spring Road, St Andrew, on Thursday.

In a tear-filled response, Laing expressed appreciation for the gesture while highlighting that there's hope for Stitchie as his condition has improved.

"We give God thanks for what He's doing in his life because I know a lot of ugly rumours are going on out there and I want to dispel every single one of them right now, [because] Stitchie is alive and well and he's recovering greatly. He's hearing, his eyes are open, he responds to voices that he knows and he is on the road to recovery," she said.

Bounty Killer assured Laing that his initiative will open doors for many more similar donations. Bounty Killer described Stitchie as a "role model and a legend," and revealed the "very close" relationship he shares with the artiste, who also served as a great inspiration to his career. He then pleaded to the music industry to come together and join in on a collaborative effort to "make a chain link to help each other".

DownSound Entertainment CEO, Joe Bogdanovich, said Stichie is truly one of the greats.

"The way he enunciates, his style of music really impresses me and working on the last show he did at Sumfest [2023] in a tribute to King Jammy, his sense of support and positivity was something you never forget about him," he said.

When asked if he believes financial education is taught enough to artistes, he replied: "No. That's very weak [because] people are not united as much as they should and unity through music is what my life is about. With [Freedom Street] coming up, that's one example of how we're gonna turn a negative into a positive. Leave the darkness behind and just really getting down to love and hold one another and just be your brother's keeper," he said.