Colin Harper, also known as Collie Buddz has a rock-solid foundation in reggae - and its power to connect ghetto reality with the highest heights of human aspiration.

Born in 1981, Collie was immersed in the sound system culture since the age of 6. "I used to come home from primary school and my brother would always be on the turntables, playing his new 45's an' I'd just be there vibesin," he revealed.

The evolution of dancehall and the sound-clash culture, into a movement of it's own in the late 1980s and early 1990s set the backdrop for young Collie's discovery of his own identity; and the dancehall kings of that generation, Buju Banton, Bounty Killer and Beenie Man, served as his primary influences. "Back when Beenie and Bounty used to war lyrically, seeing clashes wit' Kilimanjaro an all the sound-man an' everything...the whole music scene for me took on a new meaning. Clash thing an' lyrical war became a part of my daily life from early out."

The daily operation of trading lyrics in schoolyard clashes quickly gave way to more serious c****at as, "...people started sayin 'Ay, Buddz got some lyrics!" From an early age, some of the local sounds on the island wanted to get me on dub plate," says Collie, who stepped into the first of many vocal booths at age 16 to voice customized dubs for some Bermudian sounds. "Sounds was always trying to buss local artists in Bermuda." Consistent encouragement from the various sound men and engineers he encountered on those dub excursions led Collie to maintain a musical focus and eventually trek to Florida for a degree in audio engineering, a path that ended behind the boards of his own Bermudian studio, jointly run with his older brother (Smokey) and Sneek Success from one of Bermuda's founding sounds, 'Newclear Weapon.'