“It’s all about the Nubian Girls”…that was the line that placed Ryan “Buggy” Chase in the limelight back in 1999, after  G-Sharp (a group which comprised Buggy, KB Sharp, Stevon Q and Blade) performed at a Queen’s College concert. Nubian Girls, a track dedicated to beautiful Barbadian women, featured Buggy chanting in a gruff voice similar to Jamaica’s Spragga Benz, while somehow still maintaining Buggy’s ‘boy next door’ character which appealed to the ladies at the QC concert (and eventually, to ladies across the island).

The budding entertainers didn’t realize how catchy the song was until they left the stage and heard people crooning their song.  Shortly after that performance, G-Sharp decided to record the song, and Nubian Girls became a familiar track on the airwaves.

Buggy explained “the mistake back then was that we didn’t realize that we had caught on to something.  I think we utilized it wrong.  We possibly thought that it was the ‘music’ that was holding the people and did not realize that it was the character. That bad boy kind of thing…”  Buggy has since been able to develop his onstage and on air character to a point where it is fully immersed in his music.  His very recognisable cries of ‘Fully Loaded’ and ‘Skiddly Deng’ are part and parcel of just about every Buggy track. 

G-sharp subsequently changed its name to Baytown Crew and with this unit, Buggy had a number of hits, including All of These Things and X5 Girl. Since moving away from the Baytown Crew to focus on his solo career, Buggy has recorded a number of tracks with some of Barbados’ A-list producers.  Although not primarily a soca artist, Crop Over 2K6 has been a busy season for the entertainer.  He worked with Mikey Hulsmeier and Scott Galt on the tracks I Like It Like That featuring Donella, and Hypocrite, both of which were featured on De Red Boyz Blazin’ Red Soca Project.  He’s also worked with Fabian ‘Minim’ Worrel on Rude Boy Like Me featuring Bruce Chandler, which was featured on Soca Smashup Vol 1, and with Kurt Arthur on All I Need To Survive.  In the past he’s also worked with CRS, Lethal Studio’s Deepu Panjwani, and soca super-producer Peter Coppin. 

Buggy has also expanded his wings and is now co-producing and song-writing for himself and a number of other artistes as a part of the Hit Island Studio family. Buggy proudly notes that all of his releases this year, like most of his previous works, are self-penned. 

Buggy is also one of the lead singers of the newly formed band, Red Alarm, which has been making some positive strides on the music circuit, making musical rounds primarily on the club scene, but also at locations such as Sandy Lane Hotel.  Buggy notes that the band does not fall into any particular genre, but that it plays a heavy amount of reggae, R&B and hip-hop.  The band also plays its own original pieces. 

One of Buggy’s recent hits on the music scene came in September, with the release of the underground local favourite  Bajan Story, featuring Ayana John. The track was inspired by Ghetto Story: Chapter II by Baby Cham and Alicia Keys.  In Bajan Story, Buggy and Ayana tag team each other, capturing significant events in the history of the island in an innovative way that few other local releases have been able to.   Buggy told CiRCUIT that it took just about a week and a half for the track to be complete.  “It had to be on point and cover areas that would be familiar to the older and younger persons.” 

That route of making the track lyrically and musically identifiable to a broad demographic has worked.  Bajan Story has received tremendous local airplay, and has further established Buggy as an artiste to be reckoned with. Buggy is currently in the studio working on future releases, all of which promise to be “fully loaded” in true Buggy style.

Photography by Natalie Clarke