19
Sight
NOUN
The faculty or power of seeing.
Look. View. Notice. Witness. Behold.
The act of perceiving with the eyes. Vision.
Vision is something that Andre ‘DJ Puffy’ Parris has
in excess. He is forward-thinking and progressive –
revolutionary, even. He’s someone who has blinders
on when it comes to improving his craft, and tunnel
vision when it comes to where he wants to take his
career next. He is an idealist and a pragmatist at the
same time; someone with a brave, bold, tenacious
vision for the future of the Arts in Barbados.
When we think about creatives, it’s easy to immediately
go to the tangible, something that we can see– a portrait,
a photograph, a couture gown... But make no mistake,
Puffy is an artist. And music is both his canvas and
his paintbrush. Again, it’s all about having vision.
ZS: How has being a dreamer
impacted your outlook on life?
AP: I mean, my whole career was built on dreams; my life
was built on dreams. Being a dreamer has always been
a huge part of who I am. And it’s great because people
definitely relate to that —every day I get mail or messages
from fans about how they’ve been inspired by the Dream
Real movement and that makes me really happy.
ZS: Tell me about a sight that took your breath away.
AP: Well, I see a lot of breath-taking things to be honest.
But I think one thing that really blew my mind was
when I was in Dubai. We were riding ATVs through
the desert and at one point I actually stopped the bike,
turned it off and just looked around. It was one of those
moments that you really had to just pause and soak it
all in. It was a pretty sentimental moment for me.
ZS: And at home? What is your absolute
favourite sight in Barbados?
AP: My favourite sight? Hmm... What do I like to
see in Bim? I like the sight of when I’m reaching
close to Cocktail Kitchen and know I’m about to
have a nice steak to fill my belly. Haha, I’m just
kidding. You know there’s a cliff out by Miami Beach?
Somewhere around Atlantic Shores? Yeah, that has
to be one of my favourite sights here. Definitely.
ZS: On a scale of 1-10, how artistic are you?
AP: 100. It’s my job. DJing and production is
an art in itself. And in general, I just appreciate
beautiful, creative, artistic things, whether it’s
music or a pair of sneakers. It’s all art to me .