Sizzla

Miguel Orlando Collins was born April 17, 1976, in St. Mary, Jamaica, and raised in the August Town neighborhood of Kingston. His parents were devout Rastafarians belonging to the Bobo Ashanti order, and Collins took the performing name 'Sizzla Kalonji,' growing up steeped in drumming, chanting, and scripture at the order's camp in Bull Bay.

Sizzla's breakthrough came with his 1995 debut album Burning Up, followed in 1997 by Black Woman & Child, produced by Bobby 'Digital' Dixon. Alongside Buju Banton and Capleton, Sizzla became one of the three defining figures of a mid-1990s Rastafari-driven revival that pulled dancehall back toward roots reggae's spiritual and social concerns.

Over a three-decade career, Sizzla has released more than 70 studio albums. His 2013 album The Messiah earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Album in 2014. He built Judgment Yard, a recording studio and community compound in August Town, into a base for mentoring younger artists.

Sizzla's legacy is complicated by a body of lyrics containing violently homophobic language, which made him a central target of the 'Stop Murder Music' campaign, leading to the cancellation of numerous concerts across Canada and Europe; he has repeatedly declined to withdraw the material. Despite the controversy, he remains one of the most-streamed and internationally touring Rastafari-dancehall artists, and Judgment Yard continues to function as an active recording hub as of 2026.