By Haitianbeatz When  Djakout #1  popped back into view after a long absence, it felt like a reset button. Fans missed the energy, the hits, and the feeling that the band could still own a stage anywhere they showed up. But almost as soon as the comeback buzz started, the same problem that has followed the group for years showed up again: division inside the core team. According to a credible source, the latest tension didn’t start with music, it started with money and contro

By Moses St Louis In Haitian music, a lineup change doesn’t stay quiet for long. One voice steps out, and the whole scene starts doing the math. That’s where things stand right now with  D-Perfect leaving Ekip , and the two questions fans keep asking in HMI circles: Is D-Perfect about to team up with Dena Babe, and is Ekip about to answer back by bringing in Wid and Eminix? On January 9, I dropped a message in the well-known HMI WhatsApp chat (Ayiti Mizik) predicting that D-P

By Moses St Louis What happens when two of Haitian music’s most talked-about women share one bill, with bands built around them, and an two bands led by two talented females? That’s the promise behind the Valentine’s Day show featuring  Anie Alerte with Zile  and  Ruthshelle Guillaume with RG Band . For many fans, it already feels different from the usual concert formula where a male-led band carries the night and a female artist appears as a guest. The date matters too. Vale

By Kennia S. Lucien Some people treat February 14 like a cute idea. I never could. As a  Valentine baby , I grew up feeling like love deserved a real moment on the calendar, not just a last-minute dinner reservation. In New York, winter doesn’t care about your plans. It’s dark early, trains run slow, and storms show up without warning. Still, year after year, I chose the same thing: I showed up for love on February 14, on purpose, even when it was inconvenient. This is the si

By Haitianbeatz Turn on Haitian Facebook pahges, scroll YouTube, or check TikTok and Instagram, and you’ll see the same names pop up again and again: Fatima, Bedjine, Anie Alerte, Rutshelle Guillaume, Darline Desca, Vanessa Désiré, Esther Surpris… etc. For a while, it felt like the music and the headlines were tied together. A lot of fans noticed a pattern. When male artists clash, it’s loud in public, but things can calm down fast behind the scenes. With many female artists,

By Moses St Louis What happens to a community’s culture when the people who create it are pushed into uncertainty? Right now,  Haitian TPS  is set to expire on Feb. 3, unless a federal judge puts an injunction in place. That date has been hanging over families, workplaces, and neighborhoods for months, but it hit me in a different way while attending an immigration forum hosted by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, alongside a delegation of New Y