Are you from Daytona originally? Haitian Fresh: Naw, I was born in Haiti and I lived in West Palm Beach for about five years before I moved to Daytona. Why’d you name yourself Haitian Fresh? I’m always fresh. I’m a fresh-ass dude. When people think of Haitians, they think we are black, ugly, and stank. So I kept the Haitian in front to let ‘em know I stay fresh all the time. It’s Haitian Fresh, a catchy name. Once you hear it the first time, you don’t forget it. That’s why I chose it, so I love it. What’s your goal in the rap game? I’m tryin’ to represent people that’s been in the game for a while. You meet a lot of people that are fucked up in this business. It takes a lot of dedication and hard work and a person that’s not willing to give up at all. It’s like the lottery. Basically you keep playing and hopefully you’ll win. The person who plays the most is usually the person who wins; that’s the odds. The bottom line is that I’m representin’ for all the Haitians. Right now that’s a wide open lane. Wyclef did it, but he did it after he became famous. I’m doin’ it before nobody knows me. And Smitty’s doin’ his thing, but I saw him on The Ultimate Hustler and he didn’t have a Haitian flag on, so I guess he didn’t want people to know he’s a Haitian. (laughing) I’m not tryin’ to start nothin’, but I’m just sayin’, he didn’t have a Haitian flag on. You don’t have a Haitian flag on. (laughing) Nah, cause I’m just doing an interview. But anything big like that on TV, you’ll see me with a Haitian flag on. You might see me with Haitian pants on, Haitian shirt, Haitian everything, just to represent. But Smitty is cool. I’m actually tryin’ to do a song with him. Do you have family back in Haiti? I have family back there, but after the hurricanes that hit a couple months ago, you can’t go back to Haiti. Haiti is like a no enter zone. You can’t go there, and there’s no phones. I don’t even know if they’re okay. It’s a serious situation. It’s just like Katrina, but in Haiti. You just don’t hear about it. A lot of people died. I heard they sent $60,000 to Haiti after the last hurricane. That’s like one loan to a college student, and that’s all they sent ‘em. But you can complain all you want and nothing’s gonna change. Bush won’t even spend money in the United States, and we’re having problems right now. When did you start rapping? 22
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I used to have a group. I had a couple dollars to waste so I said that I’d start a group and watch them. That was basically my way to get in the game. I wanted to take them on the road and learn that way. If you gotta smoke weed to come up with a verse in the studio, you’re not ready for this game. It’s too serious for that. That didn’t work, so I went on the road with another artist. I learned a lot from being on the road and meeting a lot of stars. Amp told me, if you haven’t lost $50,000 in this game, you ain’t really ready. You gotta lose. What makes your style unique? My style is unique cause my accent comes out when I rap. My rap has a meaning to it. Everybody’s so hard. Everybody’s gangsta, man. I’m tired of gangstas, to be honest with you. I just wanna dance in the club again. I feel like when I go to the club I’ve gotta take an uzi or stay strapped. And people basically think that what they see on TV is real. These dudes just rap about it. I checked a lot of their rap sheets, man, and they don’t have not one felony on their record. Basically I just wanna make people dance in the club. I represent Haiti but at the same time I got songs from everybody. I got a song with Smoke from Field Mob. I got a song with BloodRaw. To me, he’s by far the number one rapper in Florida. And that’s not cause I know him but just because he has a lot of talent. When is your album gonna come out? My album comes out in February, but my mixtape should be out in January. I’m trying to find a name that you’ve gotta think about. It’s either gonna be Lick Season or Open Doors. The first single is gonna be either “Came to Party” or Put Yo’ Leg Up.” The album consists of hits after hits or you’re guaranteed your money back. Are you going to drop it yourself? Independent, yeah. But if someone comes at me with an offer, things will change. I’m tryin’ to do it big. I see a lot of cats that come out with just two good songs. Me, I need 16 good songs to drop an album. That’s what I did, and hopefully people are gonna see that. I hear you have an interesting live show. Yeah, I love being on stage. If you haven’t seen Haitian Fresh live, you’re definitely missing out. When you come to my shows, you never know what to expect, like Luke. Luke attracted people to his shows because you never know what’s gonna happen. Now everybody just grabs a mic and looks hard for like ten minutes and leaves