Master Dji, father of Kreyòl rap, dies at thirty-two

George Lys Hérard died on 21 May 1994, nine days short of his thirty-third birthday. He recorded Vakans in 1982, one of the first rap songs in Kreyòl, and went on to the albums Master Dji, Politik Pam in 1990, Match La Red and Maximum Respect with his group Haiti Rap’n Ragga. In 1989 he took the Prix Découvertes of Radio France Internationale with Sispann, which carried Kreyòl rap into Africa. He rapped in Kreyòl, French and English, and in his last weeks he was hosting La Jungle Tropicale on Tropic FM in Port-au-Prince.