DJ Whoo Kid didn’t sound like himself. No jokes, no laughter — he was confused and worried about his family in Haiti.
“It feels f—ed up,” Whoo Kid said bluntly from his home in Hawaii. “Why Haiti? I don’t want that to happen to any country, but Haiti — that country is already f—ed up. They always say black people can survive being poor. A true Haitian can survive anything, but I don’t even know if they can survive that. You might as well throw a nuclear bomb there. I don’t know. It’s really bad. I’m so confused as to what to do. I feel guilty that I’m in my home while people are over there dying.”
Whoo Kid landed in Hawaii on Tuesday and received a flood of texts and tweets upon arrival, all informing him of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti. The grim reality really set in when his friend and fellow countryman Wyclef Jean called.
“I’m sure Wyclef is against the wall,” Whoo Kid said about his friend, who has already helped raise $2 million for relief efforts. “There’s so much sh– for him to do. He’s probably stressed the hell out. You can’t prepare for no sh– like this.
“Wyclef called me and told me he’d seen a baby’s head decapitated,” Whoo Kid continued. “He’d never seen nothing like that before. He might have nightmares behind that. That’s something you see in World War II.”
“It’s a serious, serious thing,” proud Haitian and G-Unit member Tony Yayo said. “It’s confusing, man. It shows you how life is — Haiti lost everything in 30 seconds. In 30 seconds, no warning. It’s, like, the country is poor already, and now a natural disaster hits it. They need more than help. It’s crazy man — they was left with nothing. It’s a poor country already. It’s no telling what’s gonna hit next.”
Whoo Kid’s cousin and producer of many of the G-Unit’s hits, Sha Money XL, also expressed his grief and concern.
“It’s crazy because my mother had a nightmare the night before,” Sha Money said. “We was together when we heard the news. I was happy I was with my family. Soon as it went on CNN live, we’ve been tuned in ever since, picking up the phone trying to call families. We got in touch with one [family member] — one of the houses collapsed. The rest we can’t get in touch with. It’s really, really bad. Of course you shed a tear and you feel it.”
“I spoke to Sha, Yayo — a lot of Haitians I know in the industry,” Whoo Kid added. “We all have the same problem where we just don’t know where our families are. People are missing. People have died. I talked to a lot of my friends where their family members are outta here — the whole family gone. Wow.”
50 Cent’s personal DJ said he’d rather not know if he’s lost anyone to the earthquake.
“I don’t wanna get confirmations of my family members dying,” he said. “So I’d rather just get the limbo situation and just wait and pray. I feel sorry for all the people out there. It’s a tragic situation. Haiti has been messed up for the last 10 years. America has never really helped Haiti — 80 percent of Haiti’s poor. So you put an earthquake on top of that, what do you call it? What do you do? It seems so hopeless. It’s gonna take months to get back to some type of normality.”
All three men are fully committed to being a part of sustained relief efforts — they’re sending money and clothes, and Yayo is working on a song he hopes to include other Haitian artists on, such as Wyclef and Haitian Fresh. The song would be sold through iTunes and all the profits would go to help Haiti.
“The most important thing is the things we do in the next few days,” Sha Money urged. “There’s lives that’s about to be lost that need to pulled out. It’s about getting funds as much as we can right now. People know where to donate between the Red Cross and Wyclef’s organization — that’s all we could do for now. We gotta get those people out now. Then after that, it’s gonna be an ongoing thing. When a concert can happen a month from now, that’s gonna be about the rebuild. We need people that’s going out there to help to help pull them out the rubble and machines and send food and clothing so they can live. That’s more important than a concert we’re gonna have to put on a month down the line. I know 50′s in tune, Yayo — we gonna get together and do what we gotta do. This is what we’re here for.”
“Everybody need to give a dollar,” Whoo Kid pleaded. “Can you imagine if the whole U.S. gives a dollar? It would be taken care of immediately. It’s so tragic to see human beings be in that situation and suffer.”
