Local rappers hold hip-hop benefit for Haiti

Bar-goers and hip-hop fans drank beer and tried Haitian cuisine for charity at Nomad World Pub near the University of Minnesota’s West Bank.
Local hip-hop artist UnicusHarry and his brother Jimmy Phivibert hosted a benefit concert, Hip-Hop for Haiti, to raise money to donate to the Haiti relief effort.
The brothers, originally from the Port Au Prince suburb Pétionville, wanted to put together a relief benefit as soon as they could, Phivibert said.
The benefit raised more than $4,000, which UnicusHarry and Phivibert said they will donate to a variety of different programs they feel will actually go directly to the Haiti relief effort.
“Whatever you guys donate tonight is going straight to Haiti, not to anyone’s bank account,” UnicusHarry said.
Both artists said they felt fortunate that their cousins and uncles survived the earthquake that hit Haiti’s Capitol Jan. 12.
“The thing I’ve been stressing to everybody and my family is that although we’ve done stuff for people back home, we could do more,” said Phivibert. “We’re going to have to keep this going, keep doing shows, benefits, because the country has always been in trouble — the earthquake just accentuated it.”
Nomad World Pub offered up their location for the benefit, and more than 15 artists performed to raise money through donations at the door from attendees.
Matt Thiede, a Hip-Hop for Haiti audience member, said it has been difficult for him to comprehend the loss of life from the earthquake. The quake killed an estimated 200,000 people, left 250,000 injured and 1.5 million homeless, according to the European Union.
“I’ve been trying to figure out different ways to help, and this is a good way to plug into the arts and culture community as well as benefit the relief effort,” Thiede said.