Haitian rapper
Black Alex was shot several times last week in Petionville, Haiti, after unknown
assailants robbed him of a diamond-encrusted necklace and pendant that sources
said was given to him by associate Wyclef Jean.
Sources told AllHipHop.com
that Black Alex was leaving a concert that was part of a soccer game in the
suburb of Port-au-Prince on April 2, when he was robbed at gunpoint for the
chain, worth an estimated $20,000.
The robbers shot
him four times and also took an unknown amount of money. Paramedics rushed the
rapper to a Port-au-Prince hospital in critical condition.
Black Alex, born
James Pierre Alexis, rose to popularity in Haiti with the group King Posse.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and according to published
reports, 75 percent of the people live below the poverty level set by the World
Bank.
The country was
originally inhabited by Arawak and Taino tribes until the 15th century, when
Spanish landed on the island around 1492. The original population was enslaved
and ravaged by disease and quickly died out.
The island was
then colonized by the Spanish and the French, who brought African slave labor
to Haiti and the Caribbean for sugar production. In 1791, The Haitian Revolution
started as a slave uprising and led to the establishment of the black nation
of Haiti in 1801.
In 2004, tropical
storm Jeanne hit the island, killing over 3,000 people and leaving an estimated
350,000 people homeless. The country’s former leader, President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, was ousted in the middle of the storm.
Various rappers,
including Wyclef Jean and Jimmy "Henchmen" Rosemond have donated time
and money to various causes to help the impoverished island.
"Black Alex
was very instrumental in our efforts of bringing awareness to the Haitian cause
in and out of Haiti," Rosemond told AllHipHop.com.
Sources also told
AllHipHop.com that Wyclef flew to Haiti and had Black Alex airlifted to Cuba,
where the rapper could receive better medical treatment for the gunshot wounds,
one of which lied just two inches from his heart.
Black Alex is in
critical condition but he is expected to recover from his wounds.