Cheyna: Hi, James! How are you doing?
James: I’m fine.
Cheyna: And your son?
James: Well, Jameson is doing fine now. He’s been here in Florida with me since February.
But in the beginning, he wasn’t doing too well. He is still in disbelief about his mother’s passing. Sometimes he has a hard time sleeping.
Cheyna: Do you talk to him about what has occurred.
James: Yes! We talk about her all the time.
Cheyna: How about yourself, how do you deal with what happened?
James: Ginou was the love of my life and she still is. It’s hard to lose someone you love so much.
Cheyna: If she was the love of your life why weren’t you two together, how did she ever get to meet Jean Valdo the man who would later take her life?
James: Let me explain to you the story of me and Ginou. Ginou and I met through her brother who was at the time my best friend. For three years I used to go to his house but I never met Ginou. One day she was sitting on her front porch writing “Chansonette Francaisse”. I asked her name. She told me and from that point on I fell in love with her. At the time she had a boyfriend and refused to give me the time of day. For a whole year, I pursued her to no avail. Lucky for me her boyfriend at the time left Haiti for the US and she never heard from him again and that’s when she finally gave me a chance.
Cheyna: How old were the two of you at the time?
James: We were 16. We started dating and one day she called me to ask me to run away with her because she was pregnant. I told her no. I loved her and I saw no need for us to run away. I suggested that I brought my parents to her parents for a sit down where I can ask for her hands in marriage.
Cheyna: How did that go?
James: My uncle took me. At first, they thought it was my uncle but after we sorted that out, her mother gave her a choice to choose between her and me. She told her mother she loved her but she loved me too and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with me. Her mother told us she would not allow us to get married because we were too young but she would take care of the baby while both of us continue on with our schooling and later on we can get married.
Cheyna: Why weren’t the two of you ever married?
James: We went back to school but later on I decided to pursue a music career. That’s when I formed Original Rap Staff. We were very successful. We had a song “Bagay Drole” which became a popular slogan in Haiti at the time when Aristide went into exile. I got a visa to travel to the US and when I got here, I stayed. But I kept in contact with her and my son and I supported them.
Cheyna: Did you visit them?
James: I didn’t have a green card, so for five years I wasn’t able to. One day I spoke to her and told her I was getting married. She didn’t like the idea but she also understood that was the only way we were ever going to see each other so she gave me her blessing.
Cheyna: I understand the whole marrying situation but did you guys ever reunite?
James: We did. I took a trip to Haiti after obtaining my papers. It was nice being reunited with her and my son but the trip was cut short after some people I use to deal with in the music business put a hit out on me.
Cheyna: Why was this hit issued?
James: The people behind it felt that I was the reason Original Rap Staff broke up.
Cheyna: Not that it would justify a hit but were you?
James: I left the band because some of the people behind us promoting and managing were working us but we were broke. We had concerts with Wyclef and the Fugees, and countless successful tours but at the end of the day, they told us the promoters refused to pay. I got fed up and left. The second time I tried to return to Haiti, another attempt was made on my life. Aristide was the one who rushed me out of the country. It was at this point Ginou told me she refuses to lose me so go back to the US and live my life, if it’s meant to be, we shall reunite again.
Cheyna: Is that how Jean Valdo came into her life?
James: Absolutely!
Cheyna: did you take her advice and live your life?
James: Yes. As a matter of fact, when my significant other was pregnant, Ginou called me to congratulate me. She didn’t know, nobody knew. I was shocked and she said she just had a feeling. We always kept in contact. When she met Valdo she called me and told me she met a man whom treated her right and she’s thinking about moving in with him. Two months later she called and told me she moved in with him but he’s not at all whom she thought he was. When I asked her to explain, she told me he wanted her to sleep in all white on Thursdays.
Cheyna: Is that for mystical reasons?
James: Of course. He worships Erzilie the spirit amongst others. She told me she witnessed him doing magic where things would disappear.
Cheyna: Was she scared of him? Wait! Before you go any further, how did they meet?
James: She told me they met while she was filming the movie “Le Miracle De La Foi.” He was on the set I’m not sure what he was doing but he offered her a ride one day after shooting and that’s how they started seeing each other.
Cheyna: When did the alarm bells started going off in her head?
James: When he told her he worshiped the devil and the devil is who saw her on TV and wanted them to be together. Ginou believed in God and she wanted no part of it.
Cheyna: Why did she stay?
James: It’s not that easy when someone else is controlling you. At first, she didn’t believe him because he never did anything in front of her but one day she called me and told me while they were driving in a car, a group of Zenglendou stopped them. They were getting ready to kill them and she said in her heart “Jezi Sove m” and the Zenglendou left them alone. When they got home that night, he told her “You really believe in God, if you didn’t say Jezi Sove m in your heart, I was going to disappear on the spot. She was shocked he knew exactly what she said in her heart.
Cheyna: Why didn’t she report him to the proper authorities?
James: Jean Valdo has a lot of connections in Haiti. Like, in the government, gangs, and money. He made sure she knew. He threatened her many times that if she left he would kill her son and her rest of her family. She loved Jameson so much, she would never risk it.
Cheyna: Does he have a history of violence?
James: Of course but she only found out later on in the relationship. He was married before with two children. His wife left him 14 years ago. She ran to another country so he wouldn’t find her because he tried to kill her. He even killed his own sister in the Dominican Republic.
Cheyna: His own sister? What did the family and the authorities do?
James: Valdo told his family the sister was acting up so he left her there, whatever happens to her he wasn’t responsible. After they learned he killed her, nothing could have been done because it was out of Haiti’s jurisdiction. He never served any time?
Cheyna: Didn’t she come to the US to work at the UN?
James: Yes.
Cheyna: Why didn’t she use that opportunity to escape him?
James: Because our son was left behind. She made many attempts to leave him. The first time she got her visa he took it. She had to get a new one. Her church members had her sleep at their house on many occasions just so he wouldn’t start a fight with her.
Cheyna: Did your son ever alert you of what was going on?
James: Yes he did. He told me one day Vlado was beating his mother but Ginou fought back and she beat him up because he has a bad arm.
Cheyna: So how did he manage to beat her to death like that?
James: That’s why a lot of people were speculating that they were fighting on the day she died. He waited for December 24th because it was a mystical sacrifice day. He waited for her to fall asleep and that’s when he must have given her that fatal blow to the head.
Cheyna: Did she die on the spot?
James: No she took her final breath at the hospital. Some people spotted him and tried to disarm him at first but they thought the object in his hands was a shotgun. Instead, they called the police. He stood over her and continued to hit her over the head, and her eyes. When he tried to flee that’s when they captured him.
Cheyna: There was a song written in Haiti around carnival time saying she was cheating on him with many different guys and that is why he killed her, how do you respond to that?
James: What other defense would a man have for killing a woman in cold blood?
Cheyna: Did you go to the funeral?
James: I was advised not to. A lot of people told me I can be killed because even in jail he was controlling his gang.
Cheyna: Since her passing has anybody stepped forward to offer your son help with his education?
James: We’ve gotten a lot of offers but nothing so far. I’m well aware of how many people who profited from her death.
Cheyna: I notice you released your new album yourself, why did you decide to do that?
James: I did that because a lot of people approached me to release it but I have my son’s future to think about. If I die now I don’t want my son to suffer.
Cheyna: Tell me about the album and why did you decide to put the album out now?
James: I decided to put this album out because I was working on this album for a while. Ginou had suggested to me a song she would like for me to sing on the album. It was an evangelic song but I couldn’t remember it for the life of me. She wanted to work on the album with me so when she died I pushed to finish the album. I wanted to use the album as a form of communication to convey what was in my heart for her. That is why I have a song with my son on there.
Cheyna: Your son sings on the album?
James: Yes, he sings on it. We dedicated a song to her memory. The song is entitled, “Ginou, I Miss”. Overall, the album is for my son also. Hopefully, it will be successful and it can help my son. The album is called Posse X in Memory of Ginou. It consists of 17 tracks. It includes; Ginou, I Love, Ginou fo m ale, Bon Dieu ap Disparet w, Posse X in Your Chest, Yon ti Gagan and a few more.
Cheyna: Well, thank you for the chat and God bless you and your son.
James: Thank you. I wanted to add to the young women out there who might be taken by a guy because he has a beautiful car or money, not to jump into anything without finding out more about the guy. It might save their lives.
Cheyna: Good advice.
