T-Vice

kompa, kompa-gouyad

T-Vice is a family story that became one of modern kompa's defining brands. Roberto and Reynaldo Martino, sons of legendary Top Vice guitarist Robert Martino, launched the project in 1992 while still teenagers. The name grew from the idea of 'Ti Vice', a younger continuation of Top Vice, but the band quickly found its own language: more speed, more image, more competition, and a way of making kompa sound right for clubs, carnival floats, and major diaspora festivals.

The Martino family line is essential to the sound. Robert Martino had already pushed mini-djaz, Top Vice, sequencers, drum machines, and guitar effects into kompa; T-Vice took that inheritance into a younger, more aggressive, more video- and rivalry-ready form. The early years moved from the family basement to school dances, private parties, and then Miami, where James Cardozo and Gerald Kébreau strengthened the formula.

After 'Konpa Kontak', 'In the House', 'Ban m T-Vice Mwen', 'Men Medikaman', 'Kite m Viv', 'Resan', 'Reloaded', 'Nou Tounen Pi Fò', and 'Majestic', T-Vice became one of the most productive bands of the 1990s and 2000s generations. The group mixes kompa with rock, reggae, merengue, flamenco, synths, guitar solos, and carnival movement without leaving the Haitian cadence. Vice2K studio also became part of the brand: a place where music, video, production, and independent control meet.

T-Vice matters because it changed how a kompa band could look and feel: younger, more visual, more aggressive, more openly rivalrous. The relationships with Sweet Micky, Djakout, Kreyòl La, and other major names make the music feel like public competition, but underneath that energy is strong stage discipline. 'An Nou Kite Konpa Maché', 'Che Dèv', 'Pa Fè Mwen La Peine', 'Kite m Montre w', 'San Limit', 'Tou Pam', and carnival records such as 'Elikoptè' show a band that can turn romance into a dance anthem and carnival slogans into collective memory.

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