Jaspora
by Wyclef Jean · 2007 · hip-hop, kompa, rasin · 4:00 · Haitian Creole, French
“Jaspora” is the Kreyòl word for diaspora, and Wyclef Jean picks it over the English form. That choice is the whole subject. This 2007 track blends hip-hop, kompa and rasin across four minutes, three forms each answering to a different moment in the history. Wyclef, born in Croix-des-Bouquets, who left Haiti as a child and passed through Brooklyn, often writes about a distance that severs nothing: you can live far away and stay involved. The Kreyòl title settles who he is addressing.