He’s been known, revered and even feared within the hip-hop industry as Jimmy Henchman for over a decade. Now, he’s still respected and feared, but as Jimmy Rosemond. That’s right, the industry veteran and CEO of Czar Entertainment, has dropped the Henchman tag and is entering the next phase of his burgeoning business.
In a day and age in hip-hop where industry cats only talk tough, Rosemond just shows and proves … and in relative silence. He was instrumental in making the Mike Tyson/Lennox Lewis fight happen. But, you didn’t know that. See, Rosemond doesn’t talk much. He just gets the job done.
Here, Rosemond speaks about his memorable trip to Haiti, the whole saga between his client Game and 50 Cent, supplying the Notorious B.I.G. with hustler stories and overall, being real with integrity in hip-hop.
BallerStatus.com: We have known you as Jimmy Henchman for years. Why drop the Henchman moniker now?
Jimmy Rosemond: I just think when I got the name Henchman, it was an urban name for me. When Puffy took on the name of Bad Boy, I was looking for something on the same plane that would show that urban side, so Henchman it was. Lately I have moved away from just being urban and have also crossed over into the pop world. Some people don’t realize that this thing is almost like wrestling and it’s entertainment and they made the name more literal than it is. Urban kids understand where the name came from, but when you go into the other side they’re really taking this name literal. So, I really thought Henchman took me as far as I could go into my career. We look to further our self. My past is so urban that there’s no way around it, but I didn’t need the stigma around the name. It was time to shed the name and move into a more mainstream situation because I have more mainstream acts now.
BallerStatus.com: You recently took a trip to Haiti with Wyclef, where y’all were doing various charity work. How did that experience affect you?
Jimmy Rosemond: A lot of times when we don’t know a certain thing, we don’t want to take that first step. One thing I can say about Wyclef is he took that first step to Haiti to help his people and encouraged Haitian-American people living in America to join him in seeing what the problem in Haiti is. I was one of those recruits and being a Haitian-American I felt honored being there. It was an experience, brother, that I never felt before in my life. I kind of feel like how ever a Muslim must feel when he goes into Mecca or a Christian feels in Jerusalem. That was my pilgrimage. Going there was so overwhelming in emotions because you see people in all types of state of poverty. However, they weren’t sad. They were joyful when they saw us. Words can’t even explain the emotions I felt when I was there. We also saw some of the beautiful parts of Haiti. I don’t think American people know Haiti is open to tourism and it’s beautiful just like the other Caribbean islands. Once they have their stuff together politically, the economics can change and hopefully that brings on more tourism and people can see how beautiful Haiti is. That was the first country that gained their independence from slavery.
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If this Kreyol Rap movement is to make it’s way onto the International Market, we will need more collaborations from the Haitian American Rappers. Just like Fat Joe and Noriega did with reggaeton, we will need a collective effort from all the Haitian American rappers to reach back and help this movement cross over.
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