Jacques "Haitian Jack" Agnant is a Haitian-born music executive and promoter in the rap music industry. He has worked with several popular artists including

Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...

The Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in the New York rap scene and gangsta rap tradi ...

, Justin Rose, and

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean ( ; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Haiti, Jean emigrated to the Northeastern United States, United States as a child. He gained fame as a founding member of the Fugees, a Ne ...

. In 2007, he was deported from the United States.

Life and career

Agnant's family migrated to

East Flatbush, Brooklyn East Flatbush is a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. East Flatbush is bounded by Crown Heights and Empire Boulevard to the north; Brownsville and East 98th Street to the east; Flatlands, Canarsie and the Lon ...

from Haiti. He became immersed in the street life by selling drugs during the

crack epidemic The crack epidemic was a surge of crack cocaine use in major cities across the United States throughout the entirety of the 1980s and the early 1990s. This resulted in several social consequences, such as increasing crime and violence in Americ ...

of the 1980s and 1990s. Eventually, he became a

club promoter A promoter works with event production and Entertainment industry, entertainment industries to promote their productions, including in music and Sport, sports. Promoters are individuals or organizations engaged in the business of Promotion (marke ...

. He was also involved with singer

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

. Agnant managed various rappers and collaborated with

, who is a paternal relative. He became friends with rapper

. Shakur accused Agnant of orchestrating the robbery at Quad Recording Studios in 1994 in his song "Against All Odds," in which Shakur was shot. Agnant denied that he had ordered the attack. Around this time, Agnant was hired Director of A&R by his friend Lance "Un' Rivera, CEO of the rap label Undeas Recordings. In 1999, Agnant was hired as security by music executive

Steve Stoute Steve Stoute (born June 26, 1970) is an American record executive who concurrently was Executive Vice President of Interscope Geffen A&M Records and President of Urban Music at Sony Music from 1999 to 2009. In 2017, he founded the music distr ...

, following an altercation in which

Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, Combs worked as a ...

assaulted Stoute with a champagne bottle. Following a conviction for a shooting in a Los Angeles nightclub in 2004, which led to prison time, Agnant was deported to Haiti in 2007. In 2015, it was reported that Benny Boom was set to direct a miniseries on the life of Haitian Jack. In 2021, Agnant was featured in the FX documentary ''Hip Hop'' ''Uncovered''. He currently lives in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Haitian emigrants to the United States Tupac Shakur People from Flatbush, Brooklyn Rappers from Brooklyn Haitian businesspeople People deported from the United States Haitian expatriates in the Dominican Republic {{Haiti-bio-stub