Jean Jimmy Alexandre ( – ), better known by his stage name Jimmy O, was a Haitian hip hop artist who was born in Port-au-Prince and lived in New York City. He was involved with

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean (; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, musician, and actor. At the age of nine, Jean immigrated to the United States with his family. He first achieved fame as a member of the New Jersey hip hop group the Fugees, a ...

's Yéle Haiti Foundation. Jimmy O performed his music in Haitian Creole. In 2006, he and Jean held a hip-hop performance in the Bel Air suburb of Port-au-Prince that was part of the

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

-funded Clean Streets project. The following year, he and other Haitian artists held a concert in the

Champ de Mars The Champ de Mars (; en, Field of Mars) is a large public greenspace in Paris, France, located in the seventh ''arrondissement'', between the Eiffel Tower to the northwest and the École Militaire to the southeast. The park is named after t ...

, the largest public square in the capital, along with Wyclef Jean,

Akon Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam (; born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of " Locked Up" (featuring Styles P ...

, and

Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon (; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. Ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars, the films in which he has appeared have collectively earned over $3.88 billion at the North Ameri ...

. On January 12, 2010, at age 35, Jimmy O was crushed inside a vehicle he was apparently driving in downtown Port-au-Prince during the

2010 Haiti earthquake A catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest department, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's c ...

. His mother, his wife, two of his three children, his agent, and a CNN crew were present when Jimmy O's body was discovered and identified three days later. His agent said that the loss of Jimmy O "will be tremendous in Haiti." At the time of his death he was preparing to release his debut album ''Destiny'' in the United States.

References

1974 births 2010 deaths American hip hop musicians Haitian emigrants to the United States Haitian rappers Musicians from New York City People from Port-au-Prince Victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake Wyclef Jean {{hiphop-bio-stub