Biography

 Named Okai {Okay} in homage of my parents hometown,  I'm a self-taught percussionist who discovered drumming at the age of five with two kitchen knives and a bucket. I tried to make sense of the rhythms that were flowing through me in my parents’ Brooklyn apartment hallway until my arms were tired.
Although born in Brooklyn, from Haitian immigrant parents, and exposed to a variety of rhythms, what mostly influenced me and played often on the radio  was hip hop and pop music. Beat boxing  was starting to flood the streets, and I found myself trying to emulate rhythms with my mouth.  By frequently attending church with my mom, I traded  the bucket and knives for a drum set and sticks playing for the local choir.

As a youngster in Brooklyn, I attended urban public schools that offered little exposure to and training in the musical arts. In Highschool I chose music as my elective which opened me up to a better understanding on how to read and write music and I became the official Conga player for Carnarsie High school band.

After High school I started my own band which I was the drummer and MC. When that band broke up I bought a djembe and it opened a whole new world for me as a hand percussionist. I developed an intimate connection with this instrument because of its variety of tones. Playing the djembe is the longest I've spent playing one instrument in my career as a percussionist. In between being a M.C. and djembe player I introduced the djembe to the hiphop community. Playing and rapping has become my signature and since then the djembe has changed my life spiritually and professionally.

 I cultivated my own education as a drummer through listening to Hip-Hop, tap dancers, observing drummers play on the streets of New York, and replicating what I saw and heard.  These observational learning experiences gave me the foundation needed to develop my own style of finding accents, fills, and discovering pre-existing drum patterns. I have built upon my innate musicality to develop my career as a professional musician and educator.  I have come to understand in order to further develop as an artist, I must train, research, and culturally immerse myself in the art and history of drumming; these are the necessary next steps for my artistic practice to further develop. As part of further developing my musical ability I am learning traditional Haitian and Cuban rhythms.   

As a hand percussionist, I am passionate about exploring the root of drum music in the cultures of African Diaspora communities.  everyday is a journey to deepen my understanding and appreciation of the rhythms that are named after African deities.