Klass

The story so far.

Written and edited by Smokiller

Klass is a konpa band that drummer and producer Jean Hérard Richard, known as Richie, announced in Miami in April 2012, according to Le Nouvelliste. Richie had started on drums at six and founded Power X as a student before moving to the United States to study music technology. WLRN reported in 2016 that Klass and Nu Look were the two Miami bands dominating Haitian radio and street CD sales, with Klass riding Lajan Sere and the album Fè'l Ak Tout Kè'w. Richie told the station the record was built to be kid friendly and DJ friendly, and that a song like Il Est Friday mixes English, Spanish, French and Creole with hip hop and dancehall over a steady konpa beat. Later albums on Deezer include Ret Nan Liy Ou from 2019 and My Pain Killer from 2024, which The Haitian Times greeted as the work of one of the cornerstones of Haitian konpa. In December 2025 the band returned to Port-au-Prince after six years away.