4DH is a rap trio from the beautiful island of St. Maarten. I recently got to meet them through a personal mentor of mine, DT the Artist, who is their manager. The 4DH name is actually an acronym that stands for “4 Da Haters”. When I asked the group if they actually had haters, they replied that they do, in fact everyone does! “Having Anger Towards Everyone Reaching Success… Even Jesus had haters” - 4DH. Even though the word hate is in their name, the group preaches nothing but love and positivity. They like to surround themselves with positive people and believe that haters can be transformed into supporters; in fact, to them haters are participators because it takes time and energy to dislike someone or something. The group tells me that people often hate or harbour anger towards things they don’t understand, but when they connect to the message, they can become a part of the movement.

The trio consists of Steel DC, who picked his name for the strong quality of steel, Hitter, who is loud and attacks their songs with fierceness and Mr. 4DH, who I like to call the smooth talker. 4DH was actually in Toronto for an entire month to tour, promote and make connections here in Canada. From what I understand they were hard at work since they landed, all the way up until they had to leave. 

I would say that their trip to Toronto paid off big and was extremely successful; they performed at several venues in the city- including the Hershey Center which houses 7000 spectators, had a few meetings with major labels, did photo shoots, radio interviews, TV shows, newspaper articles, ate like kings and basically lived like rock stars. It seems to me that 4DH will be ready when the labels come running with the contracts.

It may look like 4DH is living easy breezy now, but all of this would have never come to them without hard work, making mistakes and lots of practice. Hitter has been doing music for over 10 years; he actually comes from a church background and got his start in the choir. Mr. 4DH has been doing music just as long and was part of a group before; the group found local success on the island and became comfortable, but Mr. 4DH saw more for himself. Steel DC was a part of a church choir as well but was not able to concentrate on music when he left for Guadeloupe to join the army. Steel DC worked on music when his service was complete and was doing well on the French-Creole music scene, but soon returned to St. Maarten to work on English rap music. 

All members of 4DH have a musical background but had to take a break at some point because of the ups and downs of life. They all managed to get back together because of their love of the arts and their desire for success. Not only are they a group, but Hitter, Steel DC and Mr. 4DH are also solo artists in their own right. Because they are a true team, they understand when it’s one’s time to shine; the best way to help them is to take a back seat and help to promote because that’s what will happen the next time around when it’s their turn. This reminds me of the olden days of Nelly and the St. Lunatics. Murphy Lee has a net worth of over 7 million dollars today and that’s because he played his role in the group. Of course, Murphy Lee has successes as a solo artist but it’s his work with Nelly that really pushed him to the top. I think if every artist out there could be as supportive of their team as they are with their own music, more artists would be winning. The 4DH team consists of not only the group members, but their production company 37 Films, their manager DT the Artist and their sponsors, Honky Tonk Bar and Oops, owned by Pierre Haitie and Nunes Development.

Although 4DH is back in St. Maarten, now they plan to return to Canada soon and hope to go over to America as well. Currently, the group is working on a website, merchandise and promoting their latest release "G.M." (Gold Medal). After interviewing these guys I can see that there is so much more to come!

Connect with 4DH: Facebook   

Asha Mullings aka Ekelle is a Toronto based artist, model, and writer. You can connect with her on Twitter and IG at #officialekelle.