YANA: theperson

Before I became known as the "Congo/Sudan song girl” I was Tatyana Ceant, Haitian-American kid from Florida. If someone told you I was homeless, yes, they were right. At the break of covid-19 in 2020, I would start living on the streets. If someone told you that I did a fundraiser for domestic violence first, no, they were wrong. My song “abusin’ me” is about emotional abuse, my experiences, and I used it in the background of videos where I urged other victims to find help. If someone assumed that I only care about improving my career, I would ask- which one? I do too many things at once to have a label on what it is that I do- but, I can try to explain.

In 2019, I started my first LLC “HighPriestess19”, a wellness education company that provided services to my community and used the profits to cover expenses for black children to receive wellness and dance education. The program that sprouted from that was the “Black Girl Empowerment Program", something I hope to bring back as soon as I have a studio location of my own. Since y’all know I became homeless in 2020, the program didn’t last that long- but my interest in community work has. January 2021, I would go on to share a room in my aunt’s house with my cousins, save up for a van, move into the van, and travel through Florida all within 6 months.

I returned to my hometown and continued to work full time. And then I got a second job. Then a third job. All of this happened while living in my beat up van through late 2021 to early 2022. I saved up for the deposit for an apartment, but I was told I was too young and I needed a co-signer. I didn’t have anybody. I took a risk on a listing for a home online that turned out to be a scam. I was down like $2500. I had already had a little bit of a following on social media and a few of my mutuals asked me what was going on. I asked for some help, but as it got more popular I got a bit uncomfortable with strangers sending me money. I requested people stream my music instead- felt a little less personal. At this same time, both I and my van were working too hard and in 2022, my engine would give out on one of the major bridges in my hometown. I was in debt, the cops told me there was no hope in tracking down the scammer, and now my home/car broke down. It was going to take months before I got the money for the streams. But, I returned all of the items I had bought for my new place, sold my car for parts, and I used the money for a hotel room and a bus ticket to California. I started over in California and my TikTok page had kind of taken off. Within four months, I got into a toxic relationship, neglected my page and my music, and got fired from my California job (thank god, it was hell).

I moved back home to Florida by July 2022. Since then, I got my insurance license, took on a stable job with decent income, I’m renting an apartment with my sister and life is relatively normal. It was kind of bizarre that what was really a desperate attempt to get people to focus on tragedies in black countries was misinterpreted as some malicious plot to further my music. I care about human beings and I make art- that concept is not new. The critiques did not feel justified. Someone might pivot to, “I thought she said she was a photographer" I do that too. Someone might add, “She said she was a dance teacher” that is also true. So many things can be true at once. Someone might say, “She only talked about these issues for clout,” I don’t know about y’all but I didn’t start being black when TikTok came out. And I’ll be black long after TikTok is considered as lame as Facebook. Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I am annoyingly persistent about my political views. I’ve dumped boyfriends over it, I’ve ended friendships, I’ve boycotted tech companies. I have always been about the cause.

As someone who hopes to go to school for Psychology, my amateur observation is that a lot claims against my ethicality were projections. Many people couldn’t grapple with the fact that not only have they been routinely silent about the murders of black people on domestic soil, they have benefited from the CURRENT enslavement of black people on international soil. So who better to blame? Not the crooked politicians lining their pockets with payola, not the companies shelling out the hush money, but YANAtheartist for having the audacity to find a trendy & accessible way to spread awareness about global issues. But, I’m not going to stop. To be fair some people just didn’t like the song. That’s fine, but you know…watch your mouth. Some people like it and some people don’t…that’s just life. There are a lot more serious things going on. The fact some people spent more time talking about the quality of the song than the literal genocide in Congo was infuriating. If you want a think piece on entitlement to black labor and how it parallels between modern celebrity culture and indifference to black suffering it is ON THE WAY.

At the end of the day, music is just one of the many mediums I use to get my point across, but I will do whatever I have to do to make sure the stories of the suffering are heard. (And stories of love, peace, prosperity, and joy.) Protect Black Women, Free Congo, Free Palestine, Free Sudan, Free Tigray- LEARN FROM HAITI! xoxo