WYCLEF JEAN

'Nelust Wyclef Jean' () (born October 17, 1972) is a Grammy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated Haitian-American rapper, guitarist, producer, and member of the hip hop trio The Fugees.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Musical career

Collaborations

Awards and nominations

Humanitarian efforts

Television and film

Discography

Trivia

Footnotes

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Jean was born in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti. His father, a pastor, named him after John Wycliffe^[1]. He moved with his family to Brooklyn, New York when he was nine, then to northern New Jersey, where he began playing the guitar and studying jazz in high school. At 14, Jean was shot.^[2]
As a young adult, Jean worked as a cabdriver. In 1987, Jean, his friend Prakazrel Michel (whom Jean has called his cousin), and his classmate Lauryn Hill formed a hip hop group called the Tranzlator Crew before becoming The Fugees.

Musical career

The Fugees signed to Ruffhouse Records, which released the group's debut album, ''Blunted on Reality''. It sold poorly, but follow-up album ''The Score'' sold over 17 million copies worldwide. Jean announced plans to begin a solo career with 1997's ''Wyclef Jean Presents the Carnival Featuring the Refugee All-Stars'' (generally called ''The Carnival''). The album's guests included Hill and Pras along with Jean's siblings Melky Sedeck, the I Threes (back-up vocals for Bob Marley), The Neville Brothers and Celia Cruz. The album was a hit, as were two singles: "We Trying To Stay Alive" (adapted from The Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive") and "Gone Till November" (recorded with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra).

The Fugees remained in limbo during this time, with the follow-up to ''The Score'' being continually postponed as all three members cultivated solo careers.
At the concert Woodstock 99, Jean paid homage to 1969 Woodstock performer Jimi Hendrix by setting fire to his guitar after playing "The Star Spangled Banner", and burnt his fingers while doing so.^[3]
Jean's second solo album, released in 2000, was ''. This was recorded with guests including Youssou N'Dour, Earth, Wind & Fire, Kenny Rogers, The Rock and Mary J. Blige. With Blige he released "911" as a single. The critical reception was mixed, with many calling the album scattershot and too far-ranging to be cohesive. Regardless, he was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Act at the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards.^[4]

Jean's third album, ''Masquerade'', was released in 2002 and sold well, though critics frequently panned it. Wyclef's fourth album, ''The Preacher's Son'', was released in November 2003 as the follow-up to his first solo album, ''the Carnival''
In 2004, he released his fifth album, entitled ''Sak Pasé Presents: Welcome to Haïti (Creole 101)'' (released in the United States by Koch Records). Most of its songs are in his native language of Haitian Creole. He also covered Creedence Clearwater Revival's song "Fortunate Son" for the soundtrack of the 2004 film remake of ''The Manchurian Candidate'' and wrote the song Million Voices for the film Hotel Rwanda.
Jean also produced and wrote songs for the soundtrack to Jonathan Demme's 2003 documentary ''The Agronomist'', about the Haitian activist and radio personality Jean Dominique. With Jerry Duplessis, Jean also composed the score of the documentary ''Ghosts of Cité Soleil'',^[5] in which he appears onscreen speaking by telephone in 2006 to a "''chimere''" gang-leader and aspiring rapper, Winston "2Pac" Jean.^[6]
During a period between 2004 and 2006 and fueled by a reunion performance in Dave Chappelle's Block Party, it appeared that the Fugees were on track to record a new album, however Fugees member Pras claims to Billboard "To put it nicely, it's dead." He says the root of this animosity is the third member of the group, Lauryn Hill, saying to Billboard, "Me and Clef, we on the same page, but Lauryn [Hill] is in her zone, and I'm fed up with that shit. Here she is, blessed with a gift, with the opportunity to rock and give and she's running on some bullshit? I'm a fan of Lauryn's but I can't respect that."[1]
Jean announced he would release an album in September 2007 that he recorded in Atlanta, Georgia with the help of T.I.. Right now, Wyclef released a new song called ''Sweetest Girl'' featuring Lil' Wayne, Niia, and Akon. He can also be heard on T.I.'s song "You Know What It Is".

Collaborations

Jean worked with artists including Mary J Blige, Akon, Celia Cruz, Gloria Estefan, DJ Quik, Queen, Sarah Connor, Carlos Santana, 2face Idibia, Tevin Campbell, Tom Jones, Cypress Hill, Bounty Killer, DJ Khaled, Whitney Houston, Destiny's Child, Brian Harvey, The Rock, Sublime, Simply Red, Mya, Sinéad O'Connor, Missy Elliott, Bono, Beenie Man, Elephant Man, City High, Wayne Wonder, Buju Banton, T.I., Scarface, T-Vice, Sweet Micky, The Edge, Mick Jagger, Ying Yang Twins, Canibus, The Black Eyed Peas, Eric Benét, Brandy, Subliminal, Pitbull, Timbaland, Magoo, Tarkan, Shakira, Jin, Sunz Of Man, Big Pun, Kenny Rogers, Xzibit, Juvenile, The Neville Brothers, Willie Nelson,I&I, Busta Rhymes, Maxi Priest, R. Kelly, Leela James, John Legend, Ziggy Marley, M.O.P., Anthony B, Cam'ron, Rammstein, Prodigy and Machel Montano, and rapper Tupac Shakur on the ''Rap Phenomenon II'' album. He sang background and rapped in the song "Please Man" on Big & Rich's album ''Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace''.
Jean collaborated with Shakira on her single "Hips Don't Lie", which was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

Awards and nominations

Jean was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Act at the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards.^[7] In 2005, he earned a Golden Globe nomination for his track entitled "Million Voices" featured on the soundtrack to the film ''Hotel Rwanda''.

Humanitarian efforts

Jean has been active in his support of his native country and created the foundation Yéle Haïti ^[8] to provide humanitarian aid and assistance to Haïti. He describes Yéle is a non-political organization intended to empower the people of Haïti and the Haïtian diaspora to rebuild their nation, saying, "The objective of Yéle Haïti is to restore pride and a reason to hope, and for the whole country to regain the deep spirit and strength that is part of our heritage"..
Yele Haiti was created in January 13th 2005. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were present for the first anniversary in 2006.
In January 2007, Jean became a roving ambassador for Haiti, to help improve its image abroad.^[9]

Television and film

★ Performed "President" on the second season of ''Chappelle's Show''.

★ Appeared in the movie '' alongside Beyonce and Mos Def, as a fortune teller.

★ Appeared for a second time on ''Chappelle's Show'' in a parody of ''Making the Band''.

★ Appeared on the ''The Apprentice (US Season 4)'' in 2005. Did a rap, "Rubble man", with the winning team, Excel, as their reward for winning task five.

★ Also in 2005, he played gang leader Marcel Hollis who leads his group on an assault on the station house in the NBC television drama ''Third Watch''.

★ In 2004, Jean, Pras and Hill reunited as The Fugees for an event filmed and released in 2006 as ''Dave Chappelle's Block Party''.

★ He also starred in Virgin Mobile commercials as himself.^[10] In one commercial, a woman approaches him and tricks him into signing a contract which legally binds them in marriage. She drags him back to her trailer-park home where he is mistreated, forced to work and pleasure his wife. Eventually, he runs away and seeks police assistance, but is instead arrested for violating his contract and ultimately winds up in jail.

★ Appeared in 2002 Jamaican gangster film ''Shottas'', released in 2006.

★ In 2005, he played the role of a Jamaican drug dealer in the movie ''Dirty''.

★ He narrated the movie ''Full Clip'', starring Busta Rhymes, Xzibit, Prodigy of Mobb Deep, Spliff Star, and others.

★ He has appeared and performed on the Source Awards with DJ Khaled, with Wyclef and his band and Khaled doing turntables.

★ He appears in the film "Ghosts of Cité Soleil," released in limited theaters on June 27, 2007.

Discography

Main articles: Wyclef Jean discography


★ ''The Carnival'' (1997)

★ '' (2000)

★ ''Masquerade'' (2002)

★ ''The Preacher's Son'' (2003)

★ ''Greatest Hits'' (2003)

★ '' (2004)

★ '' (2007)

Trivia

★ Considers Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and John Lennon to be his major musical influences.

★ Has an estranged brother named Ross. He works as a janitor at Yeshiva University. There was an incident in the mid-90s when Wyclef needed to come to the University to speak with his brother and greeted the students who recognized him.

★ Dated former Fugees bandmate and Grammy Award winner Lauryn Hill

★ Wyclef plays five instruments including guitar and the accordion.

★ Wyclef raps in six languages: Creole, English, French, somewhat in Spanish and a little Japanese and Arabic.

★ Wyclef operates a Dancehall Reggae Soundsystem called 'Refugees', and has recorded dubplates with artists like Kenny Rogers and Santana.

★ Wyclef owns and runs a NYC recording studio, Platinum Sounds.

★ Wyclef also performed the theme song to the PBS children's program '' Postcards From Buster''

★ Wyclef owns numerous cars including many exotic cars including a Pagani Zonda, Ferrari 360, two Ford Mustang's one a 1967 and a convertible 2007 model. Also he has a Mercedes-Benz G-Class with a Maybach like interior. He previously owned a McLaren F1 and had numerous automobiles featured in the magazine ''Dub''.

Footnotes

1. YéleHaiti.org
2. "Hip hop big shot", by Kieran Grant, June 26, 2002
3.
4. BBC News (Oct. 2, 2000): "MTV Europe Music Awards: The nominations"
5. ''Ghosts Of Cité Soleil'' - Casting Info (2005)
6. ''Film Journal International'' (June 27, 2007): ''Ghosts of Cité Soleil'' (review by Frank Lovece)
7. BBC News (Oct. 2, 2000): "MTV Europe Music Awards: The Nominations"
8. Yele.org
9. BBC News (4 January 2007): "Wyclef becomes Haiti 'ambassador'"
10. Partizan - Commercials - Doug Nichol

References

★ Wyclef.com (official site)

★ Wyclef.org (fan site)

★ Wyclef.Fugees-online (German fansite in English)

★ Haiti Internet Movie Database: Wyclef Jean

★ Sak Pase Records

★ J Records

★ Clef Records

★ Gravity Entertainment

External links

★