We are live in Haiti (a Caribbean country) on the AOTW today and we’ll be jamming Wyclef’s music all day. Yeah! Wyclef is a Haitian rapper (his song Fanm Kreyòl tells all of that) producer, philanthropist, and politician is the artist dominating this segment today.
He’s a former Fugees member and 2010 Haitian presidential candidate. Wyclef multi-time award winning artist whose musical career spans three decades is also referred to as Toussaint St. Jean (an alias). His dynamic, politically inflected rhymes and keen ear for hooks established him as a significant force in popular music.
Wyclef Jean was born on 17th October, 1969 (49years) in La Plaine, Haiti,. At age 9 he immigrated with his family to the United States. Jean graduated from Vailsburg High School, Newark, New Jersey, briefly attended Eastern Nazarene College and finished one semester at Five Towns College in New York. In 2009, Jean enrolled in the Berklee College of Music. He began to make music as a child. Wyclef Jean began his career as a member of the trailblazing hip-hop group The Fugees along with Lauryn Hill and Pras.
In the 1980s Jean and the Fugees formed a group under the name Tranzlator Crew. In 1997, Wyclef announced his plans to begin a solo career with the release of an album titled The Carnival Featuring the Refugee All-Stars. 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). In 2000, Jean’s second solo album The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II. He then released with Blige as a single titled”911″.
NO 4: Guantaramera ft Refugee Camp All Stars as well as Celia Cruz and Lauryn Hill on the rap.
(2nd single off Wyclef Jean’s debut solo album The Carnival album released in 1997. Peaked at #25 on UK Chart – its highest chart position, and spent just two weeks on the chart. The song also charted in Switzerland and Sweden)
His 3rd album – Masquerade, was released in 2002. His 4th album -The Preacher’s Son, was released in November 2003. It was a follow-up to his first solo album – The Carnival. In 2004, he released his 5th album – Sak Pasé Presents: Welcome to Haïti (Creole 101) Most of its (the album) songs are in his native language of Haitian Creole like “Fanm Kreyòl” with the French Caribbean Admiral T (Christy Campbell)
In 2006, Wyclef Jean was featured in Shakira’s smash hit Hips Don’t Lie. The song went on to become the highest selling single of the 21st century, in addition to reaching number one in over 55 countries. Jean and Shakira went on to perform the song at the 2007 Grammys and the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. In September 2007, Jean released an album recorded in Atlanta, Georgia, with the help of T.I. Later Wyclef released “Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)” featuring Lil Wayne, Niia and Akon.
In 2008, Jean released a song with Serj Tankian called “Riot”. In June 2009, Wyclef announced via Twitter that an album wyclefjean would released sometime in February 2010 with the first single off the album to be titled “Seventeen” and feature Lil Wayne. In August 2009, Wyclef unveiled his video “Haitian Slumdog Millionaire” featuring Haitian artist Imposs. Later in November 2009, “Suicide Love” featuring rapper Eve leaked online prior to the release of his EP From the Hut, to the Projects, to the Mansion which was released November of the same year.
NO 3: 911″ FEATURING MARY J. BLIGE was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. From Jean’s 2000 album The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book, the song reached number six on the Billboard R&B chart)
NO 2 WYCLEF JEAN- BABA FT. KOFI BLACK (off the album “Wyclef Goes Back To School Volume 1” in early (March) 2019
“KILLING ME SOFTLY” (The Fugees’ hip-hop remake of the Roberta Flack classic “Killing Me Softly With His Song” (title shortened to “Killing Me Softly”) won a Grammy Award in 1997 for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
On May 17, 2016, Wyclef released his first song in two years, gave hints to a new album release. A month later, he released a new song called Hendrix then released a short film. In October of 2016 Wyclef released an election song “If I Was President 2016”. In November 2016 he released a song “I Swear,” with Young Thug -featured on his EP.
In 2017, Wyclef released the single “Ne Me Quitte Pas”, featured on his J’ouvert Deluxe EP as well as four more singles from the album, released his, “Wyclef Jean Inspired By” mixtape, In December, Wyclef along with Naughty Boy appeared on the final of the fourteenth series of The X Factor. He also announced The Carnival Tour, which would start on January and end in May 2018. Finally he dropped the album Wyclef Goes Back To School Volume 1in March 2019.
It’s a remarkably short album at 31:31 in length, which informs the decision to name this “Volume 1” as clearly he’s held over material for “Volume 2” in the future. The albums feature artists discovered by Wyclef while touring colleges around the United States. The Fugees member contributes vocals to the album but mostly uses the platform to showcase his talent scouting and curation skills.
ALBUMS (Discography): 1997: The Carnival, 2000: The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book, 2002: Masquerade, 2003: Greatest Hits 2003: The Preacher’s Son, 2004: Welcome to Haiti: Creole 101, 2006: Ghosts of Cité Soleil (soundtrack), 2007: Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant, 2009: From the Hut, To the Projects, To the Mansion, 2010: If I Were President: My Haitian Experience, 2017: J’ouvert, 2017: Carnival III: The Fall and Rise of a Refugee, 2018: Mystery, 2019: Wyclef Goes Back To School Volume 1
AWARDS
He was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Act at the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards.
We Trying to Stay Alive off his 1997 debut solo album The Carnival was also nominated for Best Choreography in a Video at the MTV Music Video Awards in 1998
Jean won a Grammy for Album of the Year as a featured artist on Carlos Santana’s 1999 CD, Supernatural which sold over 15 million copies in the United States
FACTS
- In May 2014, a Wyclef video, “April Showers”, was banned from YouTube after Cathy Scott, author of The Killing of Tupac Shakur, lodged a copyright infringement complaint with YouTube claiming an image in the video was similar to an autopsy photo released in her book. YouTube temporally banned the video.
- He’s got countless collaboration with a wide variety of stars including Whitney Houston, Shakira, Beyonce and Destiny’s Child, Earth, Wind & Fire, Mary J. Blige, Patti LaBelle, Lil Wayne, T.I., will.i.am from The Black Eyed Peas, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, Tom Jones, Norah Jones, Cyndi Lauper, and Celia Cruz.
- In 2001, Jean established “Yéle Haiti” a charitable organization known legally as the Wyclef Jean Foundation and incorporated in Illinois. Following 2004’s Hurricane Jeanne, it provided scholarships to 3,600 children in Gonaïves, Haiti.
- Jean has supported politicians in Haiti. On August 5, 2010, Wyclef confirmed rumors that he was running for president of Haiti during an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. On August 5, Jean formally filed papers as a candidate for the 2010 Haitian presidential election but by August 20, 2010, his bid for candidacy was rejected by Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council because he did not meet the constitutional residency requirement of having lived in Haiti for five years before the November 28 election.
NO 1 GONE TILL NOVEMBER (off his 1997 debut solo album The Carnival): Was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance and won Best R&B Video. Nominated for Best Direction in a Video at the MTV Music Video Awards in 1998. Jean’s first top ten and first platinum single, to reach number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the R&B chart.
