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Wyclef Jean: A Fugee, A Haitian, A Brother

December 7, 2006

Wyclef Jean is many things: a Fugee, a Haitian, a brother, and an ex-lover of the soulfully tormented singing and rapping sensation, Lauryn Hill. But right now, he is, a magician. Or rather, he use to be one.

Right down the street from the plush Platinum Sound Recording Studio on West 46th where Wyclef and his crew were holding court, David Blaine, a young, hip version of Houdini, is suspended on a 50 foot crane, spread eagle.

"It's probably going to be 150 grand and built from the same thing they use in NASA," Wyclef says, eyes large with wonder, about the crane. He feels he is an expert on this.

"I wasn't on no level of Blaine but what happen, it takes strength though. Like, you ain't just gone be up there like that and you not strong as fuck! Have you noticed most of his illusions are distant illusions? Like, when it comes to the big ones? In front of you all he can do is, like, card games and double jointed tricks."

Clef, as everyone calls him, is wearing a cappuccino-colored turtleneck sweater, dark-denim jeans hanging slightly off his behind, and a flawlessly tapered Caesar cut.

Long gone are the bright nylon pants, suffocating bubble coats, and dreadlocks he got away with in the early bom-bap 90s.

He plops into a swivel chair in the control room of his studio, which is lit up by a lonely ivory candle burning slowly. He kicks his legs up on the arm of my chair and runs his chocolate fingers over his hairless face.

In an instant, Clef is serious, the goofy smirk and piercing glare and chatter about magic over. Wyclef Jean is in the mood to talk.

The rapper and musician, in conjunction with Jakmel Film Festival, teamed up with the United Nations' World Food Programme agency and threw a major concert last week in his beloved hometown, Haiti, for a weeklong festival.

And besides being heavily involved in bringing AIDS awareness to his people (Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and has the largest number of AIDS infections in the Caribbean, about 280,000 people infected with HIV by 2004), he also has a non-profit called Yele Haiti, which, unlike traditional charities, uses music as a new-wave tool for economic and social empowerment.

In January, Hollywood got the buzz: an intrigued Brad Pitt and his wife Angelina Jolie, joined Wyclef to celebrate Yele Haiti's one year anniversary of existence.

Clef is in a good mood. Humming tunes and stuff, dapping and hugging every soul who stepped foot off the elevator into his musical sanctuary. It seemed like the perfect place to begin.

Vibe.com: Tell me about the Haiti concert.

Clef: Very historic. Basically, every year I plan to bring a concert to Haiti in the sense, of, like, the Reggae Sunsplash, you know? Or the [Reggae] Sumfest and all that. So every year, we plan to bring inside of this film festival [Jakmel] a concert. The first year I launch it and every year after that I'm going to invite an international artist to come be the headliner of the concert.

Why are you so passionate about this?

Clef: I left Haiti when I was like 9 years old. And I come from the city of the slums. So to come to America and have lived the American dream, and to not be able to partake that with those who came from the same slums as me . . . if I never got this opportunity, I would be a statistic. So it's only natural. Many are called but few are chosen. So I think for this reason in particular, I was chosen to be born at a certain date at a certain time to help the Haitian people because I came from the Haitian race.

Do you believe that America can do something about the epidemic that's going on, especially with the war going on?

Clef: Definitely they can do something because Guantanamo Bay, which is 50 miles from Haiti, has billions of dollars being spent to keep these terrorists in a certain place. And, that's security right? I feel like the states can do much more. And I'm hoping that with these new seats in congress, the Democrats, I'm hoping that when we present bills talking about Haiti and different things, they will really take a stand and really want to help this time.

Do you think your peers care as much about the AIDS movement now as before?

Clef: I think that networks, as a whole, put AIDS in the front now. I mean, from Bill Clinton, from what he does to bring the drugs down, to different things, I think there have been AIDS campaigns going on for a minute now. And definitely when Eazy E died, it was like, wow, you know? Because you felt like, "Oh shit, this is right in my backyard."

But do you think there could be more? Like emcees addressing it lyrically?

Clef: Well, the thing about me is I look towards my left shoulder. And I see no one. And I look behind my right shoulder. And I see no one. And my father said, "Why are you looking back for? All you can do is be responsible for yourself." I never watch what man or woman does, I just keep moving forward and hope that creates change.

Do you see the AIDS movement as being bigger than hip hop?

Clef: Well, hip hop is where we from. That's our culture. Our culture is so powerful, I could tell you a song or a movie and you'll know exactly where you were at and what you were doing. So I don't think there could be anything bigger than that. I think that what it is is we can definitely apply the culture and bring more [AIDS] awareness.

Your non-profit deals a lot with economic empowerment. Do you see the AIDS epidemic and poverty as being intertwined in some way?

Clef: Yeah, definitely. One of the things we [Yele Hati] want to do is a hip hop mobile unit which travels through Haiti and it stops in these areas and people come out dancing, DJs with music would provide condoms and at the same time, we're giving free AIDS tests.

With the poverty situation, I just got back from D.C. lobbying for a bill called the Hope Bill. And with the Hope Bill, it'll give 10,000 people jobs, right away to start-- we're talking about the textile company. So definitely, when I started the charity, I said, "It_s not a charity, it_s a movement." Cause, the Haitian people, we're not asking for no handouts, they're workers. All we saying is, provide jobs.

I hear a lot of artists, actors and musicians, who say, "I know that my calling is more than just entertainment." Do you feel like your calling is to be a leader in Haiti?

Clef: I think what happens is, you go from baby to man. So you crawl, then you walk. And as you walk, you start to figure out different things. But until you walk, you don't know what it's like. Now, I never have to say who I am, but the people know who I am and what I am to them and what I will be to them. Go back to the days of the Fugees. The first album was called Blunted On Reality [Ruffhouse, 1994]. There's a song on there called "Refugee On the Mic." We're [Fugees] getting into the business, and I'm talking about "H/ to the a/ to the i/ to the t to the i/ live and die." So Haiti's always in my blood. Can't anyone challenge me in this because what I'm doing is what I've been doing before The Score [Sony, 1996]. Blunted On Reality is my blueprint. That's what I came into the music business saying. I was like: "Ya'll got to respect us [Haitians] as a people." Now, as a man, and I'm starting to grow up, I'm starting to morph into this thing. The cards were already dealt before I was born or before you were born. And it was already written what you was gone be and what I was gone be. And as we grow to do what we're doing, all we can do is keep doing what we're doing.

Vibe.com