Wyclef Jean: Till Death Do Us Part

interview Paul Cantor photography Piotr Sikora

When it comes to global pop, Wyclef Jean is still killin’ ’em. but with a resurrected interest in rap, can this former Fugee bring his spark back to hip-hop?

Hits don’t lie. And when it comes to the career of 37-year-old Wyclef Jean, there sure are a lot of them. In 1996, The Fugees delivered their second LP, The Score, to 16 million satisfied customers. A year later, ’Clef went solo and dropped Wyclef Jean Presents: The Carnival featuring The Refugee All Stars, which moved three million copies and pioneered the use of many world music influences in hip-hop. But while his later solo projects performed relatively well, their numbers and impact still paled in comparison to his former achievements. It wasn’t until he laced Shakira with the record-breaking pop smash “Hips Don’t Lie” in 2006 that his presence became ubiquitous again.

Turning back to rap, ’Clef brought some much-needed melody to Ying Yang Twins’ Chemically Imbalanced LP, but their collaboration “Dangerous” failed to garner much interest last year. Betting it all on an even bigger A-town star, he crafted two tracks for T.I.’s T.I. vs. T.I.P. album, including the second single “You Know What It Is.” ’Clef’s so down with the King that he even asked Tip to co-executive produce the forthcoming continuation of his debut, Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant, which features appearances from Lil Wayne, Akon, Sizzla, Paul Simon, Mary J. Blige, Chamillionaire, Minister Louis Farrakhan and more. It’s time to settle the score.

SCRATCH When you first played music for T.I., how did he react?

Wyclef On Carnival II, I’m taking people and putting them in these weird musician spots and it’s like they gotta find their way out. [T.I.] heard the joint I wanted him to be on and he flipped out like, “You know you gotta do some stuff for me.” So I started playing him some beats I had been working on with my brothers Jerry Wonder, Sedeck, and my other cousin Little Wonder. From there we just started working. So now I had like a Kobe Bryant in my hands. I was able to give him the play, and he was able to take it to the hole. It was sort of like we was doing a Tip/Wyclef album.

What made you ask T.I. to co-executive produce Carnival II?
I wanted someone to hear the music with a different ear. Having T.I. hear the records is like having a younger brother of mine, that’s like 19 [or] 20, hear the record. He might say a little something, but what he says might just make a big difference in the world of today.

Where is the album going, musically?
It’s fun, it’s youthful, but when you get past the energy, we still talk about real topics. We still gonna have you shake your ass [and] have a good time. We still talking about Africa. We still talking about the election. We still talking about the Middle East. The whole idea of Carnival is global, and so [is] Memoirs of an Immigrant. It’s like when I came to America and I started keeping a diary—this is basically the diary.

What made you start working with rap artists again?
When I did The Score, I was like, “I’m bored with hip-hop.” After The Carnival, I pulled myself away from working with rap artists for a minute, if you noticed… This is Wyclef going back working with hip-hop again. Like, I want to do a song with T.I., I want to do a song with Weezy. When I hear Weezy say, “Voulez vous vous chez avec moi, bitches,” I get excited. Because damn, I remember I’m rhyming in French [on The Carnival]. I hear Chamillionaire, I get excited. I’ve worked with different legends, like Kenny Rogers…but this is like me going back to the roots.
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This is only a preview! To read the full interview with WYCLEF, including his take on why the Fugees reunion is at a standstill, pick up the SEPT/OCT issue of Scratch, on stands NOW!

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