Wyclef pens Immigrant songs
Like a hip-hop Bono, Wyclef Jean is deep in music and charity work.
Reached at a Manhattan studio, the former Fugee was wrapping up a recording session with Shakira �and just over jetlag. He had recently traveled to Haiti to visit his charity, Yele Haiti, which is working with the World Food Program to raise $48 million US?towards his former home�s food and agriculture crisis.
�It�s definitely a sacrifice to try to keep up with my music career and still balance it with charity work,� said Jean. �(But) I think being optimistic is always better. It�s the hope of John Lennon � no matter how crappy things are, you should still give peace a chance.�
That theme is apparent on the rapper-producer�s latest, Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs Of An Immigrant. Uniting the album�s reggae, rock and hip-hop rhythms is a perspective that acknowledges the world is darker than it was when Jean put out the original Carnival.
�Within that 10-year period, I�ve traveled a lot of the world, and�when you go to Brazil and see the favelas and know the government sees them too, you ask why they don�t do anything,� he said. �I was born in a hut and raised in the ghetto�A lot of people I know are doing double life in prison for something they did at a young age, and in their minds they really believe they might get an appeal, because if they ever lose that sense of hope, they would get a rope and hang themselves.�
For that reason, after kicking off with relatively dark banger Riot, the disc flows into positive jams. It flips the nihilist anthem C.R.E.A.M to a hopeful refrain on Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill), and as always, draws on guests like dancehall singer Sizzla, Mary J. Blige, Akon and even Paul Simon. Musically, Jean takes the pop-oriented production of Carnival I and mixes it with the explorations of 2004�s Welcome to Haiti: Creole 101. Recorded in Creole and English and built around Caribbean rhythms, it was released on his label Sak Pas� and had a relatively low profile.
�(With) Carnival II, I wanted to bring Haiti to the masses. With Welcome to Haiti, I thought it would do that, but it didn�t,� he said, laughing. �(So) to get the masses, I had to do a record like Carnival � a great world music record that had a message.�
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