Wyclef Jean

Wyclef Jean`s recorded output - two solo albums and two albums as the leader of the now-dormant Fugees - is small. But this 30-year-old Grammy Award-winner and multimillion-selling maverick hopes someday to leave a large legacy. And he knows exactly how he`d like to be remembered.

"I want to be known as an innovator," said Jean, before a recent tour stop in St. Louis with his band and fellow hip-hop artists De La Soul and BlackEyed Peas.

"I want people to know I tried to be an innovator, with music, to help them unite themselves."

This guitar-playing rapper and singer-songwriter may have a long way to go yet, but with the Fugees and on his own, he has helped stretch the boundaries of hip-hop, beginning with the Fugees` uneven but promising debut album "Blunted on Reality," which was released in 1994.

Witness Jean`s impressive resume, which includes: producing and co-writing the flamenco-tinged Santana hit "Maria Maria"; writing and/or producing records for such disparate artists as Sublime, Whitney Houston, Simply Red, Canibus, Sinead O`Connor, Destiny`s Child and Cypress Hill; and - on his latest solo album, "The Ecleftic - II Sides 2 a Book" - collaborating with everyone from Houston and Mary J. Blige to Earth, Wind & Fire and country-pop crooner Kenny Rogers.

And what other hip-hop star has recorded a reverent version of a Pink Floyd song ("Wish You Were Here") and nearly stole the show at an all-star Johnny Cash TV tribute concert?

Or filmed a video that features a cameo by Bob Dylan (the wistful "Gone Till November")?

Or cites as a major influence a big-band pioneer?

"I`m a showman; I`m like Cab Calloway," said Jean, giving props to the man whose classic 1931 hit "Minnie the Moocher" was a highlight of the 1980 John Belushi/Dan Aykroyd film "The Blues Brothers."

"When I was in high school, I watched all these old films Cab was in," Jean continued. "He had a big impact on audiences, and he was someone I looked up to. And I was fortunate to know him, just through his music, because he was way, way before my time."

NEW YORK SCENE

Born in Haiti, where he lived in poverty as a child, Jean did not begin his musical education in earnest until moving to Brooklyn at age 9.

As a young New Yorker, he was exposed to the budding hip-hop scene and, pivotally, to the music of Bob Marley. The Jamaican reggae legend soon became one of his biggest idols, along with Calloway, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis and Marvin Gaye.

Parts of his first solo album, 1997`s "Wyclef Jean Presents the Carnival," paid homage to his Caribbean roots. And "Thug Angels," a song from his new album, includes snippets of Haitian voodoo music. But it was only while he was a high-school student in New York, that he became aware of such vibrant Haitian bands as Tabou Combo, Rara Machine and Boukman Eksperyans.

"I grew up, basically, in the church, because my father was a minister" for the Church of the Nazarene, he said.

"I was into hip-hop and reggae. I grew up in the projects in New York, and they only played hip-hop and reggae there. But when I was 17 or 18, I tried to find out who those bands from Haiti are, even though I was in America. And my favorite is Boukman Eksperyans, definitely. Hearing them made me want to get spiritual with my music."

A spiritual undertone is evident in the lyrics to some of Jean`s songs, both on his two solo albums and on the Fugees` 1996 album "The Score." The second and, perhaps, last album by the now-dormant Fugees, "The Score" has sold 11 million copies worldwide. It also helped make hip-hop palatable to millions of mainstream pop-music fans by featuring live instruments and mixing in elements of rap, old-school soul, reggae and other styles.

There is also a shared sense of spiritual values between Jean and the members of his touring band, which features his brother, Farrel; his sister, Melky; cousin Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis (the co-writer of Santana`s "Maria Maria" and co-producer of Jean`s solo albums); and two longtime friends. With the exception of the group`s DJ, Leon Higgins, Jean and his bandmates have been performing together - beginning in church - since their early teens.

"My father wanted me to become a minister, like him," said Jean, who turned 30 recently.

"It was a big-time conflict with him that I went into music. ... I try to do music for other reasons that (making) money. With me it`s all positive; it`s the vibration. The downside to fame is when people start to believe that they are bigger than life.

"Because no matter how successful you are, and how much money you have, it`s the people that really make you who you are. I keep my feet on the ground because I grew up in the church and my father is very spiritual. He`s proud of me, (but) I don`t think I`ve ever convinced him - to this day - that I made the right decision."

Jean, however, has no doubt that music is his destiny. And he credits his ability to mix and match different styles with his love of jazz in general, and Miles Davis in particular.

"I think jazz gave me the ability to be able to fuse music," said Jean, who played bass in his high-school jazz ensemble.

"Learning how to improvise helps me, big-time, in everything I do today. People should pick up Miles Davis` (classic 1969 album) `Bitches Brew.` Because it`s very unorthodox, it`s constantly changing moods and it brings you to a whole other world."

Jean`s love of jazz also manifests itself, for better and worse, in the lengthy instrumental improvisations and vocal ad-libs that punctuate his concerts.

"I`ve been playing (music) live since I was 9 or 10 years old," he said.

"And the good thing about playing live is that you don`t have to play it like the record; you have to play it better than you did on the record. Like (with) `Gone Till November,` I might play guitar for 10 minutes (in concert) until I start the actual song. I`m into improvisation in a big way."

WHAT`S NEXT?

Jean, whose second solo album was released a few months ago, already has two other albums - one a solo acoustic outing, the other a country-flavored collection - nearing completion. He is also at work on a World Music-oriented album, "Masquerade," that he describes as a sequel to "Wyclef Jean Presents the Carnival."

"If it`s in my head, I have to get it out. I don`t even know when they`ll come out; I`m recording them right now," he said.

"I`m not a workaholic, man, I`m a `musicholic.` Hip-hop is creativity, and I`m an innovator. When everybody wants to go right, I go left. I try to do something that people can follow through their ears. And I am the hardest critic on myself. Because I want things to be perfect, but it`s good to sometimes have a little (mess-up)."

Yet while Jean is happy to pursue his solo career, he leaves no doubt that he hopes to regroup with his erstwhile partners in the Fugees, Lauryn Hill and Prakazrel "Pras" Michael.

Might the chances of a reunion be clouded by Jean`s recent disclosure that he and Hill engaged in an extramarital affair several years ago?

"We still have to work some things out, because we`re human, you know," said Jean, who lives near Hill in East Orange, N.J., with his wife, Claudinette.

"But it`s all good. And I think in the next year-and-a-half or two the Fugees will get back together, because we`ve been talking."

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: George Varga