Apologize...

[Rolling Stone Report]

Wyclef Makes "Musician"

Rapper is at work on album, film scores, benefits

In between a host of music, film and political projects -- and training for his first boxing match, in Miami -- Wyclef Jean has managed to write nearly forty tracks for his next album. With his signature mix of hip-hop, rock and reggae, the record is tentatively titled The Underrated Musician.
"Some of the best musicians in the world don't get props until they die," says Wyclef. "I'm speaking for them."

Possible tracks include the beat-driven "Welcome to the East," which opens with brass horns and features Sizzla spitting over minor piano chords. And "Trenchcoat Mafia" finds Wyclef hitting the low notes over a moody, alt-rock opening: "Tell my loved ones please don't cry/I'll see them later in ghetto paradise." Many lyrics focus on the street life, with mentions of Biggie and Tupac.

"Right now I just want to say something," explains Wyclef. "Like, if you take 'Diallo' and '911,' those are the messages: the message of 'what the fuck's going on in society?,' and the message of the everyday hustler trying to make it." There are also two duets in the works. Wyclef wants to record "Apologize," in which two lovers trade confessions, with Whitney Houston. "She would nail that!"

At the same time, Wyclef is recording tributes to Luther Vandross and the Bee Gees (for upcoming best-of compilations), and has just signed Bronx teen R&B trio Three on Three to his eponymous Clef Records. Plus, fresh off a Golden Globe nomination for his contribution to the Hotel Rwanda soundtrack, he's scoring the horror film 75 and the indie basketball flick, Rock the Paint.

"All my CDs are already in score form," he says. "They have a storyline -- just listen to The Carnival. I always called myself a 'hip-hop Gershwin,' because that's how I hear sounds in my head: I see films, I see Broadway plays. I'm in show business, baby!"

Aside from his projects as performer, composer and producer, Wyclef the activist is also hoping to expand the activities of his non-profit foundation Yele Haiti to bring relief and aid not only to his homeland of Haiti but to Africa as well. "With a foundation, it shouldn't be about, 'Let me get a tax break,'" says Wyclef. "If they need flood relief in Haiti, I should be the first in line to go down there. And we'll go wherever people need aid. We went to Nigeria, for four days, and it was incredible. Ten thousand people met me at the airport, and they had signs up: 'Gunpowder,' '41 Shots for Diallo,' 'Yele Haiti.' And I thought, 'OK, so the message is getting out. Someone's listening -- in Africa, at least. It was a trip."

His African outreach extends to the culture as well, with Wyclef requesting the Senegalese hip-hop trio Daara J as the opening act for a July 14th performance at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall. "However we can bring awareness of world music, I'm all about that," Wyclef explains. "Africa's part of the world, man."

When asked how he can keep up with so many ventures, Wyclef replies, "Look, I have a wall full of plaques. I've broken some crazy records. But in this game, I look up to Quincy Jones, so I've got to keep hustling.

"When I worked at Burger King, I was a security guard," he continues, "and I had to go to school at the same time and still be at church on Sunday with a song ready to sing for the congregation. It's just the way life is, you know?"

ALEX MAR
(Posted May 18, 2005)

NEWSFILE: 18 MAY 2005