VTMBH Article: Body
Wyclef Jean is not a household name. In the hip-hop world, Jean is known as an innovatora larger-than-life persona whose music career dates back to his work with the Fugees, which enjoyed tremendous success in the early 1990s.
Jean also released a solo album Carnival, which was followed by two more projects The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II A Book, and most recently Masquerade.
With all this success, one question still lingers on many peoples mindswhat about the konpa? On each of his solo albums, Jean has given the public a taste of this unique Haitian style of music, exposing millions to sounds they didnt know existed and feeding the Haitian communitys appetite for music from home.
Though it is widely known that Jean is Haitian, the larger public, unless they have bought his albums, have no idea that he makes any other type of music than hip-hop.
But Jean has been experimenting with integrating Haitian culture into his music since he released his first album with the Fugees.
The first record we did was Blunted on Reality, Jean said. For everyone that wants to know how real the Fugees is on what they stand for when you talk about the flags and Haiti and all of thatthey need to pick up Blunted on Reality. Fugees stands for refugeeswe were revolutionaries, we wanted to make a statement. We were talking about where we were from, the immigrant vibe about whats going on.
Jean plans to continue to produce music that focuses on the Haitian culture. He bases the music on his experiencescoming to this country as an immigrant from Croix Des Bouquets, Haiti, when he was a young boy and navigating his way through a culture and society that was not his own.
When he came to New York, he didnt speak English and was not prepared for what he encountered in the Brooklyn projects he moved to. He went through many of the experiences young immigrant Haitians go throughbeing called names and taunted because of their background.
When I came here, I went through what I call the Haitian war. The period was, basically, HBO, Haitian Body Odor, Boat People, get back on the boat, after school, were going to beat up as many Haitians as we can. I was never having none of that, Jean said.
But his father was a minister who raised his children to follow the nonviolent route. If you ever feel a situation where youre being challenged, and violated, you have a chance to stand there and be peaceful, like Martin Luther King Jr., but sometimes the Malcolm X in me came out, he said.
Jean said that the only thing that kept him alive in Brooklyn was his love of music. When his family moved out of Brooklyn, to New Jersey, the music followed. Jean became involved with the band in his church, where his father was minister.
It was in New Jersey where Jean met Praswell Michel, who later introduced Jean to Lauryn Hill. They formed the hip-hop group the Fugees and started off underground.
After the release of their single Nappy Heads, the popularity and success of the group was unstoppable. That success allowed Jean to be able to release his own work.
His past two albums, and the recent release of Masquerade, have shown that Jean is interested in doing more than just straight hip-hop. Experimenting with different genres of music, such as country, reggae, pop, ska, and even rock have given Jeans music an edge. For him, integrating konpa into his repertoire is natural.
I dont even want people to forget that before all of this I was a snotty, grimey kid in Haiti, Jean said. I didnt grow up doing konpa, because I didnt understand it. I come from a hip-hop background and [now] when I go to my crate, I see all of them Tabous and Coupes and all of that, Im influenced by all of that too. So, while Im getting all of this credibility from the mainstream audience, I feel its important. People say, heres a piece of reggae, heres a piece of the salsa, this I say, heres piece of the konpa.
For Jean, it is much more than just konpa. The style of music that he is sharing with the world is coming from the influence of other music he was exposed to on the streets. These influences, mostly hip-hop, and reggae, create a sound that is not your typical konpa.
I attack the Haitian konpa music on a whole other angle, Jean said.
When I do konpa, I aint gonna want it to sound like the konpa thats out there. Thats why I call it the MVP.
MVP can easily be misconstrued as Most Valuable Player, but for Jeans camp, it means Multicultural Visionary Pioneers, calling for the culture to be the dominant factor in the music.
It seems, though, that not everyone is buying into this new form of konpa. Jean has met some resistance along the way. People are wondering why a hip-hop artist is doing konpa. They are asking, what does he know about it anyway?
I got put on to my konpa music [by] my uncle, and he [would] play crazy konpa in the house. Id be like, what this? Hed be like, this is Tabou Combo, Coupe Cloué, and so subconsciously, youre learning about all this Haitian [music]. [But], theres mad Haitians that be hating on me too as a Haitian. For example, theyll say, Why is he doing konpa? We aint messing around with his hip-hop, why is he coming here messing with our konpa? I put it on there because its multicultural. Bob Marley would make sure that reggaes on the CD no matter what. I have to make sure that Creole, my language and my native tongue is on the CD. If I dont do it in the position that Im in right now, while I got everybodys ear, whos going to do it? Its a few Haitian bands thats hatingthey shouldnt hate, they should participate. I would like love to do stuff with certain Haitian bands.
But this resistance hasnt seemed to stop Jean, who put songs in Creole on his albums, and has even collaborated with Haitian artists such as Sweet Micky and Jocelyn Bernard of the group Kassav.
According to Jean, his fans love it.
They dig it, my American kids. When they hear that MVP Konpa, they be like, Yo, son, I dont know what you saying, but yo! They can feel it, Jean said. Its not like Im arrogant or whatever. Im firm at what I do and I keep my two feet on the ground. We like 15 years strong in this.
There is, however a motive behind the attempt to expose the world to Haitian music and culture. Jean envisions the music as a vehicle and a voice for youth to express themselves, the way he used music as a youth to get through hard times.
I call it Generation X, Jean said. I feel life thats what every Haitian whos living in America today [is], every former refugee. Because you come, you dont really know how youre going to fit in and how youre going to blend in. Everybody looks at you like X, like the unknown, like who is this person, what are they doing in this country?
On the heels of the release of his current album, Jean plans to release an all-Creole album in the near feature.
Ask him and he will tell you whether its spitting rhymes in Creole or English, or producing records, he and his camp are not going anywhere.
Unity is power, he said. Once you form a force, thats the strongest thing. Im basically trying to leave an empire and an inspiration for my young little cousins and those to come. And we rep the movementHaiti for life, period. Thats what were repping. Basically, were not going nowhere. Well be here till the end of existence.
Jean also released a solo album Carnival, which was followed by two more projects The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II A Book, and most recently Masquerade.
With all this success, one question still lingers on many peoples mindswhat about the konpa? On each of his solo albums, Jean has given the public a taste of this unique Haitian style of music, exposing millions to sounds they didnt know existed and feeding the Haitian communitys appetite for music from home.
Though it is widely known that Jean is Haitian, the larger public, unless they have bought his albums, have no idea that he makes any other type of music than hip-hop.
But Jean has been experimenting with integrating Haitian culture into his music since he released his first album with the Fugees.
The first record we did was Blunted on Reality, Jean said. For everyone that wants to know how real the Fugees is on what they stand for when you talk about the flags and Haiti and all of thatthey need to pick up Blunted on Reality. Fugees stands for refugeeswe were revolutionaries, we wanted to make a statement. We were talking about where we were from, the immigrant vibe about whats going on.
Jean plans to continue to produce music that focuses on the Haitian culture. He bases the music on his experiencescoming to this country as an immigrant from Croix Des Bouquets, Haiti, when he was a young boy and navigating his way through a culture and society that was not his own.
When he came to New York, he didnt speak English and was not prepared for what he encountered in the Brooklyn projects he moved to. He went through many of the experiences young immigrant Haitians go throughbeing called names and taunted because of their background.
When I came here, I went through what I call the Haitian war. The period was, basically, HBO, Haitian Body Odor, Boat People, get back on the boat, after school, were going to beat up as many Haitians as we can. I was never having none of that, Jean said.
But his father was a minister who raised his children to follow the nonviolent route. If you ever feel a situation where youre being challenged, and violated, you have a chance to stand there and be peaceful, like Martin Luther King Jr., but sometimes the Malcolm X in me came out, he said.
Jean said that the only thing that kept him alive in Brooklyn was his love of music. When his family moved out of Brooklyn, to New Jersey, the music followed. Jean became involved with the band in his church, where his father was minister.
It was in New Jersey where Jean met Praswell Michel, who later introduced Jean to Lauryn Hill. They formed the hip-hop group the Fugees and started off underground.
After the release of their single Nappy Heads, the popularity and success of the group was unstoppable. That success allowed Jean to be able to release his own work.
His past two albums, and the recent release of Masquerade, have shown that Jean is interested in doing more than just straight hip-hop. Experimenting with different genres of music, such as country, reggae, pop, ska, and even rock have given Jeans music an edge. For him, integrating konpa into his repertoire is natural.
I dont even want people to forget that before all of this I was a snotty, grimey kid in Haiti, Jean said. I didnt grow up doing konpa, because I didnt understand it. I come from a hip-hop background and [now] when I go to my crate, I see all of them Tabous and Coupes and all of that, Im influenced by all of that too. So, while Im getting all of this credibility from the mainstream audience, I feel its important. People say, heres a piece of reggae, heres a piece of the salsa, this I say, heres piece of the konpa.
For Jean, it is much more than just konpa. The style of music that he is sharing with the world is coming from the influence of other music he was exposed to on the streets. These influences, mostly hip-hop, and reggae, create a sound that is not your typical konpa.
I attack the Haitian konpa music on a whole other angle, Jean said.
When I do konpa, I aint gonna want it to sound like the konpa thats out there. Thats why I call it the MVP.
MVP can easily be misconstrued as Most Valuable Player, but for Jeans camp, it means Multicultural Visionary Pioneers, calling for the culture to be the dominant factor in the music.
It seems, though, that not everyone is buying into this new form of konpa. Jean has met some resistance along the way. People are wondering why a hip-hop artist is doing konpa. They are asking, what does he know about it anyway?
I got put on to my konpa music [by] my uncle, and he [would] play crazy konpa in the house. Id be like, what this? Hed be like, this is Tabou Combo, Coupe Cloué, and so subconsciously, youre learning about all this Haitian [music]. [But], theres mad Haitians that be hating on me too as a Haitian. For example, theyll say, Why is he doing konpa? We aint messing around with his hip-hop, why is he coming here messing with our konpa? I put it on there because its multicultural. Bob Marley would make sure that reggaes on the CD no matter what. I have to make sure that Creole, my language and my native tongue is on the CD. If I dont do it in the position that Im in right now, while I got everybodys ear, whos going to do it? Its a few Haitian bands thats hatingthey shouldnt hate, they should participate. I would like love to do stuff with certain Haitian bands.
But this resistance hasnt seemed to stop Jean, who put songs in Creole on his albums, and has even collaborated with Haitian artists such as Sweet Micky and Jocelyn Bernard of the group Kassav.
According to Jean, his fans love it.
They dig it, my American kids. When they hear that MVP Konpa, they be like, Yo, son, I dont know what you saying, but yo! They can feel it, Jean said. Its not like Im arrogant or whatever. Im firm at what I do and I keep my two feet on the ground. We like 15 years strong in this.
There is, however a motive behind the attempt to expose the world to Haitian music and culture. Jean envisions the music as a vehicle and a voice for youth to express themselves, the way he used music as a youth to get through hard times.
I call it Generation X, Jean said. I feel life thats what every Haitian whos living in America today [is], every former refugee. Because you come, you dont really know how youre going to fit in and how youre going to blend in. Everybody looks at you like X, like the unknown, like who is this person, what are they doing in this country?
On the heels of the release of his current album, Jean plans to release an all-Creole album in the near feature.
Ask him and he will tell you whether its spitting rhymes in Creole or English, or producing records, he and his camp are not going anywhere.
Unity is power, he said. Once you form a force, thats the strongest thing. Im basically trying to leave an empire and an inspiration for my young little cousins and those to come. And we rep the movementHaiti for life, period. Thats what were repping. Basically, were not going nowhere. Well be here till the end of existence.