Wyclef Jean: Not Just a Star, but Also a Humanitarian
The most amazing thing about Wyclef Jean is that despite his huge success, he sets aside time to do humanitarian work for his native country, Haiti. He also speaks four languages: English, Spanish, Creole and Japanese.
Wyclef Jean was born on October 17, 1972 in Haiti but is now an American rap artist, producer, and member of the hip hop group, The Fugees, formerly the Tranzlator Crew, which he formed while attending high school. The original members were Prakazrel Michel, Lauryn Hill and himself. Jean moved to Brooklyn at age 9 and then to New Jersey where he learned to play the guitar and worked as a cab driver. The trio went to record for Ruffhouse Records and released their initial album, Blunted on Reality, but it did not sell that many copies. Their follow-up album – The Score – was more eclectic and sold over 17 million copies. This turned them all into musical superstars. Eventually, however, Wyclef Jean announced he was launching his solo career and the other members decided to do the same thing. At this time Jean released his Carnival album in 1997 which became a smashing hit.
In 2002, Wyclef released his third album, Masquerade, and the following year, his fourth album, The Preacher’s Son. Sak Pasé Presents: Welcome to Haiti was his fifth album and reflected his affinity to the Caribbean. His talents took him places. He wrote the songs for the original soundtrack of the 2003 documentary, The Agronomist, which was the story of Jean Dominique who was active in promoting the rights of the Haitian people. He also did the soundtrack for the film Hotel Rwanda.
Wyclef Jean is also known to have collaborated with the big stars such as Santana, Whitney Houston, Destiny’s Child, Mick Jagger and many others.
Jean established his own foundation, Yéle Haiti, whose mission is to extend humanitarian assistance to that country, saying that it is intended to restore the people’s pride and hope in their country.
Jean also appeared in some television shows – among them Making the Band, The Apprentice and Third Watch. He appeared in the movie Dirty, with Cuba Gooding in 2005 where he had to speak with a Jamaican accent, even though he is a native of Haiti.
Platinum Sounds is the name of the recording company that he owns and manages at the moment.