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Podcast Host 1
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Podcast Host 2
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Wyclef Jean
Okay, this is the original.
Interjecting Speaker / Possibly a Producer or Guest
No carbon copy. Ladies and gentlemen, before the AI it was I
Wyclef Jean
a intelligent alpha Maria Maria
Interjecting Speaker / Possibly a Producer or Guest
ye high she remind me of a West side story story growing up in Spanish how long yeah she living life just like a movie star yeah Maria Maria she fell in love in Easter
Interviewer / Co-host
day
Interjecting Speaker / Possibly a Producer or Guest
To the sound of the guitar yeah let's go y'. All Play by Carlos. Ready and I here I come, you can't hide Shout out to the fugees I'm gonna.
Wyclef Jean
Y' all know what this is.
Interjecting Speaker / Possibly a Producer or Guest
Sing along everybody like Betty and I here I come, you can't hide yeah I'm gonna For
Wyclef Jean
yo yo yo now
Interjecting Speaker / Possibly a Producer or Guest
that I escape sleep walk away those who convulate know the world ain't cake Jail bars ain't golden gates those who
Wyclef Jean
fake, they break when they meet their
Interjecting Speaker / Possibly a Producer or Guest
400 pound made if I could rule the world Everyone will have a gun in the ghetto of course when you d up and on they horse yo I kick around drinking moonshine I pour a sip on the concrete but the deceased with no don't weep while clef's in the state of sleep Thinking about the robbery that I did last week Money on the bag make her look
Wyclef Jean
like a drag what you smoking on? What you smoking on, man? Ooh la la la it's the way that we rock when we doing our
Interjecting Speaker / Possibly a Producer or Guest
thing Ooh la la la it's the
Wyclef Jean
natural vibe that the refugees bring Ooh la la la la la la la la la la la
Interjecting Speaker / Possibly a Producer or Guest
I go by
Wyclef Jean
the name of Wyclepshaw I got seven
Interjecting Speaker / Possibly a Producer or Guest
albums coming out one a.
Wyclef Jean
Pop re let's end on some like, you know what I'm saying? On some like real like world type vibe. Y' all feel me? Like.
Interjecting Speaker / Possibly a Producer or Guest
All pirates yes they rabbi so lie to the merchant ship. From the bottom despair My hand was benched on by the end of the Almighty we struggle in this generation triumphantly Africa, Middle East,
Wyclef Jean
Europe, the Americas, America
Interjecting Speaker / Possibly a Producer or Guest
won't you help me Sing another song of freedom that's all I ever heard. Redemption strong. Redemption strong. Emancipate yourself from mental slavery not but ourselves can free our minds. Have no fear for atomic energy. For none of them can stop at the time. How long will it kill our profit While we stand aside and look? Some say it's just a part of it. You've got to fulfill the boat. Asia, Middle East, Africa, the Americas, the entire world. Lord, won't you help me sing it? Another strong of freedom. Cause all I ever had. Redemption show.
Wyclef Jean
Wow. Clap, baby. Oh, you caught the bars, bro. If he miss you, miss those bars,
Interviewer / Co-host
he's not going to run it again.
Wyclef Jean
He's no. There's new bars. Every day. There's a new bar that was like.
Interviewer / Co-host
That was like, you know, like a big L. Like, did the whole Alphabet. You did num. The numerical.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, I'm from. I'm from. You know, battle rap was part of my, like, natural come up. You know what I mean? Being in the projects, that was sort of like I always said, being like, the oldest. So sort of like, you mess with my sister or brother, they're like, I'm gonna get my big brother, you know, And I would show up, and I've only. I only weighed, like a buck, like 10. You feel what I'm saying to you? So how old were you, like, when you started, like, when I started rapping.
Interviewer / Co-host
Well, battling battle rapping or both.
Wyclef Jean
Not battle rapping. I was 12.
Interviewer / Co-host
You're 12?
Wyclef Jean
Yeah. Because I came from Haiti when I was, like, seven, eight.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
And then I landed in Marlboro Projects, so. Marlboro Projects, you know, getting into a lot of fight. Coney island battle rap was just like. It was just an avenue where you didn't have to, like, slap box as much or.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
Get into a lot of altercations. So you would use. It was like breakdancing or if you was doing graffiti, this would be like, your way of, like, you know, like, let's do the fade, but we gonna do the fade. Lyrically, you feel me as, like, an
Interviewer / Co-host
immigrant and like a refugee. Of course. Did it feel like you were integrating culturally and then you were, like, kind of like getting the mean kids off your back a little bit?
Wyclef Jean
Well, the thing is, remember on the album, the score, if you go back and you listen, there's a line I always say. Haitian, Sicilian.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
In a score, like, you'd be like, well, I don't get it. Hades, Italy. Like, where's the connection? I grew up in Marlboro Projects. You feel What I'm saying, so that. That growing up in an area and just understanding that we always. Immigrants. You feel what I'm saying, too? So whether if you was Italian you, Haitian you, Irish you, it's like, at the end of the day, this is like, the city of immigrants. Right. So coming from the city of immigrants, you gotta find certain passions that you just used to. So I have family members there was more into, like, the gang culture. I had some that they were into sports. You feel me? And, like, every. Like, literally, we all trying to find an avenue. You feel me? And so my avenue was music.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah. Like, what was, like, the most shocking, because obviously you're from. You're from Haiti. We should back up.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, the Americas.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
I always say, like, Haiti, the Americas. Because sometime in America, you know, I'm saying, like, I think, like, sometime we as Americans.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
Like, you know what I'm saying? Sometime because of the course of history, like, I don't think, like, we understand, like, Haiti's within the Americas.
Interviewer / Co-host
Well, I mean, it's a country that I think isn't thought about enough, maybe because it is, like. Like, especially currently. Like, it is, like, the. The biggest, like, political crisis probably in its modern history. Am I correct in saying that?
Wyclef Jean
100%. But you know why it's not thought about enough? The reason why it's not thought about enough is this right there. So Haiti is the first black republic in the world.
Interviewer / Co-host
Correct.
Wyclef Jean
1804.
Interviewer / Co-host
Tucson.
Wyclef Jean
Tucson, Louverture. Right. So think about it. So that means, like, in America, when you're running the slave trade, you literally have an island where a bunch of people are completely running the island. And they're free, they're moving around. So they never wanted that connection to happen. So whether if you're looking at Thomas Jefferson or different people, even, like, look at what Frederick Douglass, like, said about Haiti. So at the end of the day, Haiti, being that it got its independence, it had to pay over a billion dollars to France. Right?
Interviewer / Co-host
So literally, they had to pay to literally not be made slaves again.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah. Like, literally, like Napoleon's like, yo, y' all want me to come back here?
Interviewer / Co-host
I'll blow you up.
Wyclef Jean
It's gonna cost y'. All. So insane, that. And can you imagine, like, Haiti was one of the number ones for trade. It was known for, like, sugar and, like, sugar and cocoa. So at the end of the day, I know, like, we think of, like, what happens in Haiti and the idea of, like, reparation. We're screaming, like, yo, what does reparation look like? But I want you to, like, even think a step further. What would have happened if those Haitians had connected with the black Americans, for example, in America? I'm just giving you an example. What if the black Americans in America understood that Haiti was part of the Louisiana Purchase and strategic in helping that. What? You know, I think, like, all Americans like watching this.
Interviewer / Co-host
That.
Wyclef Jean
Oh, that's really cool. Like, you know what I'm saying? The biggest real estate deal happened through Haiti now, Chicago. Jean Baptiste Pointe Gi Sable, the founder of Chicago, is Haitian.
Interviewer / Co-host
I mean, you guys bought the Eiffel Tower for France.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, so. So the key. Yeah, so at the end of the day, what I'm saying is, like, we were part of it. Right.
Interviewer / Co-host
The one difference that pops up in my mind is that that. That was the first. Oh, I forgot. Okay.
Podcast Host 2
I want to pay tribute anytime.
Interviewer / Co-host
We have, like, a goat or a legend, get them. We get them a little 1942. Also, this is an Adam Free LEGO hat. It's kind of mess. It's dirty, maybe.
Wyclef Jean
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. I feel it. I feel it. Let me switch up, though. You feel me?
Interviewer / Co-host
Oh, I really.
Podcast Host 1
It is.
Podcast Host 2
But an honor. It is. Give it up for that.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, yeah. Merchandise. We gotta switch up, man.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah, we'll do a little. We'll do a little.
Wyclef Jean
You don't give a rapper a drink and he don't. I gave.
Interviewer / Co-host
I gave Jadakiss the. The same order, but he didn't get a hat.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, I love Jada.
Interviewer / Co-host
He's the one. Kind of. He's kind of the one.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, yeah. Jada is, man.
Interviewer / Co-host
It's a corny question, but, like, who would you conceive of as your top top five?
Wyclef Jean
Well, I think that top five for me, it depends, right? Because at the end of the day, people be like, yo, Clef. I wanted to be, like, top five composer of the world.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
Like Quincy Jones, Gershwin or whatever. When it comes to Ryman as a. As a composer, I love, like, raw rap, you know, I'm saying to you. So I could just tell you, like, one of my favorite rappers of all time, his name is Cool G Rap. So people should definitely look at that. That's like, one of my top five of all time. Another one. That's my top five of all time. I was in video when I was 18 years old. Kim Rakim. Yeah, that's. You get what I'm saying?
Interviewer / Co-host
You played bass.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah. Now another one, Big L. Why Big L? Because there was a show called Stretching Barbito, like, so that was the that
Interviewer / Co-host
was like at Columbia, right? It was like a college.
Wyclef Jean
It was like we always coming up. And Nas, right? Nas is one of my cuz. This is like. I'm telling you this because. So the lens that I see it from is a different lens than y' all see it from. The lens that I see it from. I'm like 18, 19, and I'm going to a show called, like, Stretching Barbito.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
You know, I'm saying, like, where college radio was, the underground, and that's what was killing it. So then when you hear somebody like Big L. So you have many that came up. Another one of my favorites of all time. I can't really say five. Like, you know, I love him in there, and I think he's very good at rap. Biggie Smalls, Yeah, he's very good at rap, you know, And Tupac is my, My, my go to when it comes to the consciousness.
Interviewer / Co-host
What about Tunchi? What about Wayne?
Wyclef Jean
Wayne to me is bad. No, no, no way. No, no. Wayne to me is genius. He's a genius. And what I mean by that is what I mean by that. You're tapping in. So I got you. I got you. I'm patient. I got you. Yeah. So when you. When. When it. You see, when you say people like Wayne to me, you gotta understand. Yeah, no, that's a little bit.
Interviewer / Co-host
That's a lot
Wyclef Jean
family. So to my. To my Libra brother, Little Way.
Interviewer / Co-host
What's your go to? Like, toast. Tell me.
Podcast Host 2
Wait, Tell me how to say that.
Interviewer / Co-host
Tell me how to say a Haitian toast.
Wyclef Jean
Now we ain't going. We're just gonna say, you know, bon la vie. Yeah, bon la vie. Good life, beautiful. Yeah.
Interviewer / Co-host
Okay.
Wyclef Jean
But no, you were saying this Lil Wayne thing, it's important. While we talk about culture in modern day time. So for me, Lil Wayne is in a category all by himself, like it don't exist. It's like saying Jimi Hendrix. And I'm saying that because I feel you on that. I've been in the studio with everybody, and that dude is on his. On his own planet and on his own time, one of the greatest.
Interviewer / Co-host
He's like on a. In a flow state, from what I understand.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah. And when it comes to the women, I ain't being biased, but ain't no woman on the planet that could touch Elle Boogie.
Interviewer / Co-host
Oh, I thought you were gonna say they could rap.
Wyclef Jean
Ain't no woman that could touch Lauryn Hill from the Fugees. She's this period. And I ain't being biased.
Interviewer / Co-host
You realize that was a Genius. You met her and you were like, this is a genius.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, so. Yeah, so we met very young, and a lot of people talk about fugees, but guess what? The first thing we did, we did an off Broadway play together called Club 12. And what you see is that before.
Interviewer / Co-host
She was in Sister act before.
Wyclef Jean
And what you see in Hamilton, like, when you go to Broadway. Hamilton.
Interviewer / Co-host
I would never. I would never go.
Wyclef Jean
Okay, but just say, like, in Hamilton, they doing rap and they doing all of that. Yeah, man. We was doing that when we was, like, 12, 13, and people, like, literally flipping Shakespeare in rap form. And it was so ahead of people. And now, I guess they. They making money out of it.
Interviewer / Co-host
One of my favorite songs is named after you. It's the Young Thug song Wyclef Shock, which is interesting because you're also. You have a feature on that album, but it's not on Wyclef Jean.
Wyclef Jean
Kanye West.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah, yeah.
Wyclef Jean
My feature. I'm Kanye west on the feature. Yeah, yeah. Shout out to Tugga, too.
Interviewer / Co-host
He's a genius, too.
Podcast Host 1
I think that he's got that.
Interviewer / Co-host
That little magic as well.
Wyclef Jean
So Thugga reminds me of modern day Bob Dylan.
Interviewer / Co-host
So cool just to say so. That's what, you know, that's my favorite guy.
Wyclef Jean
Well, I mean, that's one of my favorites.
Interviewer / Co-host
We were talking about it on FaceTime.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, that's like, Feel me? Like, I had him in the video. You feel me?
Podcast Host 2
Tell us about.
Interviewer / Co-host
So you obviously played Gone till November,
Podcast Host 2
but Bob is in the.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah.
Interviewer / Co-host
At just sitting there at lax. Just Bob. So how did that come together?
Wyclef Jean
Well, the thing about it is, Bob Dylan, I. I fell in love with just his movement. When I read about, like, Hurricane. You feel me? That was like, Hurricane was my introduction to Bob Dylan.
Interviewer / Co-host
He says a bad word in that song. Yeah, yeah, but it's fine.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah. So Hurricane, pretty good. Cause, yeah, Hurricane was just, you know, a boxer who, you know, unlawfully get hit or whatever. So this is the bottom line to it. So I'm doing a record Gone to November, and I have an epiphany, and I was like, yo, I need Bob Dylan in the video. And this is how it went down, right? The person I asked, because I ain't gonna even, like, blow him up right now, but I'm gonna tell you exactly what he said. I was like, yo, you know, I had. You know me. I mean, let me do it. I was, you know, I had my split, right? So bridging, you know me, I think, you know, for the Gun to November video video, my One I use Bob Dylan.
Podcast Host 2
Who'd you.
Interviewer / Co-host
Who was the person?
Wyclef Jean
I can't even tell you, but he looked. Who's it?
Podcast Host 2
Jordan Bears?
Wyclef Jean
He's looking at me and said, listen, Bob Dylan don't even show up for his own son video. Jacob, what makes you think he gonna show up for you? And I was like, yo, Dylan gonna show up for me, man. So, so I called and got on the phone with. With Dylan, you feel me? And you already know. You know, how about Dylan is. You know how he talk already. You understand what I'm saying? Dylan's like, okay, I'm going to come lax. And I told everyone, the directors that Dylan is coming. But I think that because. So peep this right. When my daughter was like, at a very young age, I guess she used to have imaginary friends and I would have to go with it, you know what I mean? Oh, yeah, yeah. I think that's how they felt when I told them Bob Dylan was coming. Like, they were playing me on the set. Like, yeah, sure, he's there. He's coming. Like, are you talking to him? And here goes the goat, you know what I'm saying? Walking through lax. He comes through. And I was like, literally, like, you know, he came and was like, what do you want me to do, my brother? And he was like, you remind me of a bass. A cool, My cool bass player. They used to play with me back in the day. I was like, Mr. Dylan, I just need you to sit right here.
Interviewer / Co-host
Don't do nothing. Wow, that is the craziest cosign. Did he tell you he's a fan?
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, he love. He said I remind him of the era. You feel me?
Interviewer / Co-host
Wow.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah. And I, I don't. I believe, like in the universe, like we come back over and over and over again, but I never put an age to a musician. I'll be like, oh, he's boom, boom, boom, boom. Because cool musicians that are like, mute all about the music and the art.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
Whether if it's country, classical, we all know each other.
Interviewer / Co-host
He's still cool. Yeah, he's.
Wyclef Jean
I mean, come on.
Podcast Host 2
I. I see him.
Interviewer / Co-host
He's still playing. I think he's gonna play till he's dead. Like, I mean, he's like in his 80s and he looks incredible.
Wyclef Jean
That stage is therapy, my bro.
Interviewer / Co-host
He's the best. But I feel like when you get to a level like that, like, potentially everyone sees you as a genius. So everyone's trying to drop, like the most profound thing they've ever said. And it must be a very lonely thing for him because everyone's like trying to be like, do bars and then they walk away. They're like, I'm a loser. What was I doing? You know? So it's just what I imagine is like on stage. It's like he doesn't have to feel like that, you know?
Wyclef Jean
Yeah. I mean, Dylan is just one of the best. Like, I mean even Jimi Hendrix covered Bob Dylan. Like, Dylan is just a man.
Podcast Host 2
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Interviewer / Co-host
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Interviewer / Co-host
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Podcast Host 2
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Interviewer / Co-host
Okay.
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Interviewer / Co-host
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Podcast Host 1
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Podcast Host 2
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Wyclef Jean
I'm trying to keep fewer things, better
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Interviewer / Co-host
I want to talk to you about your childhood, though. Like. Like, how were you?
Podcast Host 2
Tell me.
Interviewer / Co-host
Like, I know you have, like, we read your book, and, like, you have all these stories like, you fell in poop, and you went to school after that, and then you. You.
Wyclef Jean
You would eat out of everything. You wouldn't sound like, well, it was a good.
Podcast Host 2
It was good in.
Wyclef Jean
It was good poop, though.
Sponsor Voice / Advertiser
Yeah.
Interviewer / Co-host
No, it wasn't good poop. I'm just saying, like, you what?
Wyclef Jean
Slum Dog Millionaire?
Podcast Host 2
What I got is Slumdog Millionaire.
Interviewer / Co-host
My impression that I got was, like, we have this notion of Haiti as, like, this, like, you know, just backwards, like, you know, but like, you. You referred to it as, like, you kind of missed it. Like, you kind of, like, enjoyed, like, your childhood and, like.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah.
Podcast Host 2
Does it feel like you.
Interviewer / Co-host
Your life was saved by going to America?
Wyclef Jean
You ever seen City of Gods?
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah, of course.
Wyclef Jean
All right, so at the end of the day, it's like Beauty and the Beast, though.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
Because. Right, you have the most beautiful is beaches.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
You have the most beautiful is things. Right? So the way I got to America, my dad was a missionary. Like, so literally, my dad came on a work visa. When I got to America, bro, what I experienced was the idea at a very young age of what the American dream was.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
Like, because at the end of the day, so when you're young like that, and you're sitting in that village and you're on a donkey, you're like, yo, if only I could get to America. You give me that. I want to live in America. I want to get to America. You know what I'm saying?
Podcast Host 2
What was, like, the first thing that
Interviewer / Co-host
blew your mind when you moved to America? Was it like, elevators or, like.
Wyclef Jean
I don't know, man. It was, like, from the air. Because remember where I came from? I came from a hut, so I never seen, like, real electricity. So the thing that blew my mind was in the air, yo. And I'm looking down, and we're going over New York. I remember, like, the Twin Towers, right? But then everything, like, bro, the lights, it just. I looked at my brother, and I was like, yo, you must have found your city.
Interviewer / Co-host
Acid, dude.
Wyclef Jean
We in the city of diamonds.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah, yeah.
Wyclef Jean
It was definitely A trip.
Interviewer / Co-host
Like you're seeing Avatar or something.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, straight up Avatar. It was a complete different world. Can you imagine? I get to the projects, and I go to my brother, and the first time we turn a faucet, bro, and water is coming out of it.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
I don't know what that is.
Interviewer / Co-host
You didn't know what a faucet was?
Wyclef Jean
Of course not. I get the water from the well,
Interviewer / Co-host
and you're like, this is magic.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, it all looked like magic. The idea of a oven. The idea of an oven, and then you put it on. So peep this. So the oven gets warm. Right. And I remember, like, in a project at a time where we didn't have no heat. Right. And then the heat was coming from the oven. For me, that was just normal.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah. You were like.
Wyclef Jean
I guess he.
Interviewer / Co-host
You're like, I'm the richest guy in the world.
Wyclef Jean
Come on, bro. It's like the Jeffersons.
Interviewer / Co-host
You were like, I'm the queen of England now.
Wyclef Jean
One extreme to the next.
Interviewer / Co-host
Do you conceive of yourself as the most famous Haitian? You kind of are. No.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah. On the planet.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, for sure.
Interviewer / Co-host
Does that come. Do you feel a sense of, like, a responsibility? Is there a weight of, like. Of that being the.
Wyclef Jean
I don't even think of it. Like, my brain don't even adjust it. It's just, at the end of the day, I just do what I got to do, man.
Interviewer / Co-host
What do people, like, not understand about Haiti?
Wyclef Jean
I think what they don't understand about Haiti is every time they hear it's going down in Haiti, and you hear all of this bad news.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
Geographically, they don't say where it's going on. So at the end of the day, if you hear it's going down in Port au Prince. Right. You could be like, where is it going down? Is it in Kingston? Is it in Montego Bay? Is it?
Interviewer / Co-host
Right.
Wyclef Jean
So in Haiti, when they tell you it's going down, it's like, one area in Port au Prince, the capital. Right. And then there's an area outside of Port au Prince. Go naive. Other than that, bro, you go to, like, places in the north, you're gonna find the most amazing blue beads, white sand that you can imagine. So I think, like, the PR is terrible because we have to identify Haiti as a full country.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
Not as just a. Yo. It's going down to Haiti. But where in Haiti is it going down?
Interviewer / Co-host
Correct.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah. Is there conflict inside of you because of, like, obviously the United States has had a complicated relationship with Haiti. Like, like, for Instance, like after the earthquake, right? Like most of the money was funneled to Washington D.C. to NGOs and they, you know, they devastated the like in New Orleans. Well, they were sending over like American rice, right. And so rice farmers in Haiti like lost their farms basically because they weren't investing in infrastructure for the people there. They were basically just paying off American interests. Like making money off of the earthquake in your country.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah. So the thing is, I'm a modern day Haitian, right? American, right?
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
And what does that mean? That means that I can't look at what was done then. I'm looking at it right now. That's right. And then when I look at it right now in Jacmel, I have one of the. I'm, I'm watching how these kids are developing. AI. In the past two years they came, they went to Greece in the world stage, they came in number three. Right. And last year we went to Panama. So what happens is I have to forward, think, right? Not forgetting the past. Right. Because I could feel a certain way about the past, but the only way that I'm gonna move things forward, I gotta be present right now, real time and I gotta be in those rooms that can make a difference for a 12 year old kid.
Interviewer / Co-host
Do you feel like now that you're pro, you're so, you're famous person, right? And you're like, well, like your beloved, right? Do you feel like, because the US government is like, like Bill Clinton, like basically made them promise not to make the minimum wage, $5 a day, right. You know, and like, you know, Obama basically, you know, didn't make sure that the money was going to Haitian people, it was going to American NGOs and it was funneled out. Like, do you feel like now that you have a profile like that, like you can lobby or like you can communicate with the people in power and be like, this is like what we need.
Wyclef Jean
What, what I love about what you're saying is you're the new generation. And what I mean by that is people can't bluff y' all because the information is actually there. So as we move forward, yeah, I count on y' all to have my back.
Interviewer / Co-host
I got it back.
Wyclef Jean
At the end of the day, I wanna move forward and see how we get better policies for that country. You know what I'm saying?
Interviewer / Co-host
What needs to happen in your estimation?
Wyclef Jean
What needs to happen? 80% of the country is living on less than a dollar, right? You have 12 million people. How do we put 6 million kids back to school and back to work? Right. So in order to do that, we need policies that are towards them. And Haiti can't be a playground for one party. Like, Haiti has to be a bipartisan. Yeah, but we need a president.
Interviewer / Co-host
You haven't had one in nine years.
Wyclef Jean
We need someone that's not a puppet.
Interviewer / Co-host
Right.
Wyclef Jean
Because you have to have someone who understands from, you know, how policies work, and someone who just can't be bought by private sector and also can't be bought by lobbyists in D.C. you feel me?
Interviewer / Co-host
I mean, it's just fascinating to me, just, like, learning the full history.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, man.
Interviewer / Co-host
I want to talk about music, though. You're making seven albums. You're locked in.
Wyclef Jean
Locked in. Like, 80% is done already. 80% done in the course of five years.
Interviewer / Co-host
Like, you're in your.
Wyclef Jean
You're 30 years in to your 30 years in career. Yep. And I'm just getting started.
Interviewer / Co-host
You feel like you feel that way? Well, how do you maintain like that, like, that motivation?
Wyclef Jean
My mentor, Quincy Jones, RIP to him.
Interviewer / Co-host
Wow.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah. Yeah. So I feel like I'm in my Thriller years right now. I feel like what I'm about to create and the different artists that I'm gonna work with and the different generations. I feel like I'm in my Thriller years right now. Let's see what happens in the next five years.
Interviewer / Co-host
Well, Thriller is a very diverse album, too.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah.
Interviewer / Co-host
All the songs, like, kind of like.
Wyclef Jean
I just feel like my Thriller years is like, you know, like Quincy Jones when he hooked up with Michael. And there was magic that happened. Right. So I felt like Wyclef, G, Herbo. There's magic happening. That's my, you know, Wayne, there's magic happening. You know what I'm saying? Wyclef, Rap City. There's magic happening. What happens when you connect? Like, you get what I'm saying? Because this is like two generations. So when I said the Thriller, the Quincy Jones, I feel like this is like. I feel like I'm a bridge to, like. Because my passion has always been the music man.
Interviewer / Co-host
Right.
Wyclef Jean
So I'm a music man.
Interviewer / Co-host
Earlier you said that, like, hip hop for you in your generation was the underground. For me, it was pop. Pop music. Right. Hip hop was the dominant art. Like, I've been a fan of yours probably my entire life. Like, I got in trouble on my baseball team because we were singing Killing, Killing Softly one time. Yeah. And, like, we had to run laps because we were singing a girl song. Our coach thought we were gay or something.
Wyclef Jean
I don't know.
Interviewer / Co-host
But, like. But, like, for me, personally, like, what's interesting is, like, you made this iconic album with this group, you know, and you and Lauren, like, and pros, like, you guys had this, like, synergy. It was your second album. Is that right?
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sophomore man. Yeah.
Interviewer / Co-host
Did you know you were cooking something, like, historic? Did it feel that way?
Wyclef Jean
Well, it just felt like we was cooking something amazing because we didn't produce the first album. Yeah, the first album, we signed a Cool in the Gang. Really, Joanna. You know what I mean? So the producer was Khalis Bayan, who's a genius. And then, so with the score, it was like, so could you imagine? So everything was doing in the first album. When we went back to the neighborhood, it wasn't sounding like that. So that's when we was at. Me, my cousin Jared Wonder, you know, Lauren Prize. We was in the basement. John Forte.
Interviewer / Co-host
Wow.
Wyclef Jean
The NPCs that, you know, because we could hear the block. Like, literally, the booger basement is there. The crack house is right behind. Like, I'm telling you, it's the neighborhood. So we was just cooking, and one day I went to see my man Salaam Remy, and Salaam is the one who's responsible for Amy Winehouse. A whole lot of different people. He's an A and R. No, he's a producer. Young, little genius. So we clicked. And once we clicked, I just. We just kept doing these beats, and then it just. You know. Fat Joe.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah, of course.
Wyclef Jean
So when you hear the beat. Ooh, la la la. Yeah, it's the way that beat originally was the Fat Joe shout out to Fat Joe, but the Fujis took the beef from Fat Joe, so.
Interviewer / Co-host
And also something I learned was that in. In Hypso Lie, that the. That one guitar line is inspired by Cream. But.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, yeah, so.
Interviewer / Co-host
So it's Wu Tang. Yeah. Like.
Wyclef Jean
Well, I was saying. I was saying that Hips Don't Lie was done two years before y' all heard Hipster Online.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
I did it for a movie called Havana Nights. Right. You know the story behind that movie, Havana Nights. Yeah, Havana Nights being dirty. Dirty Dance. Yeah, Dirty Dancing, too.
Interviewer / Co-host
It was originally a completely different script. Bought it was a political thriller, and by the time the studio was done with it, it became Dirty Dancing to Havana Nights. Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah.
Interviewer / Co-host
It was, like, supposed to be like. Like a. Like, completely different in a dark, legendary story.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah.
Interviewer / Co-host
No, like Hollywood. Yeah, yeah.
Wyclef Jean
Which they do. They.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah, they like.
Wyclef Jean
But, yo, that's. That's where that song was first done two years before Shaky.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah. My favorite of your, like, soundtrack Songs is with Maya, of course.
Wyclef Jean
The man. You know, you're taking me way back,
Interviewer / Co-host
so that is such a good.
Wyclef Jean
Okay, so now watch this. So out of one of my seven albums, you can understand why one's a country album, right?
Interviewer / Co-host
Well, I also saw you did a cover of Johnny Cash at that one.
Wyclef Jean
Cash was there. He was there before he passed. Yeah, I did that with my man Rick. Rubin called me in for that. Yeah.
Interviewer / Co-host
You just know all these guys, huh? You know all these guys.
Wyclef Jean
I mean, you know, I'm pretty legend, fam.
Interviewer / Co-host
That's crazy.
Wyclef Jean
I've been around since a bit is cool. You're very.
Interviewer / Co-host
You're very nice for being so accomplished.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah. Because at the end of the day, whether I'm accomplished, you're accomplished, or whether. Whether. Whether you're accomplished, I'm not, or blah blah, blah. At the end of the day, what. Look, you see what we doing? The air that we breathing, it's the same. It's the same, bro.
Interviewer / Co-host
That's so nice of you.
Wyclef Jean
The dirt. We go to the same dirt, my brother. So at the end of the day, respect is respect. You dig?
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah. No. Here you go. You're legend.
Wyclef Jean
Respect. Respect, baby.
Interviewer / Co-host
You dropped Carnival a year after the score.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, and the label thought I was out of my mind.
Podcast Host 2
How did you.
Interviewer / Co-host
How did you after like such an intense period of your career? Right? You with that group, making like a classic album. How did you flip like that has like 25 tracks or something. It's like a long ass album.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, Carnival Audio visual.
Interviewer / Co-host
I had my friend burned me that cd.
Wyclef Jean
Audio visual.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah, Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
A lot of weed smoking.
Interviewer / Co-host
Really? Yeah. What's your. What's your style? Like in the studio, you just couldn't. It just comes out of you. Your Wayne style.
Wyclef Jean
Well, yeah, but you know, I'm from the church, so like coming up in the church and being in the church Since I was 10, yeah, I felt like the spirit connect and we just go with it. But Carnival was like one of those again. It defy what they said hip hop was. Yeah, like you go back, it was. It was ahead of its time. Like you didn't miss it. Half people got it. Y' all got it. But then there was a whole nother crew who didn't know what the hell I was talking about. 25 tracks, dude. I had over 20 different rhythms. Do you know what Carnival is? It's a playlist today. Bad Bunny, Jay Z, 50 Cent. You get what I'm saying? It's a playlist of everything.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah, yeah, but it's Just so prolific. That's what I'm saying. Like, it's you. It was just coming out of you. It was just flowing.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, yeah, that's the spirit, baby. That's the church.
Interviewer / Co-host
It's church.
Wyclef Jean
I can't even, like, take no credit for that, really. They throw me in the church at 12 years old and you got to go with it, you know what I mean?
Interviewer / Co-host
Are your parents still with us?
Wyclef Jean
Yeah, my dad passed away. My mom's still here. She running the church in South Orange Avenue. But you said something which is. Which is ill. It clicked to me. So one day I was in church, you know, young prodigy and putting all the music together, and I noticed in the hymn book, I ran out of fucking songs. And then I went to my dad and I was like, yo, I'm out of songs. And he looked at me and said, well, you make up a song. Then he said, because somebody out there have cancer. They depend on you. Some student out there, they pressure in their head, they sat. They're not gonna pass it. They need you. So to your point, it's like, so when you remember the song. So when I come out, that's just the music in general. So when I do music, right, I think of those that I can't see but are going through things.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
If that makes sense.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah. Yeah. And do you feel like you're better at music than you've ever been? Is it. Is it a progression that's like, linear?
Wyclef Jean
Or is it like, I'm telling you right now, I'm better than I've ever been.
Interviewer / Co-host
Amazing.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah. Like, I'm better than I've ever been. Uh huh. Yeah.
Interviewer / Co-host
That's awesome.
Wyclef Jean
Yes, sir. So cool.
Interviewer / Co-host
I'm coming out with eight. Eight albums this year, actually.
Wyclef Jean
All right, baby, let's do it. Yeah, Let me get a feature on one, you know.
Interviewer / Co-host
Oh, yeah, yeah. But for free, I think. What about entertaining people do you love so much?
Wyclef Jean
Like, well, I'm a born entertainer and what I love about entertainment is every time you see me on the stage and you see me going crazy, those that's been on Wyclef show, they're like, where that energy come from? Yeah, bro, I'm celebrating life. When you see me on that stage, I'm celebrating life. And I'm reminding y' all how important it is to. It's a good thing to be alive. And at the end of the day, we take that most little thing for granted, right?
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
Because we ain't promised tomorrow. So when you come to my show, I'm Gonna give you, remember, like, Prince, 1999. I'm gonna treat every day like it's 1999.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
Almost like the world's gonna be over the. The next day. So what I love the most, yo, I do shows, and people come up to me and be like, bro, I was thinking about offing myself, and then I heard this song, someone please call 91 1. And I changed my mind. I've done shows. People came to me like, yo, good looking, man, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have smashed that baby. You know what I'm saying? We married now. You feel what I'm saying? So at the end of the day, know my assignment. You feel what I'm saying to you? And like all my peers, I'm just a music man. I get it.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah. Do you feel like.
Interviewer / Co-host
Do you feel like you are afforded your. Your flowers adequately? Do you or do you have not even care?
Wyclef Jean
I don't really care.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
The reason why I don't care. I don't. Because when you look at Barb Marley, he don't have one Grammy. When you look at Jimi Hendrix, when you look at the loneliest monk, when you look at the illest. I got the assignment, right? And my assignment is to. To. To raise the higher consciousness of the human race. And if I have to do that, I'm going to do that. That's just my assignment. You ever think.
Interviewer / Co-host
You ever look at Bob Marley in the face and he looks like James Franco? Almost exactly.
Wyclef Jean
You seen the young pictures of Barley?
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Wyclef Jean
Bar before the dreads, right?
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah, I. It would be so dope if we got to meet him, just the three of us. Got to chill.
Wyclef Jean
Yeah. That definitely be a lot of smoking.
Interviewer / Co-host
Oh, my God. I would. I would. I would try and. I would try and act like I
Wyclef Jean
like a lot of chalice, man.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah, I mean, like.
Wyclef Jean
Wait, speaking of chalice, have you ever hit the bong like chalice, Like Rastafari? You've been to Jamaica?
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah, of course.
Wyclef Jean
So you've hit, like, the actual challenge, the bomb. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay, my man. Okay.
Interviewer / Co-host
No, no, of course.
Wyclef Jean
You know the vibe.
Interviewer / Co-host
I do it regularly.
Wyclef Jean
You know the vibe.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah, yeah.
Wyclef Jean
Okay.
Interviewer / Co-host
I. I'm bad at weed. Yeah. Yeah. It makes me think of everything I say throughout the day, and then I'm like, everyone hates you. And why did you say that?
Wyclef Jean
But you've hit the bong, though.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah, I've hit a bong before, bro.
Wyclef Jean
All right, my man.
Interjecting Speaker / Possibly a Producer or Guest
Cool.
Wyclef Jean
I. I half baked.
Interviewer / Co-host
You performed you performed recently again with Lauren. Is there an ambition? Like, will we ever see you guys make music together again?
Wyclef Jean
The greatest ambition that's there is like, I got my sister back.
Interviewer / Co-host
Yeah.
Wyclef Jean
And what I mean by that is, at the end of the day, I'm an uncle to Lauren's kids. I can't even act. You know? I mean, they call me uncle. You feel what I'm saying to you? And at the end of the day, that magic that we have, that, you know, when we create music or, you know, I'm saying, that energy you got, the fact. Listen, you have to just. The fact I can do a beat and be like, yo, sis, check this out. I'm content. But, bro, check this out. I'm content now. What that lies in the universe, huh, is the most amazing thing, right? Because none of us know what's gonna happen. But I can tell you what I feel, though. Magic's in the air.
Interviewer / Co-host
They're getting back together. I. I honestly, I've been trying to keep it cool. I think maybe a little bit. Or. No. Have I embarrassed myself now?
Wyclef Jean
You chill. Okay, great.
Interviewer / Co-host
It's. It's just an honor for you to be here. I. I appreciate you already coming on
Wyclef Jean
so much already, I think.
Interviewer / Co-host
Give it up for W.
Interjecting Speaker / Possibly a Producer or Guest
Sa.
The Adam Friedland Show: WYCLEF JEAN Talks Haiti, New Music, Legacy
April 2, 2026
This episode features legendary musician Wyclef Jean in an insightful discussion touching on his Haitian heritage, his musical journey, the current crisis in Haiti, creative collaborations, and his ever-evolving legacy. With candid stories and passionate reflections, Jean explores the role of music as both personal expression and a catalyst for social change, while also addressing misunderstood aspects of Haiti and his own career motivations.
Wyclef Jean’s appearance is both a celebration of his storied career and a call for understanding and action regarding Haiti’s complex present. The episode encompasses his roots, influences, and social activism, highlighting a man still driven by curiosity, community, and the quest to use music as a vehicle for empathy and change. As he looks to the future, Wyclef remains deeply connected to his past but focused on growth, creativity, and a generational legacy that bridges music and social impact.