The music that Wyclef Jean has written, performed, and produced – both as a solo superstar and as founder and guiding member of the Fugees – has been a consistently powerful, pop cultural force for over two decades. With that said, his advice to Bahamians trying to break into the music industry is to be original and not a follower.
“Originality is key. You can’t be a follower,” said Jean before taking to the stage at the inaugural Nassau Paradise Island Wine & Food Festival presented by Atlantis.
“I’m a composer, so when I get on stage, I can literally play until the lights come on, ‘cause I’m the one who writes the songs.”
Wyclef Jean demonstrated this after taking to the stage for his scheduled 45-minute set. He did away with the set list as he was wilding out for more than two hours, instead, to the delight of festival patrons at the Jerk Jam on Saturday night.
Ten songs in, I gave up on keeping track of what he sang and just enjoyed the show – like everyone else.
From Jean’s opening chord at just past 9 p.m., which ran to just past the bewitching hour, the Grammy-Award winner, commanded the night. He had festival attendees on their feet, dancing, and singing at the top of their lungs.
Jean showed up and showed out and the fans showed their appreciation by being in step with him every step of the performance. He fed off the energy, they gave to him, even taking to wading into the crowd to perform.
Jean says he always encourage the youth to not just want to be on the radio, but to write the music.
“When you write the music you have more power.”
He co-wrote and is featured on Shakira’s blockbuster chart-topping single “Hips Don’t Lie”; then there’s his own “Gone Till November,” “Ghetto Superstar” (Pras featuring Wyclef Jean); Carlos Santana’s number one single “Maria Maria (featuring Jean and Product G&B); the late Whitney Houston’s “My Love is Your Love” – to name a few.
“You may not have heard a song from Wyclef in a minute, but when you hear DJ Khaled’s ‘Wild Thoughts’ that’s all my music. You hear it [at the] Super Bowl – I don’t have to be there, but I collect all the big checks.”
And he encourages people to write music that will outlive them.
“Because when you can do that, then you’re going to have a chance. But if you do what everybody else is doing, you’re just going to come and go.”
The Fugees released “The Score” in 1996.
Jean most recently collaborated with Lil Wayne and Akon on “Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)” which is the lead single from his sixth studio album “Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant.”
And says he and Lil Wayne are in the studio.
“We gone pick up where we left off, which was ‘Sweetest Girl.’ We working on a joint album together, so it’s going to be pretty amazing,” said Jean.
He also spoke about launching an electric lightweight supercar. The vehicle, titled Attucks Apex APO is expected to launch in late 2024, and is reportedly to carry a $350,000 price tag.
“I have some big ventures,” said Jean.
He also said he is working on a WJ Carnival restaurant chain.
Jean, who was born in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti before moving to New Jersey, also spoke to the importance of The Bahamas to him, as a fellow Caribbean and musician.
“As a musician coming up at a very young age and I’m digging in the crates at 15-years-old in Brooklyn, and then I hear like Funky Nassau, [written by Ray Munnings and Tyrone Fitzgerald] so I’m like, where is that? What’s that? So as a youth of the Caribbean, The Bahamas is very important.”
He credits The Bahamas as one of the leaders in the Caribbean with the idea of laying a blueprint for a lot of what the Caribbean could be within a model of investment and tourism.
And as the world continues to unfurl in a pandemic era, he said what the pandemic did was allow for a reset for people.
“Sometimes, what happens is you’re moving so much sometimes that you feel like if you stop for a second, that the world is going to stop, and that’s not true, the world keeps on moving. I think it made humans appreciate each other more. I think we were seeing each other like a little too much and then we noticed how important connectivity of the human was. No matter anything we did virtually, we couldn’t wait to get back to the physicality of seeing each other, moving around, eating with each other, dancing with each other – things like that.”
And then he took to the stage at the Atlantis Royal Deck and gave Atlantis their money’s worth, and then some in appreciation of his fans.