Wyclef Jean

Born in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti, in 1969 and raised in the United States as a child—first in Brooklyn, then in New Jersey—Wyclef Jean built a musical path at the crossroads of East Coast hip-hop, reggae fusion, R&B, soul and Caribbean influences. He emerged in the early 1990s with the Fugees, a trio formed with Lauryn Hill and Pras, and he largely shaped the group’s musical direction as a rapper, singer, producer and guitarist. After the group’s albums he launched a solo career with The Carnival in 1997, followed by The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book (2000), Masquerade (2002), The Preacher’s Son (2003) and Welcome to Haiti: Creole 101 (2004), the latter more directly asserting his ties to Haitian culture and Creole. His writing blends sung choruses, rap, pop melodies and rhythms drawn from reggae and Caribbean music, with an approach open to stylistic crossover. In parallel, Wyclef Jean has worked as a producer and songwriter for other artists, including Whitney Houston, Santana, Destiny’s Child and Shakira. His later discography includes Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant (2007), J’ouvert (2017), Carnival III: The Fall and Rise of a Refugee (2017) and Wyclef Goes Back to School Volume 1 (2019).