Wyclef Jean on his first album Reggae, Jamaican Influences and New Fugees Mixtape

Throughout his Grammy-winning career as a rapper, musician, songwriter and producer, much of Wyclef Jean's recorded output highlights the immense influence of Jamaican musical culture. There's the Fugees (Wyclef, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Pras Michel) covering Bob Marley's “No Woman No Cry.” co-writing/co-producing a reggae hit for Whitney Houston (“Your Love Is My Love”); starting his own Jamaican sound system, Refugee Sound; and creating dub plates, the specialized recordings necessary to “kill” an opponent in an audio clash. However, he has never recorded a reggae album — that is, until now.

A night in Kingston is Wyclef's debut reggae effort, recorded at The Compound in Kingston, Jamaica, a studio/rehearsal owned by reggae artist Tom Jones, aka Panic, the album's executive producer. Panic is also a writer on the project and featured artist on the track “Walking to Higher Ground.” “I've known Panic for over 20 years. he said, 'oh, we need a Wyclef Jean reggae album,' so he brought me into the studio,” Wyclef explained. “I don't know when it will come out. I never date music because that means it's not good. The music should be like a Lauryn Hill album, the greatest album of all time.”

At the 2024 BET Awards on Sunday (June 30), Wyclef shared the stage with Hill at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, helping close the show alongside her son, YG Marley. Ms. Hill's only diamond-certified studio album Lauryn Hill's Bad Educationwhich reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, won the 1999 Grammy album of the Year and was named “the greatest album of all time” by Apple Music on May 22. Three days after the last price, Advertising sign sat down with Wyclef inside a spacious villa in Discovery Bay, Jamaica, to discuss A night in Kingston. Wyclef was on the island to host the Sashi Experience concert later that night. John Shop Records, owned by Sashi co-founder Duwayne John, will release A night in Kingston with an as yet unannounced label/distribution partner. Panic says the first single will be out in July.

“Panic is genius and the mixes on the album are crazy,” says Wyclef. “There is a track with me, (veteran reggae singer) Luciano and (Ghanaian dance/Afrobeats artiste) Stonebwoy. This is Haiti, Jamaica and Africa in one piece, like never before. I have a song with (dancehall artist) Jada Kingdom: we connected at the Caribbean Music Awards (hosted by Wyclef in August 2023.) As a sound (system) person, I wanted to showcase new Jamaican artists. That's my pulse, rocking with the youth, getting their energy out there.”

Wyclef interrupted our interview to retrieve his vibrating cell phone, which signaled the arrival of Lauryn Hill's “Ex-Factor,” the second single from Bad education. Rather than the romantic predicaments depicted in the original, the lyrics on Hill's new rendition aim for an adversarial sound system: “no sound can collide like Refugee, and no one ever will,” Hill sings with the impassioned soul that heard in the original. “Ex-Factor” is one of several custom recordings Wyclef prepared for Sashi's hosting gig (which also included Wyclef doing handstands, jumping into the crowd, and obliging fans with selfies and calling an audience member on stage for freestyle lyrics). Immediately after listening to the dub of “Ex-Factor,” an ecstatic Wyclef thanked Lauryn, via voice note, as only he could: “Ms. Hill, I just want to leave Jamaica and give you a thousand kisses. you can put the fences up, the dogs out, I go through every mother!'

Wyclef continued our conversation by explaining the influence Jamaican sound systems have had on his musical endeavors, including the Fugees' 1996 debut; The score. “I was introduced to stereo culture at 14 when I heard a tape by (Jamaican's) Stone Love,” recalls Wyclef. “Sound systems bring an eclectic mix of music. the picker can play reggae and then go into (Eurythmics') 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).' It's like my eclectic love of music. Someone says this is rock, this is rap, this is country, my brain doesn't register that. My brain registers whether I love or hate the song.”

Wyclef compares the top of the Billboard 200 The score on a sound system cassette. “Ma'am. Hill introduced me to the depths of soul music, introduced her to the sonic culture of conflict, that's what's so dope about it,” Wyclef continued. “We originally did 'Killing Me Softly' as a dubbed record, with lyrics like ” killing a sound boy.''When we sent it in for clearance, people were like, 'what is it? we can't clear this up.''' Fugees for their clash with LP International. Being at that clash changed my life. I was like, “oh sh-t, now I want to build my sound and collect dub plates”.

Born in Haiti, the world's first free, Black-led democracy, Wyclef (who ran for the Caribbean nation's presidency in 2010) immigrated to the US at the age of nine. He grew up listening to hip-hop and winning school rap battles. A self-taught musician who plays 14 instruments, teenage Wyclef also played upright bass in a jazz band, sang in a choir and listened to heavy metal, country and classical music. As an artist/producer, he has touched all genres with a diverse, extensive list of collaborators, from Avicii to the New York Philharmonic to Shakira. Wyclef's immersion in Jamaican culture shades a large part of his catalog. The biggest surprise around A night in Kingston is that Wyclef hasn't recorded a reggae album before.

“Clef's roots are in Jamaica as much as Haiti, he's synergistic with the world,” commented Duwayne John as he played. A night in Kingston For Advertising sign at The Compound; “One In the Chamber”, featuring Jamaican singer Lila Iké, laments a failed relationship and was the first track Wyclef recorded there. “The energy was right and the whole album came from that track,” observes Duwayne.

The album's reggae rhythms were performed live by The Compound Band, who toured individually with Jamaican artists such as Stephen Marley and Buju Banton. With Panic working in Kingston and Wyclef based in the US, A night in Kingston gathered through digital communication. “The musicians play the music, I send it to Wyclef and we talk about the direction. Our mindsets and writing styles are similar, so it was effortless to make this album,” explains Panic, who went on to share their deliberate approach. “The album is reggae with elements of it [what] Clef calls it “Travis Scott reggae.” Kids are shut out of the same old reggae their grandparents used to listen to. YG Marley (son of Lauryn Hill and Rohan Marley) took his grandfather's song (Bob Marley's 'Crisis') and made it new ('Praise Jah in the Moonlight, which reached No. 34 on the Hot 100 ). Even before YG broke up, we knew it was that 'now' element that reggae was missing.”

Wyclef is working on his first Refugee Sound tape, showcasing his collection of dubs that includes Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and Kenny Rogers. A mixtape of unreleased Fugees material is also slated for release, coinciding with Ms. Lauryn Hill and the Fugees' recently announced 2024 tour dates, where they will play selections from Bad education and The Scorm. Wyclef confirms Fugees line-up intact, although Pras Michel awaits sentencing after April 2023 conviction on 10 criminal charges, including conspiracy and witness tampering. “Pras toured with us in 2023, he'll be touring with us this year,” notes Wyclef. “Tell everyone we missed last year – the Fudges are back. You want to catch us now.”