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Interview With Wyclef Jean

Aired November 12, 2003 - 15:15   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That's a good mix, isn't it? And that was Carlos Santana there, just a sample of what's on Wyclef Jean's latest. It's one of many nifty duets on this disc. It's just about making a hip-hop fan out of me. And that's saying something.
The platinum-selling artist joins us now from our New York bureau and to talk about his craft and what he's up to now.

Might I call you Clef, sir?

WYCLEF JEAN, MUSICIAN: Yes, you can call me whatever you want, baby.

O'BRIEN: All right, Clef, good to have you in the house.

JEAN: Thanks for having me.

O'BRIEN: And I listened to it. I've got to tell you, I'm not a hip-hop, guy typically, and I really enjoyed it. You have a great fusion of various types of music. How would you describe it to somebody who hadn't heard it before?

JEAN: Basically, my style of music is very eclectic. And I grew up listening to rock, rap, country, every form of music. So people been trying to describe my music for years. So let's give it a title. Let's just call it Clef music, you know?

O'BRIEN: All right, let's listen to a little piece of Clef music. This one is called industry. Let's listen for just a moment.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JEAN (singing): Shots go off, mother's cry. Death since rise, homicide. Black on black crime needs to stop. Y'all can't blame it on hip-hop, because what we say is what we see, And what we see is reality. The ghetto's the ghetto. You got them living in sorrow. Soon, they won't live to see tomorrow.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: You're a man on a mission, aren't you? You're crusading against a lot of the violence that some of the other hip-hop artists celebrate.

JEAN: No, I'm a man on a mission, not -- I'm part of hip-hop. It's more a mission of the streets, meaning that you can't blame everything on hip-hop music. You can't blame it on the rappers. It's more like, we have to go into the society.

When we change the communities, we're not bringing the guns, the drugs into the communities. When those things change, I feel that the music will start to change itself.

O'BRIEN: So the music is a reflection of what's going on in society, not the other way around, do you think?

JEAN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: But wouldn't it be good if there were more hopeful types of songs like that for people to hear?

JEAN: Definitely. And what I try to do is just bring a different style to the table. But I'm saying the exact same thing that the other guys are saying, but in more of a story, which, you know what, There is hope in the ghetto, you know?

O'BRIEN: It's a little more half full, I think.

Let's listen to this next one, "Celebration." And for this one, you teamed up with none other than the great Patti LaBelle.

JEAN: Yes.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JEAN (singing): Whoever got blessed, no man can test. What goes up must surely come down, yes. So watch who you hurt on your way up, because they'll be laughing at you on your way down.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: I really hear the island influence there. You're from Haiti.

JEAN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: And that comes to bear quite in bit in your hip-hop, doesn't it?

JEAN: Yes, definitely. I'm of Haitian roots, Caribbean roots. And that's something that I definitely bring to the table. You could call me the island man.

O'BRIEN: The island man with hip-hop.

JEAN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: But "Celebration" is -- it's a very uplifting song. And, once again, we don't associate that, necessarily, with rap.

JEAN: Yes. I think -- well, I think early rap, once again, I feel that it's a lot of stereotype. When people hear rap, they think it's one form. I think rap comes in a lot of different forms. The joint celebration with Patti LaBelle is just basically saying, no matter what you are going through, life is OK. We can celebrate.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's listen to one final thing. This one comes from "Party to Damascus." This one, Missy Elliott was involved, right?

JEAN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Let's listen for a sec.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JEAN (singing): In the morning, in the evening, in the nighttime, gotta have it. It's a feeling. I can't fight it. You got me speaking another language.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: All right, now, Clef, we did have to look kind of long and hard to get some lyrics we could put on a family show for that one. You were having a little more adult fun with that one.

Nevertheless, when you put together this whole thing, "Preacher's Son," which is autobiographical, after all. You are a preacher's son.

JEAN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: What are you hoping to accomplish? Are you trying to change the world?

JEAN: I mean, basically, my mission is probably the same mission that Bob Marley was on or John Lennon is on, Marvin Gaye was on, or Curtis Mayfield -- I guess another crazy guy that thinks that, through music, we can make a difference -- or Bono.

O'BRIEN: It's interesting. All the people you just mentioned, none of them are rap stars.

JEAN: They're rock stars. And that's what rappers are today. We're rock stars.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: Has rap kind of crossed a barrier, you think?

JEAN: Yes. Really, the level that rap now is on the. Definitely, we're on a mainstream level. So it's like we're like the modern-day rock stars.

O'BRIEN: All right, Clef Jean, the latest one is "Preacher's Son." You probably remember him from the Fugees and from of his other solo stuff as well.

JEAN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: We wish you really well with the latest album. It's wonderful. Really enjoyed listening to it today. JEAN: Thank you very much.

O'BRIEN: All right, good luck.

JEAN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 12, 2003 - 15:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That's a good mix, isn't it? And that was Carlos Santana there, just a sample of what's on Wyclef Jean's latest. It's one of many nifty duets on this disc. It's just about making a hip-hop fan out of me. And that's saying something.
The platinum-selling artist joins us now from our New York bureau and to talk about his craft and what he's up to now.

Might I call you Clef, sir?

WYCLEF JEAN, MUSICIAN: Yes, you can call me whatever you want, baby.

O'BRIEN: All right, Clef, good to have you in the house.

JEAN: Thanks for having me.

O'BRIEN: And I listened to it. I've got to tell you, I'm not a hip-hop, guy typically, and I really enjoyed it. You have a great fusion of various types of music. How would you describe it to somebody who hadn't heard it before?

JEAN: Basically, my style of music is very eclectic. And I grew up listening to rock, rap, country, every form of music. So people been trying to describe my music for years. So let's give it a title. Let's just call it Clef music, you know?

O'BRIEN: All right, let's listen to a little piece of Clef music. This one is called industry. Let's listen for just a moment.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JEAN (singing): Shots go off, mother's cry. Death since rise, homicide. Black on black crime needs to stop. Y'all can't blame it on hip-hop, because what we say is what we see, And what we see is reality. The ghetto's the ghetto. You got them living in sorrow. Soon, they won't live to see tomorrow.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: You're a man on a mission, aren't you? You're crusading against a lot of the violence that some of the other hip-hop artists celebrate.

JEAN: No, I'm a man on a mission, not -- I'm part of hip-hop. It's more a mission of the streets, meaning that you can't blame everything on hip-hop music. You can't blame it on the rappers. It's more like, we have to go into the society.

When we change the communities, we're not bringing the guns, the drugs into the communities. When those things change, I feel that the music will start to change itself.

O'BRIEN: So the music is a reflection of what's going on in society, not the other way around, do you think?

JEAN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: But wouldn't it be good if there were more hopeful types of songs like that for people to hear?

JEAN: Definitely. And what I try to do is just bring a different style to the table. But I'm saying the exact same thing that the other guys are saying, but in more of a story, which, you know what, There is hope in the ghetto, you know?

O'BRIEN: It's a little more half full, I think.

Let's listen to this next one, "Celebration." And for this one, you teamed up with none other than the great Patti LaBelle.

JEAN: Yes.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JEAN (singing): Whoever got blessed, no man can test. What goes up must surely come down, yes. So watch who you hurt on your way up, because they'll be laughing at you on your way down.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: I really hear the island influence there. You're from Haiti.

JEAN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: And that comes to bear quite in bit in your hip-hop, doesn't it?

JEAN: Yes, definitely. I'm of Haitian roots, Caribbean roots. And that's something that I definitely bring to the table. You could call me the island man.

O'BRIEN: The island man with hip-hop.

JEAN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: But "Celebration" is -- it's a very uplifting song. And, once again, we don't associate that, necessarily, with rap.

JEAN: Yes. I think -- well, I think early rap, once again, I feel that it's a lot of stereotype. When people hear rap, they think it's one form. I think rap comes in a lot of different forms. The joint celebration with Patti LaBelle is just basically saying, no matter what you are going through, life is OK. We can celebrate.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's listen to one final thing. This one comes from "Party to Damascus." This one, Missy Elliott was involved, right?

JEAN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Let's listen for a sec.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JEAN (singing): In the morning, in the evening, in the nighttime, gotta have it. It's a feeling. I can't fight it. You got me speaking another language.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: All right, now, Clef, we did have to look kind of long and hard to get some lyrics we could put on a family show for that one. You were having a little more adult fun with that one.

Nevertheless, when you put together this whole thing, "Preacher's Son," which is autobiographical, after all. You are a preacher's son.

JEAN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: What are you hoping to accomplish? Are you trying to change the world?

JEAN: I mean, basically, my mission is probably the same mission that Bob Marley was on or John Lennon is on, Marvin Gaye was on, or Curtis Mayfield -- I guess another crazy guy that thinks that, through music, we can make a difference -- or Bono.

O'BRIEN: It's interesting. All the people you just mentioned, none of them are rap stars.

JEAN: They're rock stars. And that's what rappers are today. We're rock stars.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: Has rap kind of crossed a barrier, you think?

JEAN: Yes. Really, the level that rap now is on the. Definitely, we're on a mainstream level. So it's like we're like the modern-day rock stars.

O'BRIEN: All right, Clef Jean, the latest one is "Preacher's Son." You probably remember him from the Fugees and from of his other solo stuff as well.

JEAN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: We wish you really well with the latest album. It's wonderful. Really enjoyed listening to it today. JEAN: Thank you very much.

O'BRIEN: All right, good luck.

JEAN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com