Wyclef Jean – Walk Away video
Directed by Justin Kauer.
Wyclef Jean - Walk Away video
Wyclef Jean – Walk Away video
Directed by Justin Kauer.
CBS TONIGHT 11:35pm ET/PT
Wyclef Jean will appear with Cyndi Lauper on David Letterman TONIGHT performing “Slumdog Millionaire” off of his just-released From The Hut, To The Projects, To The Mansion.
Wyclef will also perform at the grand opening of Best Buy Union Square in NYC on
Tuesday, November 17 @ 6pm.
Available at Your Nearest Downtown Locker Room
IN STORES NOW
“DJ Drama Presents Wyclef Jean AKA Toussaint St Jean From The Hut To The Projects To The Mansion”
Wyclef Jean returns to his hip-hop roots with the gritty release of “DJ Drama Presents Wyclef Jean AKA Toussaint St Jean From The Hut To The Projects To The Mansion,” a collaboration with DJ Drama released November 10, 2009 on Carnival House via Megaforce/RED. The EP also features Eve, Timbaland, Maino, Cyndi Lauper, Lil Kim, among others.
Wyclef Jean – Streets Pronounce Me Dead video
Directed by Justin Kauer.
Grammy® Winning WYCLEF JEAN To Release Explosive New 13 Song EP: “FROM THE HUT TO THE PROJECTS TO THE MANSION” On November 10! Iconic Wyclef Jean Is Toussaint St. Jean — Featuring DJ Drama, Eve, Cyndi Lauper, Timbaland, and others!
“I’m not sugar-coating anything with this EP. It’s spontaneous, yet has a backstory concept that is fresh and challenging.” – Wyclef
October 13, 2009 – Wyclef is hip-hop’s cultural ambassador. Not only is he a music legend, but his humanitarian efforts have made him the conscience of music. On November 10, 2009 Wyclef returns to hip-hop with the gritty release of From The Hut To The Projects To The Mansion on Carnival House via Megaforce/Sony Music.
Wyclef is a great American success story of an artist that came from Haiti to rise above all obstacles. He found success with The Fugees and numerous solo efforts, selling over 30 million albums worldwide and he was recently featured on 60 Minutes® about his efforts to help Haiti.
Wyclef is also one of the hottest music producers working with every major artist from Shakira to Santana. His 2007 written and produced “Hips Don’t Lie” featuring Shakira, was a # 1 hit around the world, further expanding his utopian multi-cultural appeal.
The people react to Wyclef like no other artist. His inextricable relationship with fans is unprecedented. In a matter of a few months, Wyclef’s Twitter following was over 1 million — in a sense, his fans are considered an extension of him.
Wyclef now returns with this brilliant hip-hop EP with all new material collaborating with DJ Drama. It’s the concept mixtape he has wanted to make and features a gritty, yet melodic effort with some amazing guests such as Eve, Timbaland, Maino, Cyndi Lauper, and others.
“I wanted to do this release with Megaforce/Red as I want to hi my hip hop can college fanbase and who better to do that than an indie label/distributor,” says Wyclef.
Toussaint St. Jean, the title character of Wyclef’s new EP, is a persona suggested to Wyclef by his friend and collaborator T.I. The character Toussaint is loosely based on the 18th-century Haitian revolutionary hero, Toussaint L’Ouverture, a figure who brought Haiti to significance on the international stage.
Inhabiting the role of Toussaint on these songs, Wyclef recreates himself in the spirit of a noble fighter, a man who says exactly what is on his mind. Toussaint’s rhymes hit hard, in a “militant style,” and make his words felt – and remembered.
And so what is the difference between Wyclef and Toussaint? “Toussaint is more direct,” Wyclef says. “He ain’t going to sugarcoat nothing. Whatever he’s thinking, he’s going to tell you. It’s like, I’ve still got this machete – my tongue is sharper than it’s ever been.” To help create suitable musical settings for the grisly tales Toussaint has to tell, Wyclef turned to DJ Drama, who has worked extensively with T.I. “I asked myself, ‘Who’s the toughest guy out there?’” Wyclef says. “Then I said, well, DJ Drama is pretty badass. So I called him and asked if he’d be interested in doing a mixtape. He heard what I was up to and he said, ‘We gotta do a book – this is a novel!’ He got excited, and it became more like an EP than a mixtape.
The track that best captures the feelings that motivate Toussaint St. Jean is the intensely dramatic “The Streets Pronounce Me Dead,” a chronicle of Wyclef witnessing his own metaphoric funeral. It’s a commentary on Wyclef’s sense of himself as a forgotten man on the hip-hop scene, despite the groundbreaking impact of his former group, the Fugees, whose 1996 album “The Score” is the best-selling hip-hop album of all time, with sales of nearly twenty million copies worldwide . The song cites the flood of younger rappers – Akon, Lil Jon, Kanye West, among them — who have risen up as Wyclef has gone onto prominence as a solo artist and producer for the likes of Shakira, Mick Jagger, Bono and John Legend.
Tracks like “Warriorz,” “Letter From the Penn” and “Toussaint vs. Bishop” paint riveting pictures, “hood stories,” as Wyclef describes them, of street life and its consequences. The gripping storytelling in those songs recalls the raw environments in Haiti and Brooklyn from which Wyclef emerged – “from the hut to the projects to the mansion,” as he memorably puts it in “Slumdog Millionaire.” It’s a story arc that these songs make compelling.
Wyclef views the message of “Toussaint St. Jean” as “not everything that appears bad is really bad, because the real bad men move in silence. So be careful what you emulate, because it’s could get you six feet deep. If you don’t see me with a gun, it doesn’t mean that the guy with the gun is badder than me. I’ve been in those communities, but you’ve got to rise past that world.”
And, as always with Wyclef, there’s more to the story than meets the eye. “Toussaint St. Jean” represents just the first step on the road to another album he intends to release in 2010 titled simply “wyclefjean.” The album will reflect a three-dimensional portrait of an artist for whom the gritty sagas of Toussaint St. Jean are just one part.
Wyclef Jean remains signed to Columbia Records/Sony Music and is set to release his self-titled LP “Wyclef Jean” in Spring 2010.
Song List:
1. Interlude – From The Hut, To The Projects, To The Mansion
2. Warrior’s Anthem
3. The Streets Pronounce Me Dead
4. Slumdog Millionaire feat. Cyndi Lauper aka Luscious Loo
5. Interlude – Every Now & Then
6. Walk Away
7. More Bottles feat. Timbaland
8. You Don’t Wanna Go Outside
9. Toussaint vs. Bishop
10. Interlude – The Struggle
11. We Made It
12. Suicide Love feat. Eve
13. Letter From The Penn
14. Robotic Love
15. Gangsta Girl
16. Interlude – Tell The Kids The Truth
17. The Shottas
WYCLEF JEAN, BAN KI-MOON, BILL CLINTON VISIT HAITI TO RAISE GLOBAL AWARENESS AND NEEDS OF DEVASTATED COUNTRY
Port au Prince, Haiti – Haiti Goodwill Ambassador, Wyclef Jean
arrived in Port au Prince yesterday with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former U.S. President Bill Clinton in an effort to bring worldwide awareness to Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti, which has been hit by a series of devastating storms over the past year, desperately needs help after more than 800 people died and over 1 million people were left homeless or in desperate need of recovery and reconstruction efforts.
Jean, who is from Haiti and has lead in efforts to help rebuild, educate, and create jobs with his Yéle Haiti foundation was invited to accompany the former President and Secretary-General tour the region. “I was honored to show my support when they asked me to join them on this important humanitarian trip which also gave them the opportunity to experience the beauty underneath the devastation my country and its people have had to face. It’s crucial for me to do all I can to raise awareness and help Haiti get through this tough time.”
While in the country, they visited a Yéle sponsored feeding program at a school in Cité Soleil and an education leadership program in Turgeau, met with President René Preval and senior government officials, and a walking tour of Sonapi Industrial Park. Before the three headed off on a plane back to the US, Jean attended a press conference where Clinton and Ban summarized their trip and discussed the Hope II US trade deal which gives Haiti direct access to US markets for apparel without duty; a bill that Jean lobbied for extensively before it was passed.
Also invited on the trip were renowned physician Paul Farmer, who works extensively in the region, Deputy Chairman of the Toronto-Dominion Bank Frank McKenna, and several other business leaders.
Wyclef Jean – Let Me Touch Your Button video featuring will.i.am and Melissa Jiménez from The Carnival Vol. II: Memoires Of An Immigrant
Dada Entertainment™ Launches Initiative To Benefit Wyclef Jean’s Yéle Haiti Digital Music Company To Donate Portion Of New Subscriptions To Charity For School Repairs From Recent Collapses In Haiti
NEW YORK— Dada Entertainment™ (www.dada.net), one of the foremost innovators in digital and mobile entertainment services, today announced an innovative charity drive to raise money for Yéle Haiti (www.yele.org), the organization founded by multiple Grammy-Award winning musician, producer, and Haitian Goodwill Ambassador, Wyclef Jean. The initiative – which launches today and runs for a full week – will see a portion of every new Dada.net® subscription donated to support the work of Yéle Haiti and their plan to repair schools that were recently destroyed in the region.
“We are excited to be able to use our success to give something back through a worthwhile group like Yéle Haiti, and we are sure our consumers will be thrilled they are doing their part as well,” said Dada Entertainment™ CEO said Massimiliano Pellegrini. “Wyclef Jean has done such tremendous work in Haiti, we couldn’t think of a better organization or a better person to partner with for our first charity initiative. We wish Wyclef and Yéle Haiti the best as they continue their great work long into the future.”
Dada Entertainment™ is supporting the charity drive through banner ads and links on its homepage: www.Dada.net. There will also be a dedicated page on the Dada® website describing the program and Yéle Haiti. Dada Entertainment™ CEO Massimiliano Pellegrini will present a check to Wyclef Jean at a presentation at the end of the week.
“In the world of digital innovation and changing behavior in receiving news and information, it is always great when organizations and companies use their ability to reach for a positive purpose. I am happy to announce our initiative with Dada Entertainment™, and am looking forward to working with them and my organization, Yéle Haiti,” said Wyclef Jean.
Music fans who sign up for Dada.net® are given 15 tokens per month for only $9.99 (67 cents a song). Each token can be redeemed for one download of a full-track MP3, ringtone, or other mobile content including wallpapers and games. All MP3 tracks are DRM-free allowing consumers to transfer their download to any mobile phone, iPod or digital music player. Dada® expects to be able to offer users over-the-air MP3 downloads to mobile devices in the coming weeks.
Dada.net® users are billed for the service through their phone bill via Premium SMS. Dada® currently offers all genres of music from Universal Music Group and SONY BMG artists, and will soon announce additional content deals with both major and independent labels.
About Yéle Haiti
Multiple Grammy-Award winning musician, producer, and Haitian Goodwill Ambassador, Wyclef Jean founded Yéle Haiti (www.yele.org) in 2005 as a way to bring hope back to his native country. Yéle Haiti is now a widespread movement that has changed the lives of tens of thousands of children and adults through programs in education, health, environment and community development. Yéle works with a wide range of organizations to implement these programs, and incorporates music and sports to increase their impact. Wyclef’s leadership has been instrumental in building multi-sector responses to both the food crisis earlier in the year and the recent series of tropical storms and hurricanes that caused such extensive damage in Haiti.
About Dada Entertainment™
Dada Entertainment™, a joint venture between two of the worldwide leaders in the mobile and music industries, Dada® USA, Inc. and SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, is the foremost innovator in digital and mobile entertainment services. Formed in October 2007, Dada Entertainment™ is launching the next generation of ubiquitous personalization and entertainment services. The only company offering both ringtones and DRM-free full-length MP3s for mobile and PC paid via the mobile phone, Dada Entertainment™ is a growing leader in the U.S. market.
Just one year old, Dada® has rapidly created a unique and seamless Web 2.0 experience around its rich catalogue of music and entertainment content, ranging from full-length audio and video to ringtones and games. Dada Entertainment™ manages several direct-to-consumer offerings, including a full portfolio of web-based services centered around the discovery and consumption of music, designed to encourage a sense of community and social networking.
GOOD Presents If Wyclef Were President video
Wyclef Jean is a Grammy-winning producer, artist, and social entrepreneur. His non-profit Yéle Haiti has touched thousands of impoverished Haitians, and his music has reached thousands more worldwide.
GOOD Presents If Mos Def Were President video
Mos Def is a critically-acclaimed rapper, actor, and activist. He has strong feelings about breakfast and the word “shortie.”
LL Cool J – Mr. President video featuring Wyclef Jean from his new album, Exit 13
Wyclef Jean – Sweetest Girl Remix video featuring Akon, Lil Wayne & Raekwon
