Wyclef Jean. - Review - sound recording review

Interview, July, 2000 by Evelyn McDonnell

Ecleftic (Ruffhouse)

Having gone global on his debut, the Fugees mastermind is thinking local this time: assessing the (sorry) state of the music he helped make mainstream. He's sick of the thugs, the money-grubbers, the underground that knocks him for being too successful, the aboveground that keeps bugging him for another Fugees record. An accomplished guitarist, Jean has always tried to keep his music live. He doesn't sample reggae, rock, country: He plays it. Sometimes, that "eclefticism" meanders, dilettante-style, but in an increasingly production-driven genre, Jean is one of the last real auteurs.