Tom: Everybody, welcome to Impact Theory.
You're here because like me you believe that
human potential is nearly limitless but you
know that having potential is not the same
as actually doing something with it.
Our goal with this show and company is to
introduce you to the people and ideas that
are going to help you actually execute on
your dreams.
Today's guest is a musical legend who's been
shaping the world of music for more than 20
years.
He's sold roughly nine million albums as a
solo artist, 22 million albums as the founder
and guiding member of the seminal group The
Fugees, and collectively over 100 million
records when you tally everything he's produced
for himself and others.
He has worked with a ridiculous list of artists
including Avicii, TI, Michael Jackson, Shakira,
Whitney Houston, Santana, Destiny's Child,
and Tom Jones to seriously name just a few.
Along the way he's racked up three Grammy
awards, seen the Fugees album The Score certified
six times platinum and ended up on the cover
of Rolling Stone's top 50 Hip Hop Players
edition.
To top it all off his song, "Hips Don't Lie,"
which he wrote for Shakira is the most played
song of all time.
What makes him really fascinating to me is
that his impact has been felt well beyond
the world of music.
Not only has he been a guiding light to millions
of immigrants and aspiring artists but he's
put himself on the front line of aid work
in Haiti by creating a foundation designed
to empower Haitians.
To really understand the ground level gritty-ass
impact that he and his team have had you must,
must read his jaw-dropping autobiography Purpose:
An Immigrant Story.
It is fucking crazy.
Having returned now his sights back to music
he hard at work crafting his latest solo project
out this summer titled Carnival III: Road
to Clefication.
Please help me in welcoming the immigrant
son of a preacher who once ran for president
of Haiti, the incomparable Wyclef Jean.
Thank you.
Wyclef: Superman lives, man.
Tom: Superman lives in you, my friend.
Wyclef: Superman lives, man.
Tom: Well, thank you so much for being here
today.
Wyclef: Thank you, man.
Tom: Really it's one of those things, and
I'm sure you get this as an artist.
There's some times a feeling that you have
that's really, really hard to put in words
and the gratitude that this entire team has
when Christoper announced that you were coming
on.
We started blasting The Fugees.
Wyclef: Oh wow.
Tom: "Gone till November," and the whole house
was just like ... Everybody was really excited.
Wyclef: In the crib crunk.
Tom: Exactly.
Wyclef: Got you.
Tom: Exactly.
The thing that resonated with us and I think
the thing that will really resonate with our
audience is the basement years and coming
here at nine, on the cusp of 10, from Haiti.
Having lived without your parents who had
come to America almost 10 years before you,
right?
Wyclef: Yeah.
Tom: That had to just be brutally difficult
and what you've turned out of that is incredible.
What was that like?
Being an immigrant and then trying to make
a name for yourself?
Wyclef: Well, I mean I was born in Haiti in
a small village and imagine a place, no electricity,
no running water.
Similar to the movie Slumdog Millionaire.
We have what's called a, "Ravin," a ravine.
That's where I used the bathroom.
One uniform for the whole year, you feel me?
One pair of shoes.
At times you take a donkey to school.
For me it was a culture shock, right?
Because you go from that and then the next
thing you know you land in the middle of Brooklyn.
It was just a different reality, because my
parents left me at a young age when I was
one.
I was raised by my aunt.
They come and get you, like nine years going
on 10 years later, and me and my brother's
at an airport for the fist time in our life.
Can you imagine what that plane looks like
to us?
Because from the village when we used to see
that plane so high in the air we used to think
that it was giant birds.
Tom: Yeah, one of my favorite stories from
your autobiography is when you were saying
that ... Your aunt would say, "Hey, these
presents are from your mom and dad in America."
You didn't believe that you actually had a
mom and dad.
Wyclef: Yeah.
Tom: Was easier for you to believe that your
parents were Santa Claus than that you actually
had parents in America?
Wyclef: Yeah, definitely.
Because when you in the village and they're
like, "Okay, this bicycle was sent to you
by your mamma in America."
In your brain you thinking imaginary friend.
You're like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah.
My mamma in America."
Almost like you're thinking like they're saying
that.
Because in your reality in your brain if you
had a mom there's no way that your mom would
have you basically in this village growing
up like this.
You're thinking maybe your aunt or maybe your
mom, who's your aunt, basically got you this
gift and trying to make you feel good, you
know?
Tom: Right.
Wyclef: Yeah.
Tom: That really gave me a sense of how different
it must have been and because you don't have
an accent I think it's easy for people to
forget that you spent a long time before you
came to America.
Wyclef: Yeah, you know I do have an accent
but the problem is I don't put the accent
on, you know?
When I first come to America I can't speak
English.
This is the accent.
This is how Haitians talk, you know?
We come and this is just how we talk, you
know?
We don't know how to speak English.
The way I learn how to speak English is, you
know, when I'm in the projects.
I sit in the projects.
One day I hear outside and I hear this thing
go (music).
You know?
Then you're trying to ... I'm trying to hear
the words and then the words are like, "The
hip, the hop, the hibby dibby hippety hip
hip hip hop, you don't stop to rock, say up
jump boogie," and literally you start to learn
English through the slang that you hear coming
out of the music of the streets or walking
around, you know what I mean?
Eventually as the years get older, it's not
that you don't have an accent but there's
a way where you can pull it out or pull it
back in because you've lived here so long.
Tom: Most kids I would say if you're north
of seven or eight when you come you're almost
certainly going to have an accent.
When I heard how old you are I was really,
really surprised.
In the beginning did you feel like you were
putting on an American accent?
Wyclef: Yes.
Because I used to watch television.
My dad in the hood in America was in the projects.
He had one television with an antenna in it,
you know what I'm saying?
The antenna was a clothes hanger, you feel
me?
We was only allowed to watch at times cowboy
movies and Sesame Street.
The TV stayed on PBS and every show we learned.
I learned watching the Muppet show.
"Hey, my name is Kermit so I learned how to
do the Kermit voice and talk like Kermit."
Automatically you're learning this, you're
watching this, and subconsciously you're picking
up the language.
Tom: It's really interesting.
One of the notes that I took about you as
I was doing the research is you have an uncanny
ability to do impressions.
Do you think that's tied to your musicality?
It's very interesting and very unique.
Wyclef: I was always like the kid that no
matter how bad the day is I'm going to make
everybody feel good.
I just loved characters, playing them back
for my friends, and making them laugh.
It was sort of like when I came around it
was a way of making everyone forgot where
they were at and they were in a good place.
Subconsciously, you know?
Tom: It's interesting because watching that
play out one of the things that I would say
is you're hallmark is you're so eclectic,
right?
Your sound is global.
It's impossible to put you in a box.
You listen to an album, you're going to go
everywhere sonically, which clearly is ... You
had said after The Score sold 22 million albums
you were actually tense because now you were
a pop star and you wanted to get to something
really, really artistic again and did ... The
Carnival was the next album you did, right?
Wyclef: Yeah.
Yeah.
Tom: Walk us through that mentality of beginning
all these disparate things together, which
you seem like you watch a lot and then assimilate
all the different useful pieces.
Wyclef: Yeah, definitely.
The musicality aspect of it, it all starts
in that small village, you know?
You wake up every day, you can hear ... The
rooster wake you up and the rooster has a
note, you know what I mean?
Then you go outside, the wind has another
note.
Lighting and thunder has another note.
You adapt to nature.
Then by the time I got to The States, I always
say like the orchestra lived in my brain.
My daddy started a church in the hood.
Basically in the apartment where he started
the church I was ... One Christmas he bought
us a bunch of instruments.
My dad did not want us listening to rap music
because he felt that, his exact words was,
"It was drug dealer music and I didn't want
you all to get involved in it."
He did not want us listening to pop music.
Anything that was on radio we could not listen
to it.
The station we could listen to was called
family radio.
Tom: Very sexy.
Wyclef: Family radio was playing, everything
had to be God and church-related.
Then we fell in love with a band called Petra.
Because Petra was a Christian rock band.
Tom: Rock, yeah.
For sure.
Wyclef: If Petra's watching this, "It's too
late for Annie."
They're like, "Holy crap.
Wyclef knew our music."
Petra started this whole eclectic thing.
Being that we couldn't listen to nothing,
Petra was the closest thing to The Policy,
Synchronicity, that we was going to get at
the time because we didn't who The Police
was.
In the church it was like, "Yo, if daddy let
us listen to this maybe we could start off
with a Christian rock sound."
We was like, okay.
Now that we started off with a Christian rock
sound ... " I said, "I got an idea.
Nobody in this church speak English anyway
so what we'll do is we going learn all of
the pop songs that daddy don't want us to
listen to, we going to learn Michael Jackson,
Lionel Richie, The Police, and then they don't
speak English.
All they know is a few English words so every
English words they know, it's for them, we'll
put them in the song."
We put Jesus, hallelujah, devil's a liar,
and one other one.
It don't matter where you going.
The rule that I came up with is every eight
bars just make sure one of them key words
is in there.
Tom: Right.
Wyclef: We'd be like, "So you say I got an
ugly face, man I got no worries.
Hallelujah!
For Jesus!"
We had another one.
"All night long.
All night.
All night for Jesus Christ."
Tom: That's awesome.
Wyclef: We came up with this format where
now from this my brother, his name is Samuel,
the second one.
He started getting hold of these cassettes
and he started beginning them.
He as like, "Yo, this is ... " It was a white
tape with black markings on it.
It was a cassette and I was like, "What's
this?"
He said, "Yo, it's The Police.
Synchronicity."
He said, "They better than Petra but don't
let dad listen to this."
My first CD was like Police, Synchronicity.
Then he bought me Pink Floyd.
While all of this is going on I was taping,
sneaking and taping stuff off of Kiss FM,
DJ Red Alert, and making these tapes and then
at night I would be listening to the rappers.
While all of this is going on outside on the
block, because you're going to leave the house,
now you're going to walk down the street.
Marlboro projects was the most craziest project
at the time.
Bodies on the roof.
Every month there's a body on the roof.
Tom: Jesus.
Wyclef: You automatically going to be part
of a gang.
My man, Jeffrey, used to be on the street
and I used to see him battle rapping and I
just was like, "Yo, what's that?"
Because it looked like two guys literally
was about to fight.
He was like, "Nah, it's called battle rapping."
I fell in love with the idea of wow, war of
words.
Then being that I couldn't speak English I
could memorize things.
I started memorizing everybody's battle raps.
I would listen to like Kool G Rap.
Tom: Because they're being recorded?
Wyclef: Because they had on the radio they
would be playing Kool G Rap, so I would record
all this.
Tom: I see.
Got it, got it.
Wyclef: Then in a battle rap competition I
would show up and then I would be ... It was
like what is the English word called, plagiarism?
When you take someone else's ... Basically
was doing Kool G Rap and everyone was like,
"Yo, this kid's just spitting, yo.
Oh man.
He that young and that mean."
I got away with it for like two months until
of course there was another kid who ... Obviously
he was listening to the same stuff as me.
He was like, "Yo, man.
You biting man."
I'm like, "What's that?"
"Biting.
You biting, man.
You bit somebody else's lyrics."
That was my first time understanding, "Oh,
that means biting, means you're taking off
somebody else."
He's like, "That's Kool G Rap, man.
Get out of here, man.
You a fraud, man."
Now I'm kicked out of the cipher and now I
go back in my house.
I'm devastated at this point.
Then I take out my little pencil and then
I start to write, "My name is Nelly Nell and
the place to be, I'm rocking on the mic so
viciously."
This started this obsession with just words
and constantly wanting to write words and
then I would put the pen down and just start
to memorize.
While all this is going on my mom's in the
house on Sunday and it's like, you know, "The
Devil went down to Georgia to find a soul
to steal."
Tom: God, I love that song.
Wyclef: She's listening to Charlie Daniels,
you know?
I couldn't even ... It was so much different
kind of music.
By the time I got to high school now I was
playing like seven or eight instruments.
Tom: Wow.
All self-taught?
Wyclef: Yeah.
Like I could just hear it in my brain, you
know what I mean?
I tell people, this is a funny story.
I say if you want to know how deep I am in
the culture the first person who did my demo
was Curtis Blow.
Tom: Wow.
Wyclef: I was like 15.
Then I said the first music video I ever appeared
on I was an extra for Eric B. And Rakim.
Tom: I love that.
Yeah.
Wyclef: "Don't Sweat the Technique."
When I show up at music videos I spend one
hour talking to the extras about how important
your role is.
Tom: That's cool.
Wyclef: Because I was like, "Yo, if you all
go back and Rakim, Rakim ain't even know who
I was."
I was such a good extra, I think I got more
shots than Rakim.
You got all of this stuff going on.
In high school I got introduced to jazz and
I fell deep into Jazz and became like a jazz
major.
I would say that jazz shaped my brain up in
the form of an orchestra.
Now I was learning the discipline of the music.
When people is listening to Michael Jackson
I was like, "Who's Quincy Jones?"
Wanted to be like Q.
By the time I'm 17 I just have so much music
in my brain where it's not categorized.
I didn't understand this has to be hip-hop,
this has to be country, this has to be rock.
I didn't know what that mean.
Tom: Right.
Wyclef: It's sort of like I grew up like my
daughter's growing up right now at 11 where
she can go from Jay Z to Coldplay, Coldplay
to Dylan, Dylan to Ella Fitzgerald, and it
all seems normal for her, you know?
Tom: It's really fascinating.
One thing I don't want people to lose sight
of is that during this time as you're collecting
all this eclectic music, as you've got all
these instruments in your hands and you're
beginning to dabble around, that you're really
going hard and you're learning theory.
You once said to all the young producers out
there, "You don't need to want to play an
instrument but you need to lean the theory."
Wyclef: Yeah.
The theory's important.
I would say I spent a little time with Michael
Jackson, all right.
Let me take you into Michael Jackson, right?
This shit is really cool.
I get a phone call and the phone go off and
as you can see right now you can tell I'm
a prankster, right?
I like to punk my friends.
I'm the original Ashton Kutcher, right?
My phone goes off and I pick it up.
Keep in mind it's them old school big drug
dealer phones, you know what I mean?
Them El Chapo phones, you know?
Like, "Yo, what's up man?"
You know what I'm saying?
He's like, "Hi, can I speak to Wyclef?"
I'm like, "Yeah, this is Wyclef."
"This is Michael Jackson."
"Man, get the fuck out of here."
Click.
Yo, dude, I hung up on Michael Jackson man.
This is not good.
The phone goes off again and bang, "Hello?"
"Yo, yo.
Stop playing."
As he starts to talk, holy shit.
Michael Jackson.
Real Michael Jackson.
Tom: How did he convince you he was Michael
Jackson?
Wyclef: Because it's that thing, right?
Because reality's going to strike you by what
he starts to say.
Because he's like, "Yo, I'm sitting here in
Asia and I'm looking at this TV and I'm seeing
this song and out of nowhere the airport and
the violins come out.
Bob Dylan's on the side."
Tom: Wow, okay.
Wyclef: As he starts to talk i'm freaking
out.
He's like, "This, 'Gone till November,' thing."
He's like, "Yo, I'm coming to New York.
We got to rock a session."
You know what I mean?
Tom: Wow.
Wyclef: It was the most incredible, one of
the most incredible sessions because Michael
Jackson was sitting there, right?
Literally as he's moving his body it's theory.
The entire orchestra was in his head.
Now, I encourage kids to do the same.
I need you to know what Dorian, Ionian, Phrygian,
Mixolydian.
This right now they're going to look it up
and when they see me they're going to be like,
"Uncle Clef, I know what Dorian is."
I really need you to study this.
Why is this important.
This is very important because music is so
vast.
I don't just want y'all to just do records
that's going to last 30 seconds and you all
disappear.
Because that what happens, right?
Quincy Jones gave me a lot of information.
Stevie Wonder gave me a lot of information.
When I'm in the studio with Young Thug my
job is to give him the information.
It's so important that I pass that information.
If I'm rocking with Lil Wayne I got to give
him that information.
Tom: Is the information about the music, the
theory of music, longevity in general in the
industry?
Wyclef: The information is to understand your
position within the industry and how it's
vast.
You can be doing tracks for other people,
tracks for yourself, tracks for movies scoring
films.
Don't limit yourself to the possibilities
of one thing.
These kids got to make a living.
They make a living on what's working for the
time, right?
Tom: Yeah, sure.
Wyclef: That's how they move it.
At the same time I tell kids that every day
the technology changes, every day the music
changes.
If you want to be in contemporary music you
have to know what is the modern software.
When I was in the studio with Avicii, for
example, now it's years later.
I never leave home without my guitars, right?
I've always got a guitar with me, you know?
My mamma changed this because I used to have
a gun, you feel me?
Because I used to watch them cowboy movies,
you know what I'm saying to you?
My mom was like, "If you could have a guitar
it'd be much better.
You'd get more accomplished."
Tom: Good tip.
Wyclef: Yeah, good tip, right?
Now I always have a guitar with me.
Can you believe now I show up in the studio
with Avicii.
I play live and then I mix it.
Avicii shows up with a computer.
Whoa.
This is deep.
Now it's going to be the clash of the worlds.
This is information now.
now we're doing a record and Avicii goes,
"Man, I'm hearing a voicing.
I'm hearing a Ray Charles voicing."
Wait, wait, he's on a computer and he's telling
me he's ... For those who don't know what
that mean by he's hearing a voicing, if you
... This is like a voicing, right?
You can say one, two, three, right?
One, two, five.
Together you have, yaaah.
Do that.
Yaaah.
Tom: Yaaah.
Wyclef: Right?
Tom: I did not expect to be singing today,
I'll keep it real with you.
Wyclef: We'll take that out, right.
That's 1-3-5.
That basically means do, right?
Do is one, right?
We have do.
That's one.
Re, two.
Three, mi.
Fa, so.
He was saying 1-3-5.
He said, "I'm hearing a Ray Charles voicing."
I know no Ray Charles voicing is 1-3-5 because
1-3-5 is, "You got to know when to hold them,
know when to fold them."
That's country music.
Tom: Right.
Wyclef: I'm not expecting this dude to say
Ray Charles voicing.
Now we getting into it because that's like
1-3-7.
He goes on the computer, he pulls up the Ray
Charles piano, and he starts to break down
the theory now through the software.
He plays the Ray Charles thing and he goes,
"This is how I'm hearing it."
Once again, he's doing the theory but it becomes
modern.
If a kid is just sitting in the school and
you just learning that and you not understanding
that the theory is constantly changing every
day then you going to be stuck.
This is once again, I commend kids and tell
them learn the entire game, which is very
important.
As much as I love The Fugees, as much as I
love what I did, one of my favorite things
was when I got a call from Brian Grazer to
score the movie Life for Eddie Murphy and
Martin Lawrence.
Then I was able to use the side of my brain
from high school.
These are going be violins.
You're going to bring the emotion.
Once again, it's a 360 thing that I want the
kids to understand.
I remember I got a call that was like, "Hotel
Rwanda.
We need you to do the theme song."
I did the theme song for Hotel Rwanda.
I got nominated for a Golden Globe.
I was so excited.
I showed up at the Golden Globe with my tux.
I was like, "Yo.
I'm about to get this Golden Globe."
Mick Jagger beat me.
I was like, "Yo, if anybody's going to beat
me it has to be Mick Jagger."
You know what I'm saying to you?
Once again, that's what I want kids to understand.
Yo, don't limit your imagination.
Really push it, push it, push it as far as
you can, you know?
Tom: Now I want to re-contextualize you because
what I want people to see, because this is
such a powerful story.
Your an immigrant to the country, by this
point you're barely speaking English, you're
trying to fit in.
You said at one point, "I was going to learn
American music better than the Americans so
that I could get acceptance and fit in."
Wyclef: Yeah.
Tom: You really push it hard and become truly
a student of the game, like really drinking
it in.
It's the quote from Malcolm X, "Knowledge
is power," right?
Once people really understand what that means
and that that applies no matter what you want
to do.
In fact, the first piece of business advice
I ever got from my father-in-law which I totally
ignored, he said, "Know more about a meeting,
whatever, that you're going into than anyone
else."
I've since echoed that with the concept of
whatever you want to do, whatever your passion
is, to know if it's your passion you need
to be answer yes to the following question.
Do you want to know more about it than anyone
else in the world?
Once you're prepared to go down the rabbit
hole like that, once you're prepared to really
360 degree like you're talking about and get
that world of knowledge in your brain.
In fact, this is how I interview.
I get asked all the time how I interview.
What I'm trying to do, man, I'm ... Take you
for instance.
I'm reading your autobiography and you'll
mention where you grew up.
Okay, well I don't just go past that.
I've never seen it before.
Now I'm going to Google Earth, I zoom in,
I look at the blue tarp roofs in the areas
that are the hardcore slums and I really get
a sense of where you grew up.
Now I come back out.
You mention a song, I actually haven't heard
that song so now I'm going to go play that
song, right?
By the time you and I sit down I know your
universe.
I know the impressions that you can do.
I know what your dad sounds like.
I know about the rap battling so that now
it's like wherever you want to go, right?
I'm in this umwelt that is you.
Wherever you want to go I'm right there with
you.
I know where you're trying to go because I
understand that now we can take it somewhere
useful because I can go in any direction.
I know the theory.
Anybody who's watching this, and there's so
many people that they want to be successful
at whatever.
A lot of them, I'm sure, want to be successful
in music but that's certainly not the only
thing.
What are the secrets to getting great?
Wyclef: When I bring an artist to the studio,
whether it's Shakira, I have a real simple
question.
Whether if it's Whitney Houston.
Just tell me what you want.
If you want a hit song just tell me.
Because a lot of people ain't honest with
theyself about what they really want.
Anything you want you can get but you have
to be honest about it.
This is really what I encourage people to
do.
In order to be successful at anything it has
to be what you truly love.
Because if you don't love it and you ain't
willing to die for it, don't do it, right?
Sometimes you have to do these transitional
jobs to get to where you have to go to but
it's okay.
If you got to sell bedsheets, sell these bedsheets.
Do what you have to do.
Do it with pride.
At the same time do not let any job that you
do kill your dream because the only thing
that can make you feel alive is your dream.
Very important.
Tom: I love how hard you've worked for your
dream.
That's one of the things that I found so amazing.
We were talking before the cameras started
rolling that friends used to call you a tech
nerd.
Wyclef: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tom: That was the term they used.
They got that because you were able to break
apart ... You couldn't afford the mainstream
equipment, right?
You didn't let that stop you.
You had one quote where you said, "We created
The Score in my uncle's basement.
We couldn't afford the best equipment but
nothing could limit our souls and imagination."
I just thought, oh my God.
That's the vision that I have of that album
then going on to be as exceptional as it is.
You called it a damp, smoke-filled basement.
I can just see this dingy basement and the
three of you knowing what you want to bring
to the world, right?
Wyclef: Yeah.
Tom: Knowing what that piece is that you want
to create and not letting anything stop you
to the point where you are breaking the equipment
apart, rebuilding it, right?
Most people, they stop at, "I can't afford
it."
Right?
Take about that.
They stop at, "I can't afford it."
They don't become you because they're not
putting in the work, right?
They're not putting in the work to say, "This
is a machine that I can afford.
I'm going to disassemble it, learn it, figure
it out, listen sonically."
You talked a lot about that.
"Knowing that, okay, this thing that I can
afford makes a similar tone.
If I do this I can put it back through a MIDI
and really create this sonic landscape."
Wyclef: Yeah.
Man, I mean, one thing no one can take from
us is our mind, right?
Basically if you have a piece of equipment
that you want to buy that's $25,000 you can't
afford that, but you have the brain and this
thing makes sound.
You automatically in your mind you has to
go, "Well that's just vibration.
He's making me pay $25,000 for a piece of
vibration."
What happens is inside of the studio you cannot
afford a Fender Rhodes because a Fender Rhodes
was too expensive.
Okay, cool.
Then when I go to Sam Ash they can't kick
me out for reading the manual.
Tom: Oh my God, that's so smart.
Wyclef: You know what I'm saying?
Tom: That's so smart.
Wyclef: You can't kick me out for reading
the manual.
By the time you figured out I don't want to
buy nothing I done computed all this information
in my brain.
Tom: That's so smart.
Wyclef: You know what I mean?
Tom: Yeah.
Wyclef: There was a piece of equipment called
an Akai S900 and it's just a tone.
It's an oscillator.
What is an oscillator?
It sounds like this, "Dooooooo."
Wow, oscillator.
Dooo.
That means that I could trick the human mind
because if the tone is already going, "Doooo,"
and I shorten the frequency I could go (music).
Once I midi the oscillator back now I could
cheat by using the MIDI.
Then the oscillator is just going to register
a vibration to the human.
The human being don't know what the hell a
Fender Rhodes.
They don't know what that is.
All they know is they can relate to a vibration.
As long as I could bring in that vibration
that's when I know I got them.
For every part of The Score where we couldn't
afford that piece of equipment, I just recreated
the vibration.
Tom: That's amazing.
Take us back to the basement.
Your first album is ... People aren't ready
for it, right?
Doesn't hit.
How do you guys have the courage to put out
the second album to dare so ... I mean, you
created one of the most memorable albums of
all time.
How do you have the foresight to pull that
off coming off of what was a commercial failure.
Wyclef: A product manager gets us in with
this gentleman by the name of Salaam Remi.
This is an important name because if you're
watching the Amy Winehouse documentary, Amy
calls up Salaam Remi and she's like, "Salaam,
I got these ideas in my head."
She calls him, "The sensei."
Me and Salaam, we meet each other at a young
age.
Salaam is doing all the hits.
He's barely 20.
Tom: Wow.
Wyclef: Looking like a baby and he heard about
me.
He was like, "Look, this is the problem: y'all
just too talented."
What's the target?
This is so important when you enter in a market
you have to have a strategic point that you
want to hit and be able to grow.
That's what any form of business, it's just
logic.
Salaam's like, "Y'all hip-hoppers, y'all rappers.
This dude's from the hood.
You from the suburbs.
This shit got to be some knucklehead shit
first.
Until the knuckleheads understand that y'all
are knuckleheads, we can't go past this point."
By the time it was time to do The Score now
it was just like we knew where we had to be
and we knew that ... Fugees is short for refugees.
We just knew that whatever we did we made
this, got to be bigger than the music.
It has to be a movement.
In that basement we knew that we would create
a movement.
That's why we call it The Score.
We said we was coming to settle the score
because you missed out on the first album,
you missed all what we was trying to say so
we'll be back to settle the score.
Then because of the touring, the traveling,
the experiences, everything that we went through,
we just put all of this stuff, the passion,
the times I'm happy, the times I'm sad, you
know?
All of this we just put all of that inside
of one album.
That's how The Score came about.
Tom: Wow.
It's an incredible album.
What's your advice to kids who take, "Oh,
I don't have access to the right things.
I can never make that happen."
What's your advice to them?
Wyclef: If there's a kid that's saying that
they don't have to the right things then that
kid will never make it.
Tom: Why do you say that?
Wyclef: Do not have that mentality.
Do not say you don't have access to the right
things because that's an automatic excuse.
Say that, "I do not have access to the right
things but after I heard this interview, if
this guy can go into Sam Ash with absolutely
no equipment and use the manual I will never
repeat so words again.
I am going to figure it out."
That's what I want them to say because that
mentality, dude, where we come from we have
no time for no loser's mentality.
No time for no moping.
Because it's like if we came from nothing
and we turned it into something we do not
expect nothing less from y'all.
We are going to give you the words, we going
to inspire you.
Because remember, right, when the legions
are going to their death that night the commander
speaks and he says, "Tonight we all going
to dine in hell."
Right?
If there's one legion out of the pack that's
like, "I ain't ready to die tonight."
You know?
You ain't going to be in that pack.
I need you to understand to that you have
to make that decision and say, "I'm going
to do this," not, "I'm thinking about doing
this."
That's why I say you have to love it.
Do you love it as much as you would die for
it?
Once you do that then that, anything that
you thinking about, whether if it's writing
a book, whether it's creating an invention,
whether if it's flying through the air like
Lebron.
Anything if you love it you're going to be
that.
Tom: How'd you get that attitude?
Wyclef: You get that attitude, right?
There's a philosopher by the name of Confucius.
Confucius is deep because the idea of you
don't know what it's like to walk unless you
fell.
Basically because I have fallen so many times
that I appreciate walking.
If you fall down and every time you fall down
you get back up and you keep moving, you fall
down you get back up you keep moving, this
is how we go from crawling to walking.
We didn't just come out of our mamma womb
and was like, "I am walking, I am walking."
Unless we aliens.
Basically we come out and we crawling and
from crawling we walk.
Mamma's like, "Goo goo, ga ga, baby."
Bang, you fall, right?
Then you get back up.
You fall, you get back up.
This is life.
This should be a lesson in life.
If we don't come out of our mamma's womb running
why should we think things are going to be
easy?
They're not going to be easy.
We're going to crawl.
We're going to walk, we're going to fall,
we're going to fall, but man, once we figure
out the balance with the right feet and left
feet nothing can stop us.
That's what I want them to understand.
Tom: All right.
Wyclef: Yeah, man.
Tom: How have you had the longevity that you've
had?
How do you stay fresh?
Wyclef: I stay fresh because it's all in the
pulse of the youth.
You have to be a culture bunny, right?
If you are a sponge for what you love you
don't have to be constantly in the limelight.
Even if I take seven years off in the commercial
space it don't mean I don't got Kendrick Lamar's
first mix tape.
It don't means I'm not tuned into battle rap.
It doesn't mean that I don't know what trap
is.
It doesn't mean that I'm not in tune to the
dances that's going on.
If there's a new book or an old book.
If I hear somebody talking about, "Man there's
something called The Alchemist, you should
read it."
Because once you stay in tune with what you
love that means that you stay in tune with
it.
When you're inside of the culture you do not
lose the pulse because you basically have
the passion for it.
The worst thing is you're not on the billboard.
Your music ain't playing on the radio.
You're sitting around in a bar.
You're telling people, "You know, I used to
be that guy, you know what I'm saying?
Fuck these [bleep] man.
I don't even understand half of the shit they
saying."
Nah, I mean, it's like, "Listen, you fucking
has-been."
You have to be in the culture to be part of
the culture.
It all boils down to passion and understanding,
because Quincy Jones taught me this.
My de-facto godfather.
If once you lose the pulse of the youth you've
lost the pulse of yourself, whether if it's
your greatest philosopher or your greatest
quote.
My daughter, she's 11, she knows about Einstein.
Einstein done been dead long time ago.
What is it that makes her want to read this.
Because once again everything, whether if
you're looking at Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha,
Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Malcolm
X, man, it could even be a quote from Kennedy.
What we remember is the simple stuff.
It's that one line that takes us from here
to there.
That one line, that's the pulse of the child
and we can never forget that.
Tom: That's really powerful.
One last question.
What's the impact that you want to have on
the world?
Wyclef: The impact I want to have on the world
is just let the tombstone read that I was
one that was responsibility for helping bring
people closer.
Because at the end we're so far apart and
I feel what we continue to do which is great
is through the music, through the sports,
through the technology, it doesn't matter
if you in India, if you're in Africa, if you're
in Brooklyn.
It's like as much as they want to divide us
now the millennials keep getting closer and
closer and closer.
Just for me world peace, world love, the idea
of all of us living in harmony is perhaps
the most important thing.
Every human being has to remember, right,
so within your existence if you are not looking
out for the next person then all you are is
just a body, right?
If you're not looking out for your next person
you just a body, because we even was in existence
there were those that sacrificed theyself
so that we can be here talking.
I just want people to know that as this world
and it seems so divided the millennials are
actually getting closer and closer through
the world.
The women are getting closer.
There's a movement that's going on and we
all should embrace that and just keep getting
closer and closer.
Yeah.
Tom: I love it back.
Where can these guys find you online?
Wyclef: Y'all can find me online on wyclef.com.
This is an exciting time.
We have the EP, it's called J'ouvert.
J'ouvert is an appetizer to what will be the
full length Carnival album.
The best way to explain J'ouvert, if you can't
make it to Caribbean, you know what I mean?
You like, "Man, I don't think I'm going to
make it to the Caribbean."
No problem.
Just get that J'ouvert, throw it on, grab
yourself a Guinness, catch a vibe, wear the
Mickey Mouse shorts with no shoes on.
Tom: And a broomstick?
Wyclef: And a broomstick.
You're okay.
Let me get them a free concert.
Tom: Oh my God.
Please.
Wyclef: Here we go.
You just pick a topic, man.
Pick anything in your head.
Tom: A topic?
Wyclef: Yeah.
I'm like David Blaine.
Tom: Here's the one thing I'm very sad we
didn't talk about interesting interview which
was you going to Haiti after the earthquake.
Wyclef: All right, let's start.
Going to Haiti after the earthquake.
Man, a lot of courage, man it took me.
Trust me, I'm that true MC.
After the earthquake I landed in Haiti.
My life started out in a small village.
I ate dirt from the floor, homie no kidding.
I ain't had no kitchen.
Grandma said, "Pray to Christ."
This Jesus baby barely had a bag of rice.
My life started out I was barely two, papa
flew to the states searching for the golden
goose.
No work papers, officers raid the underground,
they came to get him man, he took off like
a greyhound.
His life, he got hunted like a groundhog,
sting operation, an illegal alien in New York,
like the king, my daddy had a dream.
Tom: Wow.
Wyclef: 10 years later I was sitting up in
Brooklyn, fast forward, the earthquake hit
the H. Picking up the dead, no mass up on
my face.
On Oprah when you see me weep that's because
I've seen a little baby brain on the concrete,
seen little boy blue lose his legs, no hospital
around, I watched him bleed to death.
You would cry too if you had scarface eyes,
never seen a man cry till I seen a man die.
Me and Dave Chappelle, I said I wanted to
be president, it ain't no joke, man, I wanted
to be president of Haiti.
I wanted better policy.
Starting yelling Haiti, they tried to J. Edgar
Hoover me.
Those with the third eye can see the truth
through the lies.
You know how it go, you baptized, crucified,
then you rise.
This is my resurrection.
Freestyle Wyclef did like Tupac, they tried
to get me at the intersection.
Satisfaction like the Rolling Stone, yeah
I'm in the zone, I'm in my home.
I've been free styling ever since 13 when
Rakim was the microphone fiend.
Wyclef, I flip the language.
Y'all heard this before but let me flip it
in Spanish.
[Spanish 00:44:40]
American's say, "How you doing."
German people say, "Wie geht's?"
When I got to Germany they say, "Wie stehts."
If you love hip hop let's have some spass.
Tell me baby girl, "Wie wollen das?"
Listen, my little Biggie shooters, they little
like Kim.
Man, I ain't no joke but I Rakim.
I used to slap box in front of the project
elevator, the way I rock a fella you going
to think I'm Shawn Carter.
Yeah.
The people they like, "Cleffy going in."
Who writing my shit.
Ghost writers from within.
Told me y'all should be reminded I'm a mother
fucking Fugee and my score has not been broken.
Listen, you dudes are local on the block.
Rewind, I mean, I used to be local on the
block.
Now in my views I'm Worldstar hip hop, I used
to be loco on the block.
Now my views, Worldstar hip hop.
Q rest in peace, Wyclef Jean, I'm in the place
well-known, getting busy on the microphone.
Girls on the side and they all nodding their
head.
Some love the bald head and some miss the
dreads.
It don't matter.
Tom: That was fucking incredible.
Wow.
Wow.
That was amazing, man.
Wyclef: Love, man.
Respect.
Tom: I cannot thank you enough for sharing
with us.
Wyclef: Thank you.
Tom: That was incredible.
Wyclef: Thank you.
Tom: I've got to give you a proper outro here.
I've got to tell these people what I hope
they just saw is the same thing that I just
saw.
Boys and girls this is the quintessential
immigrant story of somebody who picked himself
up by the bootstraps when he didn't even have
any boots, who saw a drum that his grandmother
wouldn't let him play that had a fucking snake
in it.
They took it away.
God if I could keep rhyming I would.
They really did take the drum from him.
He sneaks out in the middle of the night,
goes, grabs that thing, that began his obsession
with music, an obsession that would take him
to the absolute heights of the universe.
In the middle of all of that he has a quote
where he's talking about, "The day that I
show up and say I've already written 50 songs,
that I already know how to play the piano,
I already know how to play the guitar.
On that day if I ever say that, know that
I'm finished."
That is something that you will never hear
him say, but hearing the tale in his autobiography
about his time in Haiti, about picking up
so many bodies that his hands started to burn
from all the toxins that were coming off because
they were decomposing but he kept going.
How he lost friends that he knew and loved.
How people in the middle of the chaos were
getting shot and through all of that he comes
out the other side wanting to be the president
of Haiti.
How many of us have the balls to say that?
Is it a surprise that this man with that mindset
wrote one of the greatest albums of all time
from a basement?
Certainly not surprising to me.
You guys can do anything you set your mind
to.
He is the American dream.
He's proven all you need to do is go read
the manual and then put your ass to work.
Boys and girls please help me one more time
in thanking this man, Wyclef Jean, for showing
up.
Wyclef: [inaudible 00:48:07]
Tom: That was amazing man.
Hey everybody, thanks so much for joining
us for another episode of Impact Theory.
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Until next time, be legendary my friends.
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Wyclef Jean on Dreaming Beyond Limitations
Impact Theory
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