August 17, 2000

The Eclefti : 2 Sides II A Book

Last time it was a carnival. This time it's just some end- of-the-pier freakshow...

Last time it was a carnival. This time it's just some end- of-the-pier freakshow. Back in '97, when Wyclef emerged with his first post-Fugees record, he was still propelled by deserved acclaim: after 'The Score', after converting millions with the glorious pantomime of the Fugees live show, he moved smoothly towards solo superstardom. And for a while (see 'Gone Till November') he never put a foot wrong.

But then he got it into his head that - as he claimed in these pages a few weeks ago - he was this generation's Quincy Jones, songwriter/producer/ funkmeister for hire, who could sashay into any studio with any band and conjure a hit. He took anyone's dollar, even if it meant spending time with Simply Red.

And so it all turned to shit.

/img/WyclefJean0800.jpg We're not talking about selling out: we know where the cash goes and Wyclef remains an activist, here (on 'Diallo') railing against the cops who killed the unarmed Amadou Diallo. So let him take Hucknall's money - it's not like he's blowing it on hookers and cocaine binges. No, the problem is that whatever spark of genius he showed on 'Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival' has been endlessly diluted as he guests with Santana here, tweaks Cypress Hill there, warbles aimlessly next to Bono one minute, whips up a reggae-lite confection for Whitney the next.

Consequently, Wyclef's vision has become seriously skewed. 'The Ecleftic...' is a mammoth indulgence, an 80-minute justification of his own ill-defined status. He believes all us patient Fugees fans have been sitting here doing nothing but waiting for a new record: hence the seriously self-absorbed 'Where Fugee At'.

But hip-hop's moved on - performers like Kelis and, of course, Lauryn Hill, have raised the stakes. Ever the opportunist, Wyclef samples the hippest rap tune of the last 12 months, Pharoahe Monch's 'Simon Says', on the very next track. And, being Wyclef, he ropes in Kenny Rogers to warble over the top. No-one, of course, dared tell him what a terrible idea that was.

Wyclef is now totally sealed in his own Wyclef world, peering out occasionally to see if we're still watching his every move, retreating again to have some fun with Whitney ('Whitney Houston Dub Plate', a painfully embarrassing celeb in-joke) or covering Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' just because he can. The Wyclef of old still shows (the propulsive single 'It Doesn't Matter', the full-on beat drama 'Da Cypha'), but such moments are few. Until the Fugees reform, it seems that Wyclef's career will remain one big side project.

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