Wyclef Jean's Bid for Haiti's Presidency: Gone 'Til Forever
Via BNO News, it's apparently being reported by Reuters that Wyclef Jean's chances of being the next president of Haiti don't look likely, as his name is reportedly not on the list of approved candidates. His chances and credibility as a candidate can best be summed up in one paragraph of the New York Observer's profile of Jean, when writer Ben Detrick sat down with him for lunch uptown recently:
"I think people underestimate the power of a musician," [Wyclef Jean] said. "They think we're not intellectual, we don't study policy, we don't know law and order. But we sing about it all the time." He listed his performances at Free Tibet concerts and the song "Million Voices" from the Hotel Rwanda soundtrack as examples of artistic and political intersection. Then Mr. Jean casually recited a few a capella bars at the table. "Vision of Gandhi, courage of Malcolm X/ I envision Aristide the Haitian Pope," he said with a sly smile.Not everyone is eager to sign couplets from the Fugees' 1994 album Blunted on Reality into law.
Apparently not. Also, he might've overplayed his hand in the wake of the earthquake when asserting the necessity of his operation's charity arm, Yele Haiti, as a nasty little funds misappropriations scandal with Yele was eventually exposed and, thus, a subsequent press disaster that ended with Wyclef Jean's resignation from Yele Haiti. But it was probably because he's still the guy who put Kenny Rogers and The Rock on the same rap album. On the other hand, he can always reunite the Fugees, make a bunch of money, and give it to Haiti or politicians who know politics and who live in Haiti and who don't ball out in private jets while their people suffer. Except, oh, forgot, because of the private jet thing he'll probably never reunite the Fugees. In which case, he can just remain a rapper.
Here's a dope Fugees track:
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