The Adam Friedland Show (Cumtown) - WYCLEF JEAN Talks Haiti, New Music, Legacy

Episode Date: April 2, 2026

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Starting point is 00:01:01 Okay. This is the original, no carbon copy. Ladies and gentlemen, before the AI, it was I. IA. Intelligent Alpha. Maria Maria, yeah, hi. She reminded me of West Side Story. Growing up in Spanish Harlem, yeah.
Starting point is 00:01:32 She's living life just like a movie star Yeah Maria Maria She fell in love in Easter day To the sound of the guitar Here I come You can't hide Shout out to the Fugees
Starting point is 00:02:10 I'm gonna Y'all know what this is Sing along everybody like Ready and I Here I come You can't hide Yeah Yo! Yo!
Starting point is 00:02:26 Now that I escape, sleep, walk awake. Those who cover late know the world ain't cake. Jail bars ain't golden gates. Those who fake, they break. When they meet their 400-pound maid, if I could rule the world, everyone will have a gun in the ghetto, of course, when you die up and on their horse, yo. I kick around drinking moonshine.
Starting point is 00:02:45 I pour a sip on the concrete for the deceased with no don't weep. Why clefts in the state of sleep thinking about the robbery that I did last week. Money on the bag, man, can look like a drag. What are you smoking on? What you smoking on, man? Ooh la la la. It's the way that we rock when we're doing our thing.
Starting point is 00:03:04 Ooh la, la, la. It's the natural vibe that the refugees bring. Ooh, la, la, la, la, la. I go by the name of why I clefts young. I got seven albums coming out, one a month. Starting in April until, you feel me? Country, hip-hop, reggae.
Starting point is 00:03:27 Let's end on some. like, you know what I'm saying, or some like real like world type vibe. Y'all feel me? Like, like, so light to the merchant's, menach after they took a from the bottom of their spit, mighty, we struggle in this generation. Triumphantly, Africa, Middle East, You're a...
Starting point is 00:04:34 Won't you help me shame? Another strong of freedom. Emancipate yourself from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our work. For a time, make energy. For none of them can stop other time. Well, a kill our profits. Some say it's just a part.
Starting point is 00:05:21 Got to fulfill the boat. Middle East, Africa. The Americas the entire world Lord Won't you help me sing ya I'm not that strong of freedom Cause all I ever have Seam Sean, so. Oh, you caught the bars, bro.
Starting point is 00:06:27 If he missed you bars, If he missed those bars, he's not gonna run it again. No, there's new bars. Every day there's a new bar. That was like, that was like, you know, like a big L, like did the whole outfit. You did the numerical. Yeah, I'm from, I'm from, you know,
Starting point is 00:06:43 battle rap was part of my, like, natural come-up. You know what I mean? Being in the projects, that was sort of like, I always said, being like the oldest. So sort of like, you mess with my sister or brother. They're like, I'm going to get my big brother, you know. And I would show up, and I only weighed, like, a buck, like 10. You feel what I'm saying to you?
Starting point is 00:07:07 So what were you, like when you started? Like, when I started rapping. Well, battle rapping. Battle rapping, I was like, both. Now, battle rapping I was 12. You were 12. Yeah, because I came from Haiti when I was like 7, 8. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:21 And then I landed in Marlboro Project. So Marlboro projects, you know, getting into a lot of fight. Coney Island, battle rap was just, like, it was just an avenue where you didn't have to, like, slapbox as much. Yeah. Get into a lot of altercation. So you would use. It was like breakdancing or if you was doing graffiti, this would be like your way of like, you know, like let, let, let's let's let's do the fade. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:45 But we're going to do the fade lyrically, you feel me? As like an immigrant and like a refugee, of course, didn't feel like you were integrating culturally and then you were like kind of like getting getting the mean kids off your back a little bit. Well, the thing is remember on the album, the score, if you go back and you listen, there's a line I always say Haitian Sicilian. Yeah. In the score. Like, you'd be like, well, I don't get it. Haiti, Italy, like, where's the connection? I grew up in Marlboro Projects.
Starting point is 00:08:13 You feel what I'm saying to you? So that growing up in an area and just understanding that we all was immigrants, you feel what I'm saying to you? So whether if you was Italian, you're Asian, you Irish, you, it's like at the end of the day, this is like the city of immigrants, right? So coming from the city of immigrants, you've got to find certain passions that you just used to. So I have family members.
Starting point is 00:08:35 There was more into like the gang culture. I had some that they were into sports, you feel me? And like every, like literally we all trying to find an avenue, you feel me? Uh-huh. And so my avenue was music. Yeah. Like, what was like the most shocking? Because obviously you're from, you're from Haiti.
Starting point is 00:08:53 We should back up. Straight up. Yeah. The Americas. Yeah. I always say like Haiti, the Americas. Because sometime in America, you know what I'm saying? Like, I think like sometimes we as Americans. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:02 Like, you know what I'm saying? sometime because of the course of history like I don't think like we understand like Haiti's within the Americas well I mean it's a country that I think isn't thought about enough maybe because it is like like especially currently like it is like the biggest like political crisis probably in it in its modern history am I correct and say that a hundred percent but you know why it's not thought about enough the reason why it's not thought about enough is this right did so Haiti is the first black republic
Starting point is 00:09:32 in the world. Correct. 1804. Tucson. Tucson Lovercher, right? So think about it. So that means like in America, when you're running a slave trade, you literally have an island where a bunch of people are completely running the island and they're free.
Starting point is 00:09:47 They're moving around. So they never wanted that connection to happen. So whether if you're looking at Thomas Jefferson or different people, even like look at what Frederick Douglass, like said about Haiti. So at the end of the day, Haiti being that it got its independence. It had to pay over a billion dollars to France, right? So literally... They had to pay to literally not be made slaves again.
Starting point is 00:10:09 Yeah, like, literally, like, Napoleon's like, yo, y'all want me to come back here? I will blow you up. It's going to cost you. So in saying that, and can you imagine, like, Haiti was one of the number ones for trade. It was known for, like, sugar and, like, sugar and cocoa. Yeah. So at the end of the day, it's...
Starting point is 00:10:27 I know, like, we think of, like, what happens in Haiti and the idea of, like, reparation. we're screaming like, yo, what does reparation look like? But I want you to like even think a step further. What would have happened if those Haitians had connected with the black Americans, for example, in America?
Starting point is 00:10:45 I'm just giving you an example. What if the black Americans in America understood that Haiti was part of the Louisiana purchase and strategic in helping that? You know, I think like all Americans are watching and say, oh, that's really cool. Like, you know what I'm saying? The biggest real estate deal
Starting point is 00:11:01 happened through Haiti. Now Chicago Jean-Az-Ais-Poin-Gisab the founder of Chicago is Haitian. I mean, you guys bought the Eiffel Tower for France. Yeah, so the key... Yeah, so at the end of the day, what I'm saying is like we're part of it, right?
Starting point is 00:11:17 The one difference that pops up in my mind is that that was the first... Oh, I forgot! Okay. What happened? I'll keep laughing. I want to pay tribute. Anytime we have like a goat or a legend We get them below 1942.
Starting point is 00:11:34 Also, this is Adam Freeland Show hat. It's kind of a mystery. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I feel it, I feel it. Let me switch up, though. You feel me? Oh, really, it is but an honor. Give it up for that.
Starting point is 00:11:46 Give it up for that. We got merchandise. We got to switch up, man. Yeah, we'll do a little. And you don't give a rapper a drink, and he don't. I gave Jaydeicus the same honor. But he didn't get a hat. Yeah, I love Jada Kiss, man.
Starting point is 00:12:03 He's the one kind of. He's kind of the one. Yeah, yeah. Jada is, man. It's a corny question, but like, who would you conceive of as your top five? Well, I think that top five for me,
Starting point is 00:12:18 it depends, right? Because at the end of the day, people be like, Yo, Clef, I wanted to be like top five composer of the world. Yeah. Like Quincy Jones, Gershwin, or whatever. When it comes to rhyming,
Starting point is 00:12:30 As a composer, I love raw rap, you know what I'm saying to you? So I could just tell you, like, one of my favorite rappers of all time, his name is Kooji Rap. So people should definitely look at that. That's like one of my top five of all time. Another one that's my top five of all time. I was in video when I was 18 years old. I know.
Starting point is 00:12:50 Rock Kim. Yeah, that's one of my, you get what I'm saying to you. You play bass. Yeah. Now another one, Bigel. Why Bigel? Because there was a show called Stretching Barbito. Like so that was the that was like a at Columbia right it was like a college radio station
Starting point is 00:13:05 Yeah, so it was like we all was coming up and Knaz right nowz is one of my cuz this is like I'm telling you this because so the lens that I see it from is a different lens than y'all see it from Right lens that I see it from I'm like 18 19 and I'm going to a show called like stretching Barbito Yeah, you know what I'm saying like where college radio was the underground and that's what was killing it so then when you hear some like somebody like Bigel so you have many that came up another one of my favorites of all time I can't really say five like you know I love Eminem and I think it's very good at rap Biggie Smalls yeah he's very good a rap you know and Tupac is my my my go-to when it comes to a conscious what about Tunchi hmm what about Wayne to me is bad no no no Wayne to me is
Starting point is 00:13:57 genius he's a genius like what And what I mean by that is, what I mean by that, you're tapping in. So I got you, I got you, I got you, I got you. We have to do a little. Yeah, so when you see, when you say people like Wayne, to me, you got to understand. Yeah. Nah, it's a little bit. That's a lot.
Starting point is 00:14:14 We want to get. Yeah. Family. This is going to be. So to my Libra brother, little way. Wait, what's your go-to, like, toast? Lethine. What's it?
Starting point is 00:14:27 Wait, tell me how to say that. Tell me how to say a. Haitian toast now we know we're just gonna say you know lachai boliv yeah but life boll live good life beautiful okay let's home yeah okay um but no you were saying this little wayne thing it's important while we talk about culture in modern day time so for me little Wayne is in a category all by his self like it don't exist it's like saying jimmy hendricks and i'm saying that because i feel you are that I've been in the studio with everybody and that dude is on his own planet and on his own time.
Starting point is 00:15:05 One of the greatest. He's like in a flow state from what I understand. Yeah. And when it comes to the women, I ain't being biased. But ain't no woman on the planet that could touch El Boogie. Oh, I thought you were going to say that could rap. Ain't no woman that could touch Lauren Hill from the Fugis. Period.
Starting point is 00:15:23 And I ain't being biased. You realized that was a genius. You met her and you were like, this is a genius. Yeah. So yeah, so we met very young and a lot of people talk about Fugis, but guess what? The first thing we did, we did an off-Broadway play together called Club 12. And what you see Hamilton- Was that before she was in Sister Act? Before.
Starting point is 00:15:41 And what you see in Hamilton, like when you go to Broadway Hamilton? I would never, I would never go. Okay, but you just say like in Hamilton they doing rap and they doing all of that. Yeah. Man, we was doing that when we was like 12, 13 and people like literally flipping Shakespeare and rap form and it was so ahead of people. And now I guess they make it. making money out of it.
Starting point is 00:15:59 One of my favorite songs is named after you. It's the Young Thug song, White Club, Shog. Which is interesting, because you're also, you have a feature on that album, but it's not on White Club Shahn. Kanye West. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:16:15 Yeah. Shout out to Thugger, too. He's a genius, too. I think that he's got that little magic as well. So Thugger reminds me of modern-day Bob Dylan. cool just to say that's what you know that's my favorite guy well I mean that's what we were talking about it on face yeah that's like feel me like I had him in the video you feel me tell us about so you obviously played gone until November
Starting point is 00:16:39 but Bob is in the video yeah at just sitting there at LAX just Bob so how did that come together well the thing about it is Bob Dylan I fell in love with just his movement when I read about like hurricane you feel me that was a hurricane was my introduction of Bob Dylan he says a bad word of that song yeah yeah but it's fine yeah so hurricane for a good cause yeah hurricane was just you know a boxer who you know a lawfully get hit or whatever so this the bottom line to it so I'm doing a record gone to November and I have an epiphany and I was like yo I
Starting point is 00:17:15 need Bob Dylan in the video and this is how I went down right the person I asked because I ain't gonna even like blow him up right now but I'm gonna tell you exactly what he said I was like yo you know I had you know me I be let me do it I was, you know, I had my split, right. So, Bredgeon, you know, me, I think, you know, for the gone until November video, my one I used Bob Dylan. Who did you ask? Who was the person?
Starting point is 00:17:38 I can't even tell you, but he looked at me. Who's it, Joan Baez? He's looking at me and said, listen, Bob Dylan don't even show up for his own son video. Jacob, Dylan. What makes you think he's going to show up for you? It's true. And I was like, yo, Dylan going to show up for me, man. So, so I called and got on the phone with, with, with Dylan.
Starting point is 00:17:57 You feel me? And you already know, you know how Bob Dylan is, you know how he talked already. You understand what I'm saying? Dylan's like, okay, I'm going to come, LAX. And I told everyone the directors that Dylan is coming, but I think that because, so, peep this, right? When my daughter was like at a very young age, I guess she used to have imaginary friends, and I would have to go with it. You know what I mean? Oh yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:18:23 I think that's how they felt when I told him Bob Dylan was coming. Yeah, they were like, you're out of your mind. on the set like yeah sure he's there he's coming like are you talking to him and he goes here goes the goat you know what I'm saying walking through LAX he comes through and um and I was like literally like you know he came it was like what you want me to do my brother and he was like you remind me of a base of a cool my cool bass player they used to play with me back in the day I was like Mr. Dylan I just need you to sit right here and do nothing wow that is the craziest He's a co-sign.
Starting point is 00:18:55 Did you tell you he's a fan? Yeah, he loved he said, I remind him of the ever, you feel me? Wow. Yeah, and I don't, I believe like in the universe, like we come back over and over and over again. But I never put an age to a musician. I'd be like, oh, he's boom, boom, boom, boom. Because cool musicians that are like all about the music and the art, whether if it's country, classical, we all know each other.
Starting point is 00:19:18 He's still cool. Yeah. He's still, I mean, he's still, I mean, he's still grippy. I see him. He's still playing. I think he's going to play till he's dead. Like, he's like in his 80s and he looks incredible. That stage is therapy, my bro.
Starting point is 00:19:30 He's the best. I love it. I feel like when you get to a level like that, like, potentially everyone sees you as a genius. So everyone's trying to drop like the most profound thing they've ever said. And it must be a very lonely thing for him. Because everyone's like trying to be like do bars and then they walk away. They're like, I'm a loser. What was I doing?
Starting point is 00:19:50 You know? So it's just this. What I imagine is like on stage. It's like he doesn't have to feel like that, you know? Yeah, I mean, Dylan is just one of the best like this. Yeah. I mean, even Jimi Hendrix covered by Dylan. Like, of course.
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Starting point is 00:21:29 lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That's code TIFS to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineups. Lineup. Prize Pics, it's good to be right. This episode is brought to you by FIFA World Cup, launch edition on Netflix. It's a fast, fluid game where your phone is the controller and your TV is the stadium. You just Just launch it on your TV, scan the QR code with your phone, and boom, you're shooting and passing in seconds. Plus, it's included in your Netflix membership with zero extra costs. Go to the Games tab and play FIFA World Cup Launch Edition now, only on Netflix. I want to talk to you about your childhood, though.
Starting point is 00:22:15 Like, how are you, tell me, like, I know you have a, we read your book, and you have all these stories, like you fell in poop and you went to school after that. and then you you you would eat out of everything you would turn to dirt well it was a good it was good in it was good it was good poop though yeah no it wasn't good poop I was just like you what slum dog millionaire my impression that I got was like we have this notion of Haiti as like this like you know just backwards like you know but like you you referred to it as like you kind of missed like you kind of like enjoyed like your childhood and like yeah does it feel like you
Starting point is 00:22:59 your life was saved by going to America you ever seen City of Guards yeah of course all right so at the end of the day it's like beauty and the beast though yeah because right you have the most beautifulest beaches yeah you have the most beautifulest things right so the way I got to America my dad was a missionary like so literally my dad came on a work visa when I got to America bro what I experienced was the idea at a very young age of what the American dream was
Starting point is 00:23:31 like because at the end of the day so when you're young like that and you're sitting in that village and you're on a donkey you're like yo if only I could get to America you get into America I want to get to America
Starting point is 00:23:44 you know what I'm saying what was like the first thing that blew your mind when you moved to America was it like elevators or like I don't know ah man it was like from the air because remember where I came from I came from a hut so I never seen like real
Starting point is 00:23:57 electricity so the thing that blew my mind was in the air yo and I'm looking down and we're going over in New York I remember like the Twin Towers right but then everything like bro the lights it just I looked at my brother and I was like yo you must have found you're in acid dude we're the city of diamonds yeah yeah it was definitely like A trip. Like you're seeing Avatar or something. Yeah, like you're a different world. It was a complete different world. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:24:29 Can you imagine I get to the projects and I go to my brother and the first time we turn a faucet, bro, and water is coming out of it? Yeah. I don't know what that is. You didn't know what a faucet was. Of course not. I get the water from the well. And you're like, this is magic. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:24:48 It all looked like magic. The idea of an oven. The idea of an oven. It's a oven. And then you put it on. So peep this. So the oven gets warm, right? And I remember, like, in a project at a time where we didn't have no heat, right?
Starting point is 00:25:02 And then the heat was coming from the oven. For me, that was just normal. Yeah. You're like, I guess heat comes from the oven. You're like, I'm the richest guy in the world. Come on, bro. It's like the Jeffersons. You were like, I'm the queen of England now.
Starting point is 00:25:17 Yo, one extreme to the next. Do you conceive of yourself as the most famous? You kind of are, no? Yeah, on the planet. On the planet, yeah. Yeah, for sure. Does that come, do you feel a sense of, like, responsibility? Is there a weight
Starting point is 00:25:32 of that being the... I don't even think of it. My brain don't even adjust it like that. It's just at the end of the day, I just do what I got to do, man. What do people, like, not understand about Haiti? I think what they don't understand about
Starting point is 00:25:48 Haiti is every time they hear is going down in Haiti, And you hear all of this bad news. Geographically, they don't say where it's going on. So at the end of the day, if you hear it's going down in Port-au-Prince, right, you could be like, where is it going down? Is it in Kingston? Is it in Montego Bay?
Starting point is 00:26:05 Is it right? So in Haiti, when they tell you it's going down, it's like one area in Port-au-Prince, the capital, right? And then there's an area outside of Port-au-Prince. Go naive. Other than that, bro, you go to, like, places in the north. You're going to find the most amazing blue beach, white sand. that you can imagine. So I think like the PR is terrible because we have to identify Haiti as a full country. Not as just a, yo, it's going down to Haiti, but where in Haiti is it going down?
Starting point is 00:26:35 Correct. Yeah. Is there conflict inside of you because of like obviously the United States has had a complicated relationship with Haiti? Like, for instance, like after the earthquake, right, like most of the money was funneled to Washington, D.C., to NGOs. And they, you know, they devastated the ag like in new orleans well they were sending over like american rice right and so rice farmers in Haiti like lost their farms basically because they weren't investing in infrastructure for the people there they were basically just paying off American interests and like making money off of the earthquake in your country yeah so the thing is I'm a modern day Haitian right American right yeah and what does that mean that means that I can't look at what was done
Starting point is 00:27:22 then I'm looking at it right now. That's recent, though. And then when I look at it right now, in Jacques Mel, I have one of the, I'm watching how these kids are developing AI. In the past two years, they went to Greece and the world stage. They came in number three, right? And last year we went to Panama. So what happens is I have to forward think, right?
Starting point is 00:27:44 Not forgetting the past, right? Because I could feel a certain way about the past, but the only way that I'm going to move things forward, I got to be present right now, real time, and I got to be in those rooms that can make a difference for a 12-year-old kid. Do you feel like now that you're so, you're famous person, right? And you're like, well, like, you're beloved, right? Do you feel like, because the U.S. government is like, like, Bill Clinton, like, basically made them promise not to make the minimum wage $5 a day, right? You know, and like, you know, Obama basically, you know, didn't make sure that the money was going to Haitian people.
Starting point is 00:28:25 It was going to American NGOs and it was funneled out. Like, do you feel like now that you have a profile like that, like you can lobby or like you can communicate with the people in power and be like this is like what we need? What I love about what you're saying is you're the new generation. And what I mean by that is people can't bluff y'all because the information is actually there. It's there. So as we move forward, I count on y'all to have my back. I got your back.
Starting point is 00:28:54 And at the end of the day, I want to move forward and see how we get better policies for that country. You know what I'm saying? What needs to happen in your estimation? What needs to happen? 80% of the country is living on less than a dollar, right? You have 12 million people. How do we put 6 million kids back to school and back to work, right? So in order to do that, we need policies that are towards them, and Haiti can't be a
Starting point is 00:29:19 playground for one party. Like, Haiti has to be a bipartisan. Yeah, but we need a president. You haven't had one in nine years? We need someone that's not a puppet, right? Because you have to have someone who understands from, you know, how policies work and someone who just can't be bought by private sector and also can't be bought by lobbyists in D.C.
Starting point is 00:29:41 You know what I mean, it's just fascinating to me, just like learning the full history. Yeah, man. I want to talk about music. though you're making seven albums here you're locked in locked in how like 80% is done already 80% done in the course of five years like you're in your you're 30 years in career yep just getting started you feel like you feel that way well the day maintain like that like that motivation my mentor Quincy Jones RIP to him wow yeah yeah so I feel like I'm in my thriller years right now really I feel like what I'm about
Starting point is 00:30:19 to create and the different artists that I'm going to work with and the different generations. I feel like I'm in my Thriller years right now. Let's see what happens in the next five years. Well, Thriller is a very diverse album too, right? All the songs like kind of like the... I just feel like my Thriller years is like, you know, like Quincy Jones when he hooked up with Michael and there was magic that happened, right? So I felt like Wyclev G. Herbo, there's magic happening.
Starting point is 00:30:45 That's what you know, he's been on the show too. There's magic happening. You know what I'm saying? Why Clef Raps City? There's magic happening. What happens when you connect? Like you get what I'm saying? Because this is like two generations.
Starting point is 00:30:57 So when I said the thrill of Quincy Jones, I feel like this is like, I feel like I'm a bridge to like, because my passion has always been the music man. Right. So I'm a music man, yeah. Earlier you said that like hip hop for you in your generation was the underground. For me it was pop music, right? Hip hop was the dominant art. Like I've been a fan. of yours probably my entire life. Like I got in trouble in my baseball team because we were singing
Starting point is 00:31:22 killing killing him softly. One time. Yeah and like we had to run laps because we were singing a girl song. Our coach thought we were gay or something. But like, but like for me personally, like what's interesting is like you made this iconic album with this group, you know, and you and you and Lauren like and Praz like you guys had this like synergy. It was your second album. Is that right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The sophomore, man. Did you know you're cooking something like historic?
Starting point is 00:31:54 Did it feel that way? Well, I just felt like we was cooking something amazing because we didn't produce the first album. Yeah. The first album, we signed a cool in the gang. Really? Joanna. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:32:06 So the producer was Khalise Bayon, who's a genius. And then so with the score, it was like, so could you imagine, so everything was doing in the first album, when we went back to the neighborhood, it was a genius. neighborhood it wasn't sounding like that so that's when we was at me my cousin jerry wonder you know lawn prize was in the basement john fortay wow the mpcs that you know because we could hear the block like literally the bugger basement is there the crack house is right behind like i'm telling you it's the neighborhood so we was just cooking and one day i went to see my man salam rmi and salam is the one who's responsible for amy winehouse a whole lot of
Starting point is 00:32:42 different people he's an a r or no he's a producer little young little jean So we clicked and once we clicked I just we just kept doing these beats and and then it just you know fadjo? Yeah, of course. So when you hear the beat, oh la la la is the way that beat originally was the fat joe. Shout out to fat Joe but the Fugis took the beat from Fat Joe. And also something I learned was that in Hipso Lai that one guitar lot is inspired by I cream but yeah yes so so it's Wu-tang yeah like well I was saying I was saying that Hips Don't Lie was done two years before y'all heard Hips Don't Lie yeah I did it for a movie
Starting point is 00:33:29 called Havana Knights do you know the story behind that movie Havana nights yeah Havana nights being dirty dancing too yeah but dirty dancing too it was a really a completely different script I got bought it was a political thriller and by the time the studio was done with it it became dirty dancing to Havana nights yeah yeah it was like supposed to be like like a like completely different in a dark yeah legendary story yeah no like Hollywood yeah yeah which they do they yeah they like but yo that's that's where that song was first done two years before Shackie yeah my favorite of your like soundtrack songs is with Maya of course the man you know what you're taking me way back so that is such a good
Starting point is 00:34:15 So now watch this. So out of one of my seven albums, you can understand why one's a country album, right? Well, I also saw you did a cover of Johnny Cash at that one... Cash was there. He was there, man. Before he passed. Yeah, I did that with my man Rick Rubin called me in for that. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:34:33 You just know all these guys? Huh? You know all these guys? I mean, you know, I'm pretty legend, fan. That's crazy. I've been around since a baby. Life is cool. You're very nice for being so...
Starting point is 00:34:45 Yeah, because at the end of the day, whether I'm accomplished, you're accomplished, whether you're accomplished, I'm not, blah, blah, but at the end of the day, look, you see what we're doing, the air that we're breathing. It's the same. It's the same, bro. It's so nice of you to say. The dirt, we go to the same dirt, my brother. So at the end of the day, respect is respect.
Starting point is 00:35:04 You did. Yeah, no, here you go. You're let's respect, baby. You dropped Carnival a year after the score. Yeah, and the label thought I was out of my mind. How did you, how did you, after like such an intense period of your career, right? Of you with that group making like a classic album. How did you flip like, that has like 25 tracks or something?
Starting point is 00:35:26 It's like a long ass album. Yeah, carnival. Audio visual. I had my friend burned me that CD. Audiovisual. Yeah, yeah. A lot of weed smoking. Really?
Starting point is 00:35:37 Yeah. What's your, what's your style like in the studio? You just could, it just comes out of you? Yeah. Wade and style well yeah but you know I'm from the church so like coming up in the church and being in the church since I was 10 year I felt like the spirit connect and we just go with it but carnival was like one of those again it defied what they said hip hop was yeah like you go back it was it was ahead of its time like you didn't miss it half people got it y'all got it but then there was a whole nother cool who didn't know what the hell I was talking about
Starting point is 00:36:09 25 tracks dude I had over 20 different rhythms do you know know what carnival is it's a playlist today bad bunny jZ 50 cent you get what I'm saying it's a playlist of everything yeah yeah but it's just so prolific that's what I'm saying like it's you it was just coming out of you it was just flowing yeah yeah that's the spirit baby that's the church it's church I can't even like take no credit for them really they throw me in the church at 12 years old and you got to go with it you know I mean are your parents still with us yeah my dad passed away my mom's still here
Starting point is 00:36:42 she's running the church in South Orange Avenue but you said something which is ill it clicked to me so one day I was in church young prodigy and putting all the music together and I noticed in the hymn book I ran out of fucking songs
Starting point is 00:36:58 and then I went to my dad and I was like yo I'm out of songs and he looked at me and he said well you make up a song then he said because somebody out there have cancer they depend on you some student out there They pressure in the head, they're SAT, they're not going to pass it, they need you.
Starting point is 00:37:15 So to your point, it's like, so when... You remember the song? So when I come out, that's... I'm just the music in general. So when I do music, right, I think of those that I can't see, but are going through things. Yeah. If that makes sense. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:31 And do you feel like you're better at music than you've ever been? Is it a progression that's, like, linear? Or is it like... I'm telling you right now, I'm... better than I've ever been, man. That's amazing. Yeah. Like, I'm better than I've ever been. Yeah. That's awesome.
Starting point is 00:37:48 Yes, sir. So cool. I'm coming out with eight albums this year, actually. All right, baby, let's go it. Let me get a feature on one, you know? Oh, yeah, yeah, but for free. I think what about entertaining people do you love so much?
Starting point is 00:38:07 Well, I'm a born entertainer, and what I love about. about entertainment is every time you see me on the stage and you see me going crazy those that's been a Wycleft show they're like where that energy come from yeah bro I'm celebrating life when you see me on that stage I'm celebrating life and I'm reminding y'all how important it is to it's a good thing to be alive and at the end of the day we take that most little thing for granted right yeah because we ain't promised tomorrow so when you come to my show I'm gonna give you remember
Starting point is 00:38:37 like Prince 1999 I'm gonna treat every day like it's 1999. Almost like the world's going to be over the next day. So what I love the most, yo, I do shows and people come up to me and be like, bro, I was thinking about offing myself. And then I heard this song, Someone Please Call 911, and I changed my mind. I've done shows people came to me like, yo, good looking, man. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have smashed that. Baby, you know what I'm saying? We married now. So at the end of the day, I know my assignment. You feel what I'm saying to you? And like all my peers, I'm just the music, man. I get it. Yeah. Yeah. Do you feel like you are afforded your flowers adequately? Do you, or do you
Starting point is 00:39:24 have not even care? I don't really care. Yeah. The reason why I don't care is because I don't, I don't, because when you look at Barb Marley, he don't have one Grammy. When you look at Jimmy Hendrix, when you look at the loniest monk, when you look at the illest, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, got the assignment right and my assignment is to to to raise the higher consciousness of the human race and I have to do that I'm going to do that that's just my assignment you ever think you ever look at Bob Marley in in the face and he looks like James Franco almost exactly you seen the young pictures of Bob has a guy yeah yeah yeah yeah Bob before the dress right yeah it would be so dope if we got to meet him just the three of us got to chill yeah that would be definitely be a lot of
Starting point is 00:40:09 Oh my god, I would I would try and act like I like a lot of chalice man Yeah, I mean like Wait speaking of chalice have you ever hit the bomb like charliss? What do you think? Like rost of far, you've been to Jamaica? Yeah, of course. So you've hit like the actual chalice the bong? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:32 Okay, my man, no, no, of course. You know the vibe. I do it regularly. You know the vibe. Yeah, yeah, okay. I'm bad at weed. Yeah, it makes me think of everything I say throughout the day and then I'm like, everyone hates you. Why did you say that?
Starting point is 00:40:47 But you've hit the bong, though. Yeah, I've hit a bong before, bro. All right, cool. My man. Cool. Half-baked. You performed, you performed recently again with Lauren. Is there an ambition?
Starting point is 00:41:00 Like, will we ever see you guys make music together again? The greatest ambition that's there is like, I. got my sister back. Yeah. And what I mean by that is at the end of the day, I'm an uncle to Lauren's kids. I can't even act. You know what I mean? They call me unc.
Starting point is 00:41:22 You feel what I'm saying to you? And at the end of the day, that magic that we have that, you know, when we create music or, you know what I'm saying, that energy. You got the facts. You have to. Just the fact, I can do a beat and be like, yo, sis, Chuck. this out, I'm content. But bro, check this out, I'm content.
Starting point is 00:41:44 Now, what that lies in the universe is the most amazing thing, right? Because none of us know what's going to happen. But I can tell you what I feel, though. Magic's in the air. They're getting back together.
Starting point is 00:41:58 They're getting back together. They're getting back together. I'm going to tell you. I'm not there. Magic. I, honestly, I've been trying to keep it cool. I think maybe a little bit or No, have I embarrassed myself? No, you chill.
Starting point is 00:42:12 Okay, great. It's just an honor to you to be here. I like, I appreciate you. Come out so much. Already. Give it up for Whitechon. I know. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:42:21 You. Woo. Good. Hey, all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair.
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