Lead Fugees rapper and sometime guitarist Wyclef Jean was the first member of his group to embark on a solo career, and he proved even more ambitious and eclectic on his own. As the Fugees hung in limbo, Wyclef also became hip-hop’s unofficial multicultural conscience. A seemingly omnipresent activist, he assembled or participated in numerous high-profile charity benefit shows for a variety of causes, including aid for his native Haiti. The utopian one-world sensibility that fueled Wyclef’s political consciousness also appeared in his recordings, which fused hip-hop with as many different styles of music as he could get his hands on (though, given his Caribbean roots, reggae is a particular favorite). In addition to his niche as hip-hop’s foremost global citizen, Clef is also a noted producer and remixer who has worked with an impressive array of pop, R&B, and hip-hop talent, including Whitney Houston, Santana, Destiny’s Child and Shakira.
