After the Fugees released their commercial breakthrough The Score in 1996, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, and Pras Michel all announced that they would record and release solo albums. This was a no-brainer for both Lauryn and her record label, Columbia, as she was riding the coattails of her performance on "Killing Me Softly With His Song", which essentially sold millions of copies of The Score all by itself.
Which is why it was so surprising that Wyclef Jean beat her to the punch.
Credited only in record label catalogues and online bookstores as Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival Featuring Refugee Allstars, the album better known as The Carnival went on sale in the summer of 1997. Almost as if even Wyclef was surprised that he was the first of the trio with a solo release, he titled one of the tracks "Anything Can Happen". He used the album as an excuse to explore many different musical genres, not just focusing on hip hop and R&B: he even sings several tracks in Haitian Creole, ostensibly because he wanted to be true to his roots, but essentially because he sold over ten million records worldwide and could do whatever the fuck he wanted in 1997.
Even though this is technically a Wyclef solo album, The Carnival was a Refugee Camp family affair. Pras produced the disc's biggest single, "We Trying To Stay Alive", and makes a couple of vocal appearances, and Lauryn Hill both sings and raps on various songs. Unofficial fourth crew member John Forte even lands a couple of guest spots. Wyclef and his cousin Jerry "Wonder" Duplessis co-produced the majority of The Carnival, leaving enough room for Fugee collaborator Salaam Remi to squeak by with one instrumental. Clef's brother and sister, who form the duo Melky Sedeck, even managed to cut in line.
The Carnival ended up being another moneymaker for Columbia Records, moving over five million units worldwide and setting a high bar of expectations for Wyclef Jean, one which he would repeatedly fail to clear with each subsequent solo effort. The world itself moved on to Lauryn Hill's solo debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill soon after, but The Carnival will always be known as the first actual Fugees solo record.
But how does it hold up today?
1. INTRO / COURT / CLEF / INTRO (SKIT / INTERLUDE)
Well, if it worked for The Score, I suppose it could work on The Carnival. Anyway, I find it interesting that the voiceover makes it a point to reference “Nappy Heads” and not Blunted On Reality as a whole, even though The Score is prominently mentioned in this introduction to Wyclef Jean. Hmm. Anyway, this is just a rap album intro masquerading as the beginning of a story. You won't be listening to this one more than the once.
2. APOCALYPSE
“Apocalypse” sets the tone of The Carnival nicely: a melodic beat paired up with rhymes that are overly simple, and yet are somewhat effective. The main issue I have with this song is Clef's second and third bars: “New beats, I never recycle/While you're looking for samples you might get trampled”. Um, the biggest song on The Carnival was a direct rip off of a Bee Gees song. So...what the fuck is Wyclef talking about?
3. GUANTANAMERA (FEAT CELIA CRUZ, LAURYN HILL, & JENI FUJITA)
The inclusion of the late Celia Cruz was a nice touch. This remake/homage (which already nullifies Clef's boasts from the previous track) is actually really fucking entertaining, especially when special guest star Lauryn Hill steps behind the mic and absolutely kills shit. I've always liked this song.
4. PABLO DIABLO (INTERLUDE)
This is actually pretty racist, but it's played for laughs, so I suppose, like Speedy Gonzalez, it's supposed to be funny. I'm surprised this skit made the final cut of a mainstream record release. Then again, The Score featured that ridiculous and obscene riff on Asian culture, so...
5. BUBBLEGOOSE (FEAT MELKY SEDECK)
A remix for this song appears on the South Park Chef Aid album compilation. Yes, that was a useless factoid, but I find it interesting. I love the melodic beat on here more so than Clef's verbal contribution, but this song is still pretty decent. His attempt at sounding like a violent hip hop thug during the second verse is laughable, though.
6. PRELUDE TO “TO ALL THE GIRLS” (INTERLUDE)
On Max's recut and re-sequenced version of The Carnival, this is the only interlude I would retain, but I would combine it with the next track, as they complement each other. (Note: there is not, nor will there ever be, a recut and re-sequenced version of The Carnival, so to all of you record label legal eagles, go busy yourselves finding other ways to fuck over your artists.)
7. TO ALL THE GIRLS
The singing and the rapping don't seem to be about the same topic, but this is one of those songs I don't remember anybody else liking (besides myself) when The Carnival dropped. A remix of this track (entitled “Cheated (To All The Girls)”) appears on the maxi-single and 12-inch which also featured Wyclef's response to LL Cool J's “Return of The Ripper”, "What's Clef?", which, if I remember correctly, kind of sucked. “Cheated (To All The Girls)” was, like, his fifth or sixth single from The Carnival: the man sure got a lot of mileage out of this one album, didn't he?
8. DOWN LO HO (INTERLUDE)
Speaking of the offensive-to-Asians skit from The Score, here's the follow-up. Less incendiary, but still worthless.
9. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN
I remember “We Trying To Stay Alive” was scheduled as the first single from The Carnival, but then a video for “Anything Can Happen” was released. Adding to the confusion, “We Trying To Stay Alive” is actually advertised at the end of the “Anything Can Happen” clip. Weird. Anyway, I've always liked this song. Clef's rhymes aren't anything special, but he sounds good over a beat that help signify that his project wasn't simply another Fugees record, and the overall message is a good one.
10. GONE TILL NOVEMBER
The intro is actually really funny, albeit not on purpose (did Clef really deem it necessary to describe the point where his “voice comes in”?). There are two separate remixes to this song: the one they made a video for when they deemed this album version, I don't know, not musical enough or something, and another pop radio-friendly remix featuring R. Kelly vocals and Canibus rhymes, obviously recorded during the time when Wyclef was guiding the career of the young freestyler. This song still sounds pleasant enough today.
11. WORDS OR WISDOM
A completely skippable interlude.
12. YEAR OF THE DRAGON (FEAT LAURYN HILL)
This was my favorite non-single album track when The Carnival was released, specifically because of Lauryn Hill's verses. (This write-up is just making me even more disappointed with The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill: had she honed her rhyming craft in addition to her singing, she would be in contention for the title of best female emcee, no question.) Clef puts some effort into this shit, as well. Had Pras also made an appearance, this could have easily been an outtake from The Score.
13. SANG FEZI (FEAT LAURYN HILL)
Clef performs this song in Haitian Creole, and he comes off very naturally. Lauryn comes in and sings in English, making this a goofy-sounding collaboration overall, but this is decent enough.
14. FRESH INTERLUDE
A gimmicky deejay cut featuring scratching from DJ Skribble and some rhymes from Clef, one of which makes absolutely no sense: “If your record ain't selling, then you lack creativity”. Huh? You mean to say that all of these assholes on the radio are hoarding all of the creativity while the artists bloggers seem to actually like are creativity-deficient?
15. MONA LISA (FEAT THE NEVILLE BROTHERS)
I can't say I ever thought I would write about Aaron Neville during a hip hop album write-up. And I still won't. This song is meh all the way.
16. STREET JEOPARDY (FEAT JOHN FORTE & R.O.C.)
This would have worked better without the musical cues that are intended to constantly remind you of Jeopardy!, and yet sound nothing like the show. (That was a good trick, by the way.) This is still pretty smooth, though. The track picks up when John Forte steps behind the mic: regardless of whether I felt Poly-Sci held up over the years, that guy just sounds good. R.O.C., a rapper and affiliate of Jermaine Dupri's So So Def crew (he's the guy who sporadically pops up to drop a hot verse and, yet, doesn't have his own album), also sounds decent. All in all, this track is a winner.
17. KILLER M.C. (INTERLUDE) (FEAT PRAS)
Funny (as if Pras could ever be confused with a hardcore gangsta rapper), but unnecessary. Also serves to interrupt the flow of The Carnival entirely.
18. WE TRYING TO STAY ALIVE (FEAT PRAS & JOHN FORTE)
The first single (or, at least, it was supposed to be). Wyclef bypasses the 1980s entirely to liberally sample (read: steal from) “Staying Alive” from the Bee Gees. And I actually really like this song. Clef and (especially) John Forte rip shit, a commendable feat considering that Forte was eating mangoes in Trinidad with his attorneys at the time. Shit, even Pras sounds good, and how often does that happen? I suppose it helps that I love the original source material. The video is also especially goofy, aping Saturday Night Fever and utilizing Afrika Bambaataa's “Planet Rock” underneath a sequence where a dance-off occurs outside of the disco – yep, I just wrote “dance-off”. But, yeah, Wyclef (and Pras, the song's producer) officially ruined the art of sampling in hip hop after releasing this song.
19. GUNPOWDER (FEAT LAURYN HILL)
It makes no fucking sense to place this after such an upbeat track, but whatever. Clef's third foray into singing (in English, anyway) on The Carnival is light years ahead of “Mona Lisa”, but is still not as entertaining as “Gone Till November”, although this still sounds nice.
20. CLOSING ARGUMENTS (INTERLUDE/SKIT)
Was this shit even funny to Wyclef at the time it was recorded? At least the dumbass interludes finally wind down upon the conclusion of this track.
21. ENTER THE CARNIVAL (INTERLUDE)
To be honest, my typical listening habit with The Carnival resulted in switching out for another CD once this final four-track suite kicked in. Wyclef provides listeners with an introduction to what will ultimately sound like a whole other album, one sang entirely in Haitian Creole. You've been warned.
22. JASPORA
Sure, it may not be in English, but looking past that, Clef and Jerry's production work helps this track fit seamlessly onto The Carnival. This could have appeared after “Bubblegoose” and nobody would have batted an eye. I mean that in a good way.
23. YELE (FEAT JOEL SERVILUS & LAURYN HILL)
Would probably make for good music used for a montage sequence in a romantic comedy, the kind where the leads realize that they are in love with each other. I'm only basing this on how the song sounds, though: for all I know, Clef is talking about killing his ex-wife, Marshall Mathers style.
24. CARNIVAL (FEAT JACOB DESVARIEUX, JOCELYN BEROUARD, & SWEET MICKEY)
I found this song annoying as shit. I wouldn't revisit this “Carnival” for all of the free funnel cakes in the world.
FINAL THOUGHTS: I'll be blunt: the numerous skits on The Carnival are severely detrimental to the project as a whole. They're really fucking horrible, and they detract from the overall listening experience. Which is a shame, because when it comes to the actual music, The Carnival is entertaining as hell. Lyrically, Wyclef will never be top five dead or alive, but he surrounds himself with engaging musical backdrops and talented friends (John Forte and Lauryn Hill especially), proving that he is fully capable of handling a solo career. Which is probably why he's the lone member of the now-defunct Fugees that still works today. Huh.
BUY OR BURN? The music is good enough to warrant a purchase, but here's what I recommend: Pick this disc up at your local record shoppe, and only upload the songs onto your iTunes. Ignore the skits and interludes entirely. Then, hide the disc in a box somewhere, press 'play' on your iPod, and enjoy Clef's solo debut unencumbered by the bullshit.
BEST TRACKS: “Year Of The Dragon”; “Anything Can Happen”; “We Trying To Stay Alive”; “Guantanamera”; “To All The Girls”; “Bubblegoose”; “Street Jeopardy”
-Max
Which is why it was so surprising that Wyclef Jean beat her to the punch.
Credited only in record label catalogues and online bookstores as Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival Featuring Refugee Allstars, the album better known as The Carnival went on sale in the summer of 1997. Almost as if even Wyclef was surprised that he was the first of the trio with a solo release, he titled one of the tracks "Anything Can Happen". He used the album as an excuse to explore many different musical genres, not just focusing on hip hop and R&B: he even sings several tracks in Haitian Creole, ostensibly because he wanted to be true to his roots, but essentially because he sold over ten million records worldwide and could do whatever the fuck he wanted in 1997.
Even though this is technically a Wyclef solo album, The Carnival was a Refugee Camp family affair. Pras produced the disc's biggest single, "We Trying To Stay Alive", and makes a couple of vocal appearances, and Lauryn Hill both sings and raps on various songs. Unofficial fourth crew member John Forte even lands a couple of guest spots. Wyclef and his cousin Jerry "Wonder" Duplessis co-produced the majority of The Carnival, leaving enough room for Fugee collaborator Salaam Remi to squeak by with one instrumental. Clef's brother and sister, who form the duo Melky Sedeck, even managed to cut in line.
The Carnival ended up being another moneymaker for Columbia Records, moving over five million units worldwide and setting a high bar of expectations for Wyclef Jean, one which he would repeatedly fail to clear with each subsequent solo effort. The world itself moved on to Lauryn Hill's solo debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill soon after, but The Carnival will always be known as the first actual Fugees solo record.
But how does it hold up today?
1. INTRO / COURT / CLEF / INTRO (SKIT / INTERLUDE)
Well, if it worked for The Score, I suppose it could work on The Carnival. Anyway, I find it interesting that the voiceover makes it a point to reference “Nappy Heads” and not Blunted On Reality as a whole, even though The Score is prominently mentioned in this introduction to Wyclef Jean. Hmm. Anyway, this is just a rap album intro masquerading as the beginning of a story. You won't be listening to this one more than the once.
2. APOCALYPSE
“Apocalypse” sets the tone of The Carnival nicely: a melodic beat paired up with rhymes that are overly simple, and yet are somewhat effective. The main issue I have with this song is Clef's second and third bars: “New beats, I never recycle/While you're looking for samples you might get trampled”. Um, the biggest song on The Carnival was a direct rip off of a Bee Gees song. So...what the fuck is Wyclef talking about?
3. GUANTANAMERA (FEAT CELIA CRUZ, LAURYN HILL, & JENI FUJITA)
The inclusion of the late Celia Cruz was a nice touch. This remake/homage (which already nullifies Clef's boasts from the previous track) is actually really fucking entertaining, especially when special guest star Lauryn Hill steps behind the mic and absolutely kills shit. I've always liked this song.
4. PABLO DIABLO (INTERLUDE)
This is actually pretty racist, but it's played for laughs, so I suppose, like Speedy Gonzalez, it's supposed to be funny. I'm surprised this skit made the final cut of a mainstream record release. Then again, The Score featured that ridiculous and obscene riff on Asian culture, so...
5. BUBBLEGOOSE (FEAT MELKY SEDECK)
A remix for this song appears on the South Park Chef Aid album compilation. Yes, that was a useless factoid, but I find it interesting. I love the melodic beat on here more so than Clef's verbal contribution, but this song is still pretty decent. His attempt at sounding like a violent hip hop thug during the second verse is laughable, though.
6. PRELUDE TO “TO ALL THE GIRLS” (INTERLUDE)
On Max's recut and re-sequenced version of The Carnival, this is the only interlude I would retain, but I would combine it with the next track, as they complement each other. (Note: there is not, nor will there ever be, a recut and re-sequenced version of The Carnival, so to all of you record label legal eagles, go busy yourselves finding other ways to fuck over your artists.)
7. TO ALL THE GIRLS
The singing and the rapping don't seem to be about the same topic, but this is one of those songs I don't remember anybody else liking (besides myself) when The Carnival dropped. A remix of this track (entitled “Cheated (To All The Girls)”) appears on the maxi-single and 12-inch which also featured Wyclef's response to LL Cool J's “Return of The Ripper”, "What's Clef?", which, if I remember correctly, kind of sucked. “Cheated (To All The Girls)” was, like, his fifth or sixth single from The Carnival: the man sure got a lot of mileage out of this one album, didn't he?
8. DOWN LO HO (INTERLUDE)
Speaking of the offensive-to-Asians skit from The Score, here's the follow-up. Less incendiary, but still worthless.
9. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN
I remember “We Trying To Stay Alive” was scheduled as the first single from The Carnival, but then a video for “Anything Can Happen” was released. Adding to the confusion, “We Trying To Stay Alive” is actually advertised at the end of the “Anything Can Happen” clip. Weird. Anyway, I've always liked this song. Clef's rhymes aren't anything special, but he sounds good over a beat that help signify that his project wasn't simply another Fugees record, and the overall message is a good one.
10. GONE TILL NOVEMBER
The intro is actually really funny, albeit not on purpose (did Clef really deem it necessary to describe the point where his “voice comes in”?). There are two separate remixes to this song: the one they made a video for when they deemed this album version, I don't know, not musical enough or something, and another pop radio-friendly remix featuring R. Kelly vocals and Canibus rhymes, obviously recorded during the time when Wyclef was guiding the career of the young freestyler. This song still sounds pleasant enough today.
11. WORDS OR WISDOM
A completely skippable interlude.
12. YEAR OF THE DRAGON (FEAT LAURYN HILL)
This was my favorite non-single album track when The Carnival was released, specifically because of Lauryn Hill's verses. (This write-up is just making me even more disappointed with The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill: had she honed her rhyming craft in addition to her singing, she would be in contention for the title of best female emcee, no question.) Clef puts some effort into this shit, as well. Had Pras also made an appearance, this could have easily been an outtake from The Score.
13. SANG FEZI (FEAT LAURYN HILL)
Clef performs this song in Haitian Creole, and he comes off very naturally. Lauryn comes in and sings in English, making this a goofy-sounding collaboration overall, but this is decent enough.
14. FRESH INTERLUDE
A gimmicky deejay cut featuring scratching from DJ Skribble and some rhymes from Clef, one of which makes absolutely no sense: “If your record ain't selling, then you lack creativity”. Huh? You mean to say that all of these assholes on the radio are hoarding all of the creativity while the artists bloggers seem to actually like are creativity-deficient?
15. MONA LISA (FEAT THE NEVILLE BROTHERS)
I can't say I ever thought I would write about Aaron Neville during a hip hop album write-up. And I still won't. This song is meh all the way.
16. STREET JEOPARDY (FEAT JOHN FORTE & R.O.C.)
This would have worked better without the musical cues that are intended to constantly remind you of Jeopardy!, and yet sound nothing like the show. (That was a good trick, by the way.) This is still pretty smooth, though. The track picks up when John Forte steps behind the mic: regardless of whether I felt Poly-Sci held up over the years, that guy just sounds good. R.O.C., a rapper and affiliate of Jermaine Dupri's So So Def crew (he's the guy who sporadically pops up to drop a hot verse and, yet, doesn't have his own album), also sounds decent. All in all, this track is a winner.
17. KILLER M.C. (INTERLUDE) (FEAT PRAS)
Funny (as if Pras could ever be confused with a hardcore gangsta rapper), but unnecessary. Also serves to interrupt the flow of The Carnival entirely.
18. WE TRYING TO STAY ALIVE (FEAT PRAS & JOHN FORTE)
The first single (or, at least, it was supposed to be). Wyclef bypasses the 1980s entirely to liberally sample (read: steal from) “Staying Alive” from the Bee Gees. And I actually really like this song. Clef and (especially) John Forte rip shit, a commendable feat considering that Forte was eating mangoes in Trinidad with his attorneys at the time. Shit, even Pras sounds good, and how often does that happen? I suppose it helps that I love the original source material. The video is also especially goofy, aping Saturday Night Fever and utilizing Afrika Bambaataa's “Planet Rock” underneath a sequence where a dance-off occurs outside of the disco – yep, I just wrote “dance-off”. But, yeah, Wyclef (and Pras, the song's producer) officially ruined the art of sampling in hip hop after releasing this song.
19. GUNPOWDER (FEAT LAURYN HILL)
It makes no fucking sense to place this after such an upbeat track, but whatever. Clef's third foray into singing (in English, anyway) on The Carnival is light years ahead of “Mona Lisa”, but is still not as entertaining as “Gone Till November”, although this still sounds nice.
20. CLOSING ARGUMENTS (INTERLUDE/SKIT)
Was this shit even funny to Wyclef at the time it was recorded? At least the dumbass interludes finally wind down upon the conclusion of this track.
21. ENTER THE CARNIVAL (INTERLUDE)
To be honest, my typical listening habit with The Carnival resulted in switching out for another CD once this final four-track suite kicked in. Wyclef provides listeners with an introduction to what will ultimately sound like a whole other album, one sang entirely in Haitian Creole. You've been warned.
22. JASPORA
Sure, it may not be in English, but looking past that, Clef and Jerry's production work helps this track fit seamlessly onto The Carnival. This could have appeared after “Bubblegoose” and nobody would have batted an eye. I mean that in a good way.
23. YELE (FEAT JOEL SERVILUS & LAURYN HILL)
Would probably make for good music used for a montage sequence in a romantic comedy, the kind where the leads realize that they are in love with each other. I'm only basing this on how the song sounds, though: for all I know, Clef is talking about killing his ex-wife, Marshall Mathers style.
24. CARNIVAL (FEAT JACOB DESVARIEUX, JOCELYN BEROUARD, & SWEET MICKEY)
I found this song annoying as shit. I wouldn't revisit this “Carnival” for all of the free funnel cakes in the world.
FINAL THOUGHTS: I'll be blunt: the numerous skits on The Carnival are severely detrimental to the project as a whole. They're really fucking horrible, and they detract from the overall listening experience. Which is a shame, because when it comes to the actual music, The Carnival is entertaining as hell. Lyrically, Wyclef will never be top five dead or alive, but he surrounds himself with engaging musical backdrops and talented friends (John Forte and Lauryn Hill especially), proving that he is fully capable of handling a solo career. Which is probably why he's the lone member of the now-defunct Fugees that still works today. Huh.
BUY OR BURN? The music is good enough to warrant a purchase, but here's what I recommend: Pick this disc up at your local record shoppe, and only upload the songs onto your iTunes. Ignore the skits and interludes entirely. Then, hide the disc in a box somewhere, press 'play' on your iPod, and enjoy Clef's solo debut unencumbered by the bullshit.
BEST TRACKS: “Year Of The Dragon”; “Anything Can Happen”; “We Trying To Stay Alive”; “Guantanamera”; “To All The Girls”; “Bubblegoose”; “Street Jeopardy”
-Max
Opinionated but still fair review. This album was the shit when it dropped. Bubblegoose, Apocalypse, Street jepordy were all hot, simply because they weren't stereotypical.
ReplyDeleteWyclef indeed is the man.
ReplyDeleteNice look at sadly his strongest album
just read your review of follow the leader , if you think eric b did the beats you are kidding your self. max you are only lying to your self with these old school reviews when you only started listening to hip hop in the late 90's! and i know you from around the way so don't start speaking bullshit.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous if you want to see true bullshit check out Max's review of Kingdom Come and Stillmatic. Camel nuthugging at its finest.
ReplyDeletei like that guatanamera song, its the shit
ReplyDeletethe late 90's you say...hmmm...i did get the feeling that dude didn't handle old school material well, specifically the "it's a big daddy thing" write up... he writes pretty good for a 22 year old tho'
ReplyDeletethe interludes were and still are funny as fuck...this nigga max a little bit too old for his young self sometimes...
ReplyDeletehaha max is just a 20 year old
ReplyDeleteWhatever age Max is it doesn't matter shit, he got balls to pull his opinion off and keeps doing it pretty well.
ReplyDeleteMax, have you listened to Carnival II? What do you think? Keep on writing, son, big ups!
You should've skipped reviewing the haitian creole part of this album if you don't understand the language. I mean "Yele" is not about killing his wife & "Carnival" is Kompa music, a whole other genre. I do salute your attempt at thoroughness. Cool blog nonetheless
ReplyDeleteYele translates to "screaming", the song is obviously some kind of lament, fitting more amontage of human suffering rather than the rocom...dunno why but i always did and still like yele a lot
ReplyDeleteMona Lisa is a tune!
ReplyDeleteWait you like Staying Alive, but rip puffy on anything he does? Puffy is a thief, granted, but Staying Alive was awful, I remember listening to it back in the day saying "oh Wyclef's trying to get hisPuff Daddy on" just awful song.
ReplyDelete