But in person, Wyclef claims to be pretty happy-go-lucky. He's not really frustrated with his record label constantly hounding him for another Fugees record, despite devoting the album's opening skit and song to that very isssue. He's not really annoyed with his Fugee-mates for not returning his phone calls despite making repeated reference to it on The Ecleftic. As for being called-out as a pop sell-out, Wyclef claims never to have heard such accusations, although he makes direct reference to it on the album's ominous, "Pullin' Me In." ("Hip-hop fans, you like the chick in my house/ No matter how faithful I am, y'all still have y'all doubts/ Talkin' bout, 'Is he real in this relationship/ or did he go pop and on the side get a mistress?")

So what the hell's going on here? Is his venomous follow-up to his multi-platinum solo debut, The Carnival, just exaggeration for effect? Is it a pose? Or is he simply hedging his bets, trying to do a little damage control after striking back pretty viciously at his perceived oppressors? You decide.

What's up Wyclef?

What up playa?

Not too much, how you doin'?

Maintaining.

Well, I just got the new album a few days ago, so I wanted to talk a little about it. Did you have any specific goals when you went in to make it?

Yeah, definitely. What I wanted people to get from the album was that every song that I did, I recorded through an emotion, at a certain feeling, being at a certain place. So that when anybody whoever -- from old folks to young folks -- pick up the album they feel like there's a song that tells the story of their life.

How were your goals different than they were for The Carnival?

Well, I think since I've done The Carnival, I've matured as an artist, as a producer, as a songwriter, as a hip-hopper. So I think, that's why I call the album The Ecleftic, from the word eclectic. I feel like more people is ready to hear and accept the sound of Wyclef now versus when he was doing The Carnival. You feel what I'm sayin? Like when I was doing The Carnival, The Carnival was a test record, it was my freshman album. Like, "Can he do it?" And after The Carnival it's like -- I didn't do The Carnival and stop. After I did The Carnival, that's when the work started. So you've been seeing my growth in songwriting in different places. Which brings us to The Ecleftic. Where now everyone's like, "We gotta pick this up," because if he's writing all these songs for these people, if he's like one of the number one producers in the world, ain't no way his album is gonna be wack. Y'know?

On the opening track to the new album it's obvious you're very frustrated with everybody asking you about the next Fugees album. Has the record label really been riding you about that?

No. I just think that bringing you into the world of the question which is asked every day. It's just a question asked everyday, whether it's the label or walking down the street, it's just me making humor out of it. But whatever I do, my record company supports 100 percent. Tommy Mattola, Donnie Iner, they back me up and they support it 100 percent.

So they're cool with the skit at the beginning?

Oh, yeah, yeah, because I'm not being offensive. I'm being Clef humor. And it's out of respect. I have a lot of respect for Tommy Mattola and Donnie Iner. So make sure you print that part. (Laughs)

Do you feel like you're solo stuff is compared unfairly to the Fugees stuff?

I feel like The Carnival was supposed to sell more records. I feel like by the time people caught on to The Carnival -- like right now, I think when The Ecleftic comes out, they're gonna put a reissue on The Carnival. Because I think a lot of people should have had The Carnival because it was a very musical album. I think this time around there will be a fair shot. I think people know what Clef's about. Cause I'm like that, as a consumer. I'm not gonna go pick up something because someone sold 17 million records. I don't care. Or because they have a number one song on the radio. I like to wait and see if the person is a true artist. Like, there's no more Eric Claptons. You feel me? So everytime I'm comin' out, I'm trying to be like, so you be like, "Yo that's Wyclef." Not, what sound is on the radio but, "that's Wyclef and he's about to bring us a body of music." As long as I can keep doing that and get you guys to come and see me at Madison Square Garden, it's about to be on this year.

Your first solo album, The Carnival, did very well, it sold well, got generally good reviews, but then a year later, Lauryn comes out with her album, and it's like the world stops turning. Everyone jumps all over it, she wins all these Grammys. Did you feel like your album kind of got overshadowed by that?

Well, I think as a Fugee, we're always gonna get compared. You feel what I'm sayin'? It's like, "They dropped the score, Clef drops The Carnival, Lauryn drops the Miseducation, 'Oh, Lauryn blew everyone out the water,' -- oh, here comes Clef, Clef drops The Ecleftic." I think the reason everyone's doing that is because we're so successful with the projects. I think if we was like Bel Biv Devoe or New Edition reunion, Johnny Gill and all that wack shit, who cares about a New Edition reunion? Y'know. Now, I'm gonna get beat up by New Edition.

You mention that Lauryn and Pras aren't returning your phone calls. Is that true?

No that's just a joke.

So I take it you do want to make another Fugees record?

Yeah, I think what it is is after I do this record, I think Lauryn's gonna do another record, because she's probably gonna feel like doing one and after that there should be another Fugee record. But you know, Ecleftic, there's part one and two. I'm just dropping part one right now. Part Two is coming out around Christmas time.

How's Part Two going to be different?

Well, part two's a continuation of part one. I have a total of fifty songs and a CD only fits so much and I'm not trying to have people pay for a double CD. So I'm bringing you the summer and the winter.

Did you try to group the songs thematically at all?

Oh yeah, definitely, I tapped into all the stuff that was going on right now. I wanted a nice summer going into fall release, and there's enough stuff there to carry you to the beginning of next year.

Do you feel like, after waiting so long and with all the other solo successes that all three of you have had, the expectations for another Fugees record will be impossibly high?

Man, I think the expectations is going to be, when people turn on their CD player, they gonna wanna feel like they in heaven or something.

So that's obviously gotta be a lot of pressure on you guys.

Umm, I think life without no pressure is boring.

You've obviously made an effort -- not just on your solo albums, but with the albums you produce, the people you work with, the people you play with -- to not limit yourself to the world of hip-hop when you look for collaborators. Is that a conscious effort to really break down the walls between hip-hop and other genres?

Yeah. I mean, I'm not a boaster, I'm not a bragger but everytime I do an album, it goes through the whole industry and I think a lot of kids get braver to go places that they wouldn't normally go, after seeing what I do. After I did "Gone 'Til November" and brought out the violins and the airport, if you look the way a lot of videos changed. Or the Fugees "Ready Or Not." I think we're responsible for a lot of that stuff but we don't brag about it.

Do you feel a responsibility to expose hip-hop fans to a wider palate of music than they might be used to hearing on the radio or whatever?

Definitely. Because I'm from the hip-hop era. But I can hang with the rock, the country, the jazz. I feel they're really part of the same thing.

Does it bother you that by doing this and branching out you catch some flak from people who say, you're selling out, or going pop, or just not street enough anymore?

Well, with me, I've never heard that. I think that with me, I'm the only cat who can have Kenny Rogers on my album. Y'know I don't think no other hip-hopper -- well, let me see what happens after I put out this album. Let me see what kids do next.

On a few of the tracks, "Pullin' Me In," "However You Want It," you definitely sound like your venting some rage. Did it feel good to get that stuff off your chest?

Oh yeah, it feels great. You ever vented on your boss or something, just before you left a job, knowing you didn't care? You had a job somewhere else paying you more money. Yeah.

Do you feel like you haven't been getting the respect you've earned from a lot of your peers?

Umm, yeah. Sometimes, I definitely feel a frustrated. I feel like I put a lot of kids down and sometimes I feel like I got fucked over. You ever feel like you got fucked over?

Sure.

Yeah, so it's like, so now I only help my family members. Everyone else -- if you don't come in peace and love -- because you know humans, they like to suck blood.

You've engaged in some lyrical battles on record -- the stuff with LL and Canibus, some of the tracks on the new record -- but you've always seemed to make a point of saying, "Hey, this is stuff for the record, that were gonna settle old-school style with rhymes and not start waving guns around and using real violence on the streets to settle the score." Do you still think like that?

I definitely keep it on record. I mended my peace with LL Cool J. He came to see me in the studio and I apologized to LL, because, he's a bigger man than I am and I apologized for getting caught up in the thing that I got caught up in, but I have nothing but respect for LL. It was a hip-hop battle. Y'know what I mean? But as far as Canibus, he gets the nuts.

Did you feel like you had something to prove with this album?

Big time. I feel like I have something to prove everytime I walk out there on the court. Y'know, the day that I do something and I don't feel like I've got something to prove, something's wrong with what I'm doing. Y'know? I was the kid that walked in the room and liked to show off to the girls, so that's me.

What do you feel like you get out of music?

I don't do drugs, you understand what I'm saying, so music is my high. So I guess the same thing that keeps making a crack fiend go back to crack. I get a high out of music. It's a high you can't explain. It almost feels like you in heaven or something.

What do you want other people to get out of your music?

I want other people to get out of my music a sense of warmth, unity, nonviolence, but being able to express yourself and how you feel. And everything, different emotions. Like I got a song that's supposed to make the chicks feel like ecstacy, so why do it?

Bill Stupay