Wyclef salutes Jamaica’s music
DURING his performance at the Shaggy and Friends charity concert on Saturday, Haitian American musician Wyclef Jean took a few minutes to acknowledge the impact of Jamaica’s music on the world stage.
The event was held on the lawns of Jamaica House in St Andrew.
“We’re in Jamaica right now. This is where everybody be stealing the music from; the culture from. When you hear Justin Beiber, (when) you hear Diplo — a Jamaica that. When you hear my brother Drake killing it with Popcaan — respect to Drake … a Jamaica that. We can’t exploit the music coming from the Caribbean, we have to respect it,” Wyclef Jean told patrons as well as his Instagram live followers.
Speaking to the Jamaica Observer after his performance, the superstar expressed his reasons for promoting Jamaican music.
“At the end of the day, it’s important. That’s why I keep telling you, Jamaica has to protect its copyrights. Don’t just throw ’em online like that. When I sample somebody’s music, I acknowledge them. When Khalid sampled my music, he started the video Wild Thoughts with the Haitian flag. There’s something about paying respect to what came before you. I paid respect to the music, and the people said ‘He’s one of us’, and I just want people to respect the music,” he told Observer.
Jean hit the stage close to 2:00 am and gave enthralling performances of 911, Gone ‘Til November, Maria Maria and Ready or Not, a song recorded by his former group, The Fugees, which comprised Lauryn Hill and Prakazrel “Pras” Michel.
He climbed the separating barrier and went into the ultra-exclusive Platinum Section to perform Sweetest Girl, before being joined by event conceptualiser Shaggy for Killing Me Softly.
In a performance of Hip Hopera, a song released by The Fugees featuring Bounty Killer in 1997, Wyclef Jean said he was sad that Bounty Killer was not there to perform it with him, but said it was important for him to acknowledge Bounty Killer nonetheless. He climbed one of the stage’s supporting column during this song.
“I saw Killer earlier and that’s why I played the record. So if he came it was good; but if not, I still wanted to acknowledge him and the music, cause the party is still gonna rock; it was just fun,” he added.
Wyclef Jean is now gearing up for his Symphonic Hip Hop Tour, which will feature a symphony orchestra starting January 19 in the United States.
Proceeds of the biennial concert are slated for the Bustamante Hospital for Children.
