Clefstravaganza: Wyclef Drops New Video, Book, Explains Fugees Breakup

Words by Jesse Serwer—

His political aspirations and the Yele controversy behind him (for the time being), Wyclef Jean is back to focusing on music, and the personal. A suddenly ubiquitous Clef has spoken out publicly about the end of his relationship with Lauryn Hill, released his first book and dropped new music, all in the last 24 hours or so. The comments about Lauryn and the book are part of the same conversation, as Purpose: An Immigrant’s Story includes the detail that the Fugees ended due to Lauryn’s pregnancy with her first child with Rohan Marley—or, more specifically, Lauryn’s leading Clef to believe that the child was his.

On the music tip, meanwhile, “Amadeus” offers a different set of autobiographical nuggets, detailing his come-up from raggamuffin youth to international music hero: “I started off a battle MC, but a wise bird told me, if you’re gonna make money, you gotta learn to write your sheet music…” The song has an improvised, spontaneous quality—doubt we’ll hear it on his next LP, but an interesting look at his thought/creative process nonetheless. Watch the video here: