Afiwi: First and foremost. It's an honour and a privilege to have one of the premiere stars from out of Haiti be on the official Caribbean website for Caribbean news, sports, and everything else that's Caribbean; Afiwi.com. We want to say a good afternoon to the one and only Wyclef Jean!

Clef: What's up Baby? What's going on man!

Afiwi: First of all; it's a pleasure to have you here with us on Afiwi.com. Here we are linking everyone from the Caribbean worldwide to one stop on the web for everything that's Caribbean. You are huge in Haiti! Now even though people from the Caribbean diaspora are all over the world, Afiwi.com is linking the Caribbean and the Caribbean diaspora to one site online. You know, you've worked and touched bases with many important figureheads in the world; people like President Clinton. What type of an experience was that for you personally?

'Clef: I mean, I've known Clinton for probably the last year that he was in office and stuff. The vibe that I always got from Clinton was you-know, he never gave me a president-vibe. I talked to him on more than one occasion; he gave me the vibe of like, if you needed someone to talk to, you could always hit me up and stuff. He played the saxophone, he was a musician, he wanted to work on an album, so it was definitely a lot of different things and stuff; you-know-what-I'm-saying? Definitely.

Afiwi: Irie! I'm going to rewind the clock with you. The world knows that you were born in Haiti. Can you be specific as to the city or town that you were born?

'Clef: Yeah, I was born in La Plaine, you-know-what-I'm-saying? Look out for that. You know how people be like they're from Kingston? You know, but the little spot that I'm from is La Plaine. It's like a village right? [directed to Sweet Mickey]

Sweet Mickey: (in background) It's back in 1954

'Clef: 54? (to Sweet Mickey) 43.. 43.. 1943, when I was a young man, way way way back then. That's my man there, Sweet Mickey. That's like the official you-know-what-I'm-saying King of Haiti for real, the whole Compas movement you-know-what-I'm-saying? So all of that. If you heard my album "The Carnival"
and the joint "original original" [sings]. I'm talking about Sweet Mickey, he's like The Godfather of that whole form of music. We up here, we shooting a video right now for a Creole album I've got coming out called "The MVP". So the whole Caribbean look out for not just the American album "Masquerade" but look out for the Caribbean side of Wyclef too. We're trying to push the style of music called Compas. That's the kind of style from our country. You know how you have Reggae, Soca, and all that; so we feel that the beat that we've got can bounce in all parts of the world too. When you go to Carnival every year, you bounce to you-know the different music that make it to Carnival in Trinidad. It don't matter about the country you're from. So this rhythm right here, the Compas rhythm is a very unique style rhythm which we feel is gonna take the world by storm.

Afiwi: Well we totally agree with you and your analysis right there, because here at Afiwi.com, it doesn't make a difference what country you're from in the Caribbean, Afiwi (ah-fe-wi) means "ours". It's all one, so your analysis is right on spot. It's great to see that two (2) of the most premiere musical acts that are from Haiti, Sweet Mickey and 'Clef in one seat, in one place? That's some piece of history we're dealing with right here?

'Clef: Yeah yeah man it's history. The only good thing is that you got it on the (afiwi) dot com baby you-understand what I'm saying? Keep this, cherish it for the kids man, you-understand-what-I'm-trying-to-tell-you?

Afiwi: That's what its all about. We know that Compas music has crossed over just like Reggae and has broken ground in non-traditional mediums. Where do you see the future of Compas mixed with Hip-Hop? Where do you see that going?

'Clef: I mean well it's going the "MVP" direction; it's like we running it. Right now we got Sweet Mickey on our side, he handles the Compas stuff, we do a lot of the Reggae and Hip-Hop stuff, so I think the future of Compas is fusion. Fusion means that the young kids are listening to Hip-Hop and Reggae as well as Compas. They're not listening to your traditional (bomp, bomp, bomp) [sings]. The same kids that listen to Jay-Z will listen to a Sweet Mickey. So now you have a generation where like that, so if you want the Compas to work, you have to make sure that there's enough Reggae beats in it, there's enough Hip-Hop in it, there's enough lyrical continuity in it. The kids love lyrics, so I think the future for Compas is fusion, you-know-what-I'm-saying?

Afiwi: Seen! Now you mentioned the kids. Who inspired you when you were a youngster growing up in Haiti and then Brooklyn? Who inspired you, gave you the inspiration to get involved with the music?

'Clef: Ever since I was a little kid there used to be the Carnival that used to pass

Afiwi: yeah, Brooklyn Carnival?

'Clef: No, no in Haiti

Afiwi: oh, I beg your pardon

'Clef: They always say that when I was little, when the Carnival was passing, my parents were Christian. They said somehow I used to run out of the house and while the Carnival's passing, with no clothes on, and I'm jigging my body, they used to come and pull me in. They said that ever since I was little, I always had the rhythm in me. Probably, I'd say that my parents had the biggest influence. My mother and father who passed away. Those are like my two biggest influences I'd probably say, you-know?

Afiwi: Respec'! I know that your late dad was a man of the church. I'm assuming that that had a whole heap of inspiration on you also.

'Clef: Yeah definitely, with my father being a minister. You got a lot of "PK's" (pastor's kids) are supposed to be the worst kids; don't think that because my dad's a minister that I won't kill you, I'll kill you! What he did was he showed me spirituality, which is the most important thing. You can have everything but if you don't have no spirituality and no culture, money doesn't equal respect and culture. So he taught me the spiritual side of it. The spiritual side is to know your culture and where you're from. Without him I probably wouldn't be here, I'd be lost definitely.

Afiwi: We know that the Marley family has a huge presence here in South Florida, and we've come to see that 'Clef also has that same prominent presence in South Florida. I know that you took part in Spring Ting 2001 where there was some Compas, Hip-Hop, and some Reggae artists. What inspired you to choose Miami, and will you be coming back for another Spring Ting?

'Clef: I'm the King of Spring Ting! Without 'Clef you can't have no Spring Ting! Something's gonna be wrong, they're gonna be saying "Where's 'Clef? Why didn't 'Clef show up?" Because the ladies are coming to see 'Clef, I'm telling you, because I bring them the pina-colada baby. (laughs)
I definitely want to participate in more Spring Ting's. It's incredible because you get Reggae, Compas, everything on one stage. I think that's what makes it hot. I'm not really for events that say this is a Reggae event, or this is a Compas event, or this is so-and-so. I think the bigger you make I, if you put the Caribbean together and do a big thing, it's all gonna work.

Afiwi: Nice one. What's your relationship like with the Marley family?

'Clef: Steve Marley's like my brother. When you see Steve, ask him about me, he'll tell you. That's like my little brother you-know-what-I'm-saying?

Afiwi: Nice one. You've done remarkable work as a producer with Maria from Carlos Santana, and songs from Whitney Houston, Eric Clapton; you've also done work with Bounty Killer. Are you working on any new projects with any artists that we'd like to know about on Afiwi.com?

'Clef: Yeah definitely! Right now I've got to do something with Carlos Santana, getting ready to come out with Jerry Wonder's group City High. We've got a big group, City High, off the booga basement. Right now we want the whole Caribbean, we're gonna get this Creole records thing. My whole dream is to form a Creole label. With this label, I want people to understand it's not Creole music, it's World Beat music; meaning that the Creole and Compas play one part of it, but we'll be signing acts from all parts of the world.

Afiwi: Nice one. One final question. The Caribbean and people of the Caribbean are spread worldwide and they use Afiwi.com to catch up on their news from Haiti and throughout the Caribbean. What do you want the world to know about Wyclef Jean for the future?

'Clef: Basically I want them to know that "Masquerade" comes out on June 18th. That's the new one, so look out for that. That's the one I did after my dad passed, look out for that. It's supposed to be my deepest album out of the three (3). For everybody who lost somebody out there and stuff, when you need therapy, music is the best way and I learned that. All that violence in the world, we need to stop that.

Afiwi: Respec'

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