Article by Jim Chapin
Photography by Michael Mullenix
In today’s music environment, it is amazingly simple for a young musician to make their music available via various websites and streaming services. No longer does a musician need a recording contract and label support to be heard. That’s all great in theory, but with this ease comes overabundance. There is so much music available – and at various qualities – that, as easy as it is to get one’s music out there, it is another thing entirely to get it heard.
Wyclef Jean is on a mission to change that. Jean is a Grammy award-winning musician, rapper, actor, and music producer first known for being a member of the New Jersey hip hop group the Fugees.
During the promotion of his latest album, “Carnival III,” Jean visited various colleges and universities including UCLA, USC, Howard, Temple, UMass, NYU, and Lowell. At each stop, he gave a “masterclass,” directly connecting and interacting with students. These students, in turn, made a significant impact on him. He describes the experience as “going back to school.” He learned as much from the students as they learned from him. The content he captured on this journey has not only impacted the lives of the students Jean chose to mentor, but it has also inspired viewers to follow their dreams in a positive and healthy way.
As a result, Jean recorded the “Wyclef Goes Back to School” album, which just dropped last week. The album contains all original songs produced by Jean but also features students from each of the schools he visited either as musicians, side artists, or in some other capacity. Through this project, Jean is striving to create a platform for undiscovered talented musicians and artists who may not have the hype or a huge Social Media following. For him, it is ALL about the talent.
In his hour-long featured session at SXSW 2019, Jean shared his story and discussed the secret to uncovering raw musical talent in an industry flooded with noise. He opened by commenting on all of the college students in the audience who he sensed were weighed down from the pressures they face in today’s society.
Jean noted that the energy and talent that students’ possess and share in their first two of college is quickly lost in analytics and data. Raw talent gets buried. “There has to be a side of the music industry that’s focusing on passion,” he declared. The key to finding raw talent is in establishing a personal connection. At that point, Jean left the stage and demonstrated his meaning by approaching a member of the audience, emphasizing the importance of direct interaction when sharing ideas. “No matter how many files we transfer through Dropbox or different forms, there’s nothing that can beat the idea of the human being within the present,” Jean said. “Humans have another frequency.”
Jean mentioned the multitude of changes that technology has brought to music production. He stressed that all that does is change the “sonics” and that it’s the song that matters. Today, as was yesterday, “All you have to do is write a great song.” Musicians collaborating, playing together, and sharing their talent and passion is the key.
“The product you’re gonna get, I don’t think that can be put together with AI,” Jean said.
About the Author and Photographer
