Wyclef jean quotes

I don't see no more Billie Holidays, no more Marvin Gayes, no more Smokey Robinsons. I don't even see no more Nirvanas.

I decided to do what I do when I was 2 years old. At 2 years old, you know, I heard the sound of a drum playing in the village, and I found my own drum and just picked it up and started playing, the worst song ever written by Wyclef Jean.But it actually started a vibe.

I've been communicating with the Fugees, and it feels a lot better now than it did three or four years ago.

I want to be part of a different kind of celebrity, one that thinks not just about charity but policy.

I feel that life is short, so we should be disciplined, but at the same time we should have a good time.

I hear them playing Elvis, they on they way to Graceland. But they don't scare me, I'm in the trunk.

It was important to me to go back to the grungy, because all of a sudden you get excited again, 'cause there's another whole dimension of 'Clef that you wasn't expecting to hear.

What I picked up on Michael Jackson - because I study people when I watch them - the way that he counts his rhythm with his feet and his neck at the same time is crazy... so he's hearing multiple things at once. And I don't know anybody who does that.

Every generation is gonna keep changing, and you just have to embrace the change.

Me and my father went through a war period where we wasn't talking. He wanted me to go to theology school - I didn't want to go. I wanted to do music. I told him I was a minister through music.

You get quick money, it's beautiful, there's sunshine, but at the end of the day, you find out it's all a masquerade, baby. It's not what it seems.

Bob Marley stood for universal peace and love. He tried to break racial barriers.

What happens is we're all gonna return to dirt, so at the end of the day we're all equal.

It was important that I became successful. People say they do it for the love, and yes, you do it for the love, but you want to be successful

I like to go against the grain, against what's out there. Every day is like a challenge.

I always look outside.

I lived in a hut with no roof, and I rode to school on a donkey. I used to shoot birds with a slingshot to cook for dinner. Now I prefer to get my food from KFC.

I've never really [written] something that was inspired.

Keep in mind: true revolution is only seven people, right?

What I'm trying to do is break the genre from what is rap and what is music.

Right now I'm trying to help my sister with her school situation, 'cause she's real smart. Besides me, my other brother's a lawyer... my parents stressed education a lot.

When I'm rhyming it's all in my head... Like the slaves, when they were picking cotton, they would block out their minds. They would sing.

No matter how far you go, if you can't go back to the essence, you're not sayin' nothin'. The essence for me is hip-hop. But the hip-hop community I came up in isn't a loyal community.

The thing which America allows you to be is it's the country of opportunities.

At the end of the day, just know that God made you, so you can be your own individual, and don't let people give you that peer pressure.

I think it's cool to do stuff in a different language. Basically, I learned English through listening to rap. A lot of people think it's funny. But it's true; I used to try to get the accents.

The Wyclef Jean music is eclectic music. Wyclef represents music -eclectic music. I've been doing this music since I was a child, and I said I will refuse for anyone to put me into a box.

I'm cheap, and I'm proud of it!

If I can't take five years out to serve my country as president, then everything I've been singing about, like equal rights, doesn't mean anything.

A lot of my music is very reggae- driven. Half of my life Bob Marley was all I listened to.

When you enter the realm of politics, you don't enter it because you want to be popular. When I want to be popular, I pull on a guitar and sing a song.

I'm 27 years old. I'm going to go into Hollywood really arrogant. I'll be breaking a lot of rules. It's going to be hot.

When I lose touch with the audience and the reality of what life really is, I'll be Vanilla Ice or something.

I haven't accomplished nothing yet - I have a long way to go.

I want people to experience what it's like being from Haiti, coming to America, being Wyclef - multicultural, multilingual.

My dad was in the hood, he was a minister, and he would always put churches in the ghetto.

I like Bergen County because it's nice and quiet. It's beautiful, and I can get to the city way quick.

I'm like Cab Calloway: I love the entertainment, and I've loved entertaining people ever since I was little.

My grandfather was a voodoo priest. A lot of my life dealt with spirituality. I can close my eyes and remember where I come from.

My battle raps couldn't get me groceries from the supermarket.

I'm not going away fast; I've been around for a while, and plan to be around for a while more.

I lived in the projects and the ghetto, and turned the negative into a positive.

When you find the talent, it's always raw, and when you put the talent in the formula, you get the Knocks.

My daddy was a minister, my grandfather was a voodoo priest, my uncle was a mason; I was raised with a lot of studies.

America is a melting pot of immigrants. So actually, if you took all of the immigrants outside of America, you'd be missing a lot of flavor, starting with the food, with the culture, with the dance, with everything.

Once you're done in hip-hop, you're done.

When you're talkin' about a great man, you're not talking more than one person. It's not about how many people are followin' you, it's about the fact that you're a great man, that's all it's about.

I do music for the love of it, and I've been doing it from a very young age: about 11.

Haiti is my country. The same way the Beatles are received in England - that's how Wyclef Jean is received in Haiti, do you know what I mean?

In the beginning I had women problems, 'cause you know, I represent for the guys. But I was actin' a fool, whilin' out. I'm not sayin' I don't while out anymore. I'm not gonna lie to you.

I was a jazz major in high school, in an all-jazz band. No matter what I do, it features my musical influences.

It's important, when you see darkness, to understand that there's light ahead of that, and I'm the living testimony of that, you dig?

If you go in the ring and box and you're angry, you're gonna lose the match.

What a lot of people don't know is that Wyclef started off as a battle rapper, when he decided that he would rhyme.

When the Fugees were big, we made a whole lot of money, and what happened was that I saved my money and never spent it.

For everybody who lost somebody out there and stuff, when you need therapy, music is the best way.

The voice of an Angel, the Heart of a Lamb, the spirit of a Lioness, the presence of a Goddess, love you R.I.P Whitney Houston.

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.

It will be true work that the kids can follow, as opposed to a facade of you doin' something, and you're doin' nothing.

I'm hands-on with everything, always trying to reach the real people.

I grew up in a Caribbean family household, so the parents are always right. My father smacked me up til I was 20. It was a strict household.

I'm from the church, my dad was a pastor's kid.

My parents were Christian.

I'm the hip-hop Quincy Jones of today

I think the greatest thing about America is the American Dream.

My father being a Caribbean minister, one day I stole the radio. The radio that I stole, I took it to school, showing off how big this boom box was and how bad I was at the time. Once my father figured out where I left the radio, he then got his belt and he walked me, he beat me all the way to where I had hid the radio, and with the boom box.

The first thing you must learn is to always treat a man and a woman with total respect and honor, 'cause if you do that, the legacy you will leave behind will be work.

People often associate raves with drugs, but for me raves are more associated with self-expression.

My songs are really never titled. Sometimes I call it one thing. then I change it

I come from a hut, from a hut I went to the projects, from the projects I went to a mansion so you out there you have ABSOLUTLY NO EXCUSE!

On Sundays I give the sermons like my dad used to give. I utilize it as a revolutionary tool, as a thinking tool, as a tool where I can recruit people, DM them, and give them information that I feel that they need going forward.

There's not a hip-hop artist that didn't snatch of piece of Bob Marley. It's totally impossible.

Michael Jackson was my musical God. He made me believe that all things are possible, and through real and positive music. He can live forever! I love Michael Jackson. God Bless him.

Wyclef is a musician that tried to unite as many musicians at once as possible. I am trying to be successful at that. The greatest challenge is that, I just got arrested for protesting in NYC for cutting the school budgets... And I think that it's important to stand up. Schools are important.

No matter what I'm goin' through, I could still exist.

That's the best way to feed the human mind. That's how Bob Marley did it. He never put it in your face. After you got the groove, you were just singing the hooks, because you thought it was cool.

I was looking for Quincy Jones, that's who I was obsessed with. Watching Mike [Jackson], I always knew that I had to be a showman on stage, because when people come to you live you always want them to come back. You gotta give them something to remember.

When I rap, I get to express myself in a way where putting words together is like poetry, and sometimes it's better to talk in certain expressions than sing, you know? So I love, I love to rhyme when I want to express certain things.

Once we revolutionize the music industry, then we can revolutionize our communities and everything in the world, 'cause what happens is, the communities are listening to the music.

My accomplishment has helped millions of kids see that they can come from a poor family and go somewhere, make something out of themselves. Ive been doing it for seven years professionally.

You might see a female, and she triggers something, or you see an old lady walking down the street, she triggers something. You go to Africa, you see the vibes, that triggers something.

I know that the nice shines I have on is going to pass. The nice cars will pass. All that will stay is the music and the work. That's where I get the inspiration to help people out and work

Rap records don't make you feel good no more. Six months after release, it can't come back as a classic

All that violence in the world, we need to stop that

Ever since I was a little kid, there used to be the Carnival that used to pass.

The reason why we're warriors is that we rise to the occasion; anyone that's felt like the system put them down, and then they rose to the occasion, they're a warrior. It's not about whether you come from the hood or you come from the suburbs, you know what I mean? It's about reality and life.

I always want to know what's wrong with you, why you ain't smiling. That's just my character; I just love people and want to see people having a good time.

My first record wasn't even with the Fugees. I was signed to Big Beat Records, so I was signed back in 1989 to the label that the Knocks are on now. You can always tell which generation had the pulse based on how they see things.

Coming from Haiti and growing up in Brooklyn, there's a lot of European influence when I get dressed up. I wear a lot of fitted suits, elegant cuts; I think it's cool to mash up a lot of different looks.

For me, before I go on stage, it all depends. Might be a girl, might be an edible, might be a verse, might be somebody mixing something in my drink without me knowing - hopefully that won't happen tonight.

Mama, you know you raised me with no father figure. I wanna take this time to thank you, even though I'm doing life.

Respect, my brother, nothing but respect, man.

The reason why we love America so much is America is the only place you can actually come in and wave your flag.