OZONE caught up with Wyclef after a show in Orlando and he broke it down like this....

Going back a few years, when the Fugees were together, how would you break down, you know, what each group member was responsible for?
I mean, by now I really shouldn’t have to say. With all the music that’s come out since, you should really be able to figure out by now what Wyclef did in the group, what Lauryn did in the group. I’m trying to see another Fugee album, so I don’t want no complications. Me and my cousin Jerry Wonder, we dealt with a lot of production. Me, you know I’m the hook man. How many mics do we rip on the daily, call Mr. Martin.

So you want the group to get back together?
When they see me, people always ask, “Will there be another Fugees album?” I say I don’t know, but I hope there’s another trio. I wanna do it, so let’s go.

Have you reached out to Lauryn and Pras to try to make that happen?
I reached out telepathically, we’ve got a little ESP thing going.

But just recently, you dissed Pras onstage at a show in Miami.
It’s all hallucination. When we sit back, we hallucinate. I’m saying it’s just a hallucination because my battle rhyme is just that: a battle rhyme. He went at me and whatever. I ain’t say that he didn’t write what he said he wrote, I was just clowning him on the record because it was fun. And when I called him Milli Vanilli, I don’t mean that he lipsynched, or that he didn’t write his lyrics. It’s just a battle, so I brought it to the block on some freestyle shit, that’s all it is.

You’ve got this track called “Industry,” condemning all the beefs going on in the industry, but at the same time, you’re beefing with Pras?
To understand war, you’ve got to come from war. To bring peace, there first has to be war. It all started with “Fake Ass Pras,” and when I did that song, I reflected to myself, and my man Buggah was like, “Yo, you can’t be like that, you always that nigga, that preacher’s son.” Then I caught myself. That’s why in the song I say, “Sometimes when I sleep, when I wake up / I kinda hope the Fugees didn’t break up.” So from a negative, I was able to flip it into a positive.

Some people have sort of blamed you for the Fugees breaking up, as far as you not being considerate for Lauryn’s feelings and things like that.
Basically, you saw me in “Making the Band,” right? You could either make the band, or not make the band. You could either make the song, or you could not make the song. It’s that simple. Being in the studio, I was definitely a drill sergeant. I don’t have time to play. If you gonna come, be ready for it, cause there’s a billion trying to eat in your spot. That’s how I attack the studio, and once I leave the studio, I’m grindin’, I’m buggin’ out. So I didn’t have no problems with Lauryn at all, because she’s a drill sergeant herself. We got along because all we liked to do was the music.

A lot of people are wondering about Lauryn’s state of mind right now.
I just think that a person’s work should be judged by their skill. Not by one album, not by two albums, not by just one year. I think that with Lauryn, you’re going to have to review the bulk of her work in a twenty-year span before you can make an accurate observation. I think what’s dope about her is that she describes what she’s going through on her up days and her down days. She expresses things for a crowd that doesn’t have a voice. In general, I think Lauryn represents everyone because “Miseducation” was a serious album, and the acoustic album was another deep album, but it still sold a million copies. So there’s a lot of people that search for that kind of music.
So I’m assuming that your new album is dedicated to your father?
Yeah, it’s named after my dad. I took a year and a half mourning the death of my father, so “The Preacher’s Son” is a resurrection. After a dark day you can have a bright day. It’s just taking all the positive stuff my dad taught me. The album’s gonna manifest itself. When the music is good, you don’t have to say much. All I got to say is, it comes out November the fourth.

So you won’t be gone ‘til November.
Nah, nah, I’m back from November (laughing).

Who is featured on the album?
I’ve got Scarface, Redman, Rah Digga, Patti Labelle, Carlos Santana, Monica, Buju Banton, Elephant Man, Wayne Wonder, so it’s like “Carnival” part two to me, it’s so musical. We got the joint with Missy, “Party Til Damascus,” that’s ripping through the industry right now.

How did you come up with the concept for the “Industry” video?
Just the concept of being in a cab back before you had anything. And I usually be talking to the cab drivers, and them muthafuckers don’t be hearing shit I be saying but I still talk. So I’ve got an all-star cast for the video, and the interesting part was that everybody showed up.

Yeah, you did have quite a variety of characters.
It’s just my family, man. I just put in a call to the whole industry! I put in a call to Russell Simmons, Whoopi, Queen Latifah, Heather Hunter, and it was all good! (laughing)

What do you plan to release as the second single?
After the “Damascus” joint, we’ve got a lot of vibes going on. We got a joint called “Baby Daddy” with Redman, that’s hot right now. The whole album is about conversations within a community. Another joint is with Patti Labelle, called “Celebrate,” and there’s a joint with me, Elephant Man, and Wayne Wonder called “The Doctor.” My favorite is “Class Reunion,” with me and Monica talking about when we were in high school.

So you have a label called Clef Records, right?
Yeah, I mean, the first thing coming off my label is me. I know I’m gonna sell at least a million records, so that’s $13 million to solidify us as a record company. Once we do that then it’s on, you feel me?

What kind of arrangement do you have with J Records?
I have a 50/50 merger. I’m gonna eat this year. You know how I’m going out, baby, you know I ain’t playin’!

True. Enough money for the kids to eat too.
Yeah, I don’t have any kids yet but I’m gonna have some kids next year. I want one boy and one girl, because with two kids I can monitor them and take care of them. I don’t want to have kids that are all fucked up on drugs. I want them to be whatever they want to be, whether they want to be a star or not. Listen, I’m straight up from Haiti. I’m just glad I’m here and speaking English. I’m fortunate for whatever I get. I’m gonna make as much paper as I can, get on a plane, and go right back to Haiti.

How do you feel about the state of hip-hop right now?
Man, I miss 1989, 1990! You always knew PE was coming with somethin’, Kool G Rap came with the street shit, and Rakim came with that street scientist shit, you feel me? LL, you know he’d rep for the girls, and of course with KRS-One you had to watch what you said or the nigga would come to a show and murder you! That shit don’t exist no more. Everybody talks about the struggle, but the minute they make a lil’ money they talk about the bling. And this is my shit right here: nobody should take the credit for the bling-bling. Give that shit to Third Eye, please! (singing) Who’s that with Supercat? Third Eye! Third Eye! Don’t get it twisted.

A few weeks later, after Wyclef gave us the grand tour of his own Platinum Sound Studios in NYC, we finished our conversation....

I hear you’ve been working with Jin?
Yeah, I’m working with a lot of people, because I’m a producer too. I wear many hats, that’s the best thing about this industry. I was one of those kids that was fortunate enough to flip hats whenever I wanted, so I love working with artists that got the grind from the start. Jin is one of those kids. We just did the joint “Speak Chinese,” that joint is vibing hard all over the place, the video is killing BET. This cat’s buzz is just crazy. He’s a foreigner like me, so when I was watching him on 106th & Park, the way he uses his metaphors, I could relate to certain shit he said.

Are you looking for new talent to work with?
Right now I’m in the process of building the new Refugee Camp All Stars. I’m on the streets finding the newest, hungriest talent. At one time I had John Forte, you know he’s away, then I had Canibus, Canibus went to the army. I’ve been on the streets a lot right now, and I think I’ve found some kids that are going to bring a new vibe to the game. I spent years looking, cause I can’t just sign somebody cause they the illest spitter on the block. That never did it for me. I’m finding these kids that have an attraction to hip-hop, and their stories are imaginative. It gotta be something beyond the ice. There gotta be a deeper story than that, but still keeping it sexy. We talk about the watches and all of that, but then what else? You gotta be able to have more information for the public. My name is Wyclef, so “clef” stands for the music. I’m trying to build my label. Everybody is doing they thing in they own way, but for me, I’m not that producer who’s record is in the club every week. That’s not what I do. When I write them songs though, them songs be hitting for centuries. So whether it’s singers, rhymers, rock and roll, whatever, I’m looking for something that’s gonna move me and make a difference in the game. The change that I’m talking about is real simple. When I was coming up, you had Run-DMC, Kool Mo Dee, Public Enemy, hip-hop told from three different perspectives, feel me? The Fugees, we looked up to Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Nas, Big L, so it was a lot of different flavors to choose from in hip-hop. Now, I feel like if you try to be intellectual and lyrical, they say it’s not gonna sell. The average hip-hop today, that lyrical continuity doesn’t matter. Nas’ “Illmatic,” that was back when it mattered, you know? Where’s the new Common at? Where’s the new Mos Def? I know there’s some young kids out there spitting murder like that. Where’s the new Wyclef? Where’s that kid in the hood playing guitar and rhyming? All of that is out there because we influence a lot of that. I was influenced by other cats, and now I just found these kids out of the Bronx. The youngest one is like twelve years old – shorty came up and was singing straight R&B. But it was his point of view, what he was saying, I ain’t never heard a kid at the age of twelve come with a hood point of view like that before. I’m looking for sexiness, perspective, but not the preachy shit in any sense. When I sell a record, my intention is not to make a track just for the radio. I do songs. A song encompasses everything. It’s so funny how the hip-hop audience changes every two seconds. You’ve gotta always be on top of the game. That’s really the beautiful thing about hip-hop, and that’s why I never see hip-hop dying out, because just when you think it’s over you’ll hear some kid come fresh with a certain lingo. I heard this kid, fifteen years old, Gunz. Tariq’s son. Crazy shit.

Do you ever plan on getting to the point where you exclusively produce for other people, rather than being an artist yourself?
I’m not sure. I mean, the game needs me because I’m infamous on stage. I don’t know who can take me out on stage yet. When I come through, you know you gonna get a real stage show. Doing records is one thing, but doing the live element is another thing. But, of course, when I get older, I’d love to pass my stage baton to someone. But everyone knows if they’re doing a show with me, they can’t play. If Clef is on this show, they like, “Who’s gonna go on before him?” And they could have bigger records than me, but it don’t matter, because I’ll get up there and do your record better than you can do it. I learned from watching Run-DMC, Public Enemy, them cats. When they was doing a show, the shit was an event. You got the big budget, you got the big money, so you should be able to do some big production shit.

Have you spoken to Pras lately to try to mend things?
I mean, I can’t mend nothing, because I ain’t really have no beef with him. It’s like, I’m a lyricist, and if you say some slick stuff about me on a mixtape then I’m gonna just devour you on a mixtape. In hip-hop it sounds so cruel, but it’s just boxing. When niggas are boxing, they boxing. I think he really took it beyond what I said. If you’re gonna take it beyond that, you shouldn’t have said what you said in the first place cause you know where I’m from and you know what I do. If you see me on the street and you’re on some, “Yo, what the fuck is up, nigga?” that’s street beef. He ain’t do that. He just said some slick shit on a record and I heard the wax, so I returned my shit on wax. I don’t have no beef with him like that cause it’s all lyrical. He was with some kids and they said a few things, and I just ended his career. Pras can’t put out a rap record no more. And it’s not my fault. He know he never wrote “Ghetto Superstar,” so unless there’s another “Score,” there ain’t no coming back.

So will there be another “Score”? Last month you said you’d reached out telepathically to Pras and Lauryn for a Fugees reunion. Did they respond telepathically?
Actually, Pras has been trying to get in touch with me. I’m gonna call him back, but things are on my time now. Things are sticky out there right now. Everybody is talking about how they don’t have no money, and this is the worst time in the industry right now, but it ain’t affecting what I do at all. It’s like, people should have planned ahead. But I’m definitely gonna return his call, though.