So why is Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
There are rappers, bands, and artists that have successfully leveraged some of the things that Wyclef Jean pulls off with The Carnival: hip-hop, soul, reggae, comedy sketches, Latin influences, world music, opera (!), disco (!!)…
But no one has ever put that together and pulled off this wild array of sounds into a cohesive if off-the-wall album as Wyclef did in 1997.
Another way to look at it is that you get just about the widest range of music possible on a high-quality album in a way that (somehow) hangs together with this one.
While The Carnival is an album that I can poke in and check out some of my favorite tracks, I find it best to just let it rip through its super unusual and unique journey over 24 tracks and 74 minutes of playing time.
I’ll start with “We Trying to Stay Alive,” featuring John Forte and Pras (from the Fugees), which on some days is my favorite track on The Carnival. Not only does this one brilliantly sample the Bee Gees’ disco anthem, “Stayin’ Alive,” it also goes hard as a rap track, expertly trading off verses between Wyclef, Forte, and Pras.
Well, you can tell by the way I roll, shorty, that I’m a ladies’ man
A business man
Condos down the shore, multi-million pension plan
But it ain’t in my plan to make moves without the fam (no can do)
Map that one against the delicate, quiet, and emotional “Gone Till November,” which features The New York Philharmonic Orchestra(!).
And then as talented as Wyclef Jean already is, he deploys yet more unfair advantages with “Sang Fézi,” which is sung in Wyclef’s native Haitian Creole and also brings in the gorgeous voice of Ms. Lauryn Hill, also a partner in crime from the Fugees.
“Apocalypse,” featuring the Refugee All Stars and layering in wonderful ethereal operatic background vocals, is a flat-out masterpiece of a hip-hop track.
It’s also a great means to showcase Wyclef Jean’s strong songwriting skills, which are both striking and specific.
A blue Range Rover, he says, “Pull over!”
I didn’t know he was a DT undercover
I screamed out my lungs, “This is discrimination!
What’s the charge?” He said, “You just robbed a gas station”
“Who me? Not me, It couldn’t be
I was at the Grammys with Brandy, didn’t you see me on TV?”
“Bullshit, y’all in the same gang!”
He tried to run me off the road like he was Rosco P. Coltrane
The Latin-flavored “Guantanamera” cleverly opens with a traditional rendition of the Cuban patriotic song before segueing into a sly and groovy hip-hop track.
Your mileage may vary on the handful of comedy sketches, but I find the mix of music and the narrative of some kind of weird trial – which I could never entirely figure out – with Wyclef playing various characters to be fun. Example: “Down Lo Ho.”
Some stats & info about Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rap, Hip Hop, East Coast Rap, Alternative Rap, World Music
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival released? 1997
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #77 out of 1,000
Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Sit right back and hear a tale of a hustler ’round my way.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.