Before Wyclef Jean became known as the famous musician, actor, and entrepreneur he is today, he was just a boy from the small town of Croix-des-Bouquets, just outside of Port-au-Prince in Haiti. When he was only nine years old, his family migrated to Brooklyn New York. Upon arriving, he only spoke Haitian French but later started learning English from listening to Rap music.
He started loving music from a very early age and his mother, sensing his love for music, gave him a guitar as a gift. They were growing up in the project and for her, the guitar was a way to distract him and keep him out of trouble.
He attended Newark’s Vailsburg High School, while there, he remained focused on music and learned to play more than 15 instruments. He later teamed up with up with his cousin Prakazrel “Pras” Michel, and friend Lauryn Hill and would then become known as the Fugees. To make money for studio time, he went to work at a local McDonald. He believed that he needed to do whatever it takes to make it and get his chance in the music industry.
Wyclef father was a pastor, and apparently, he didn’t condone his taste in music, he was disappointed with his son playing what he called devil’s music. According to Wyclef, when he comes from the studio, he would get an ass whooping from his dad. That didn’t stop Wyclef; he rose to become one of the most prominent musicians of our time collaborating with some of the top musical acts in the business.
What is most interesting to me about Wyclef is his rise to prominence in the entrepreneurial field. On Tuesday 26th September Wyclef attended Elevate Tech Fest in Toronto where he spoke about his the world’s first AR guitar which according to him is a guitar and can be turned a drum, let’s see how this will play out. A refugee from Haiti, Wyclef is now worth around 10 million dollars.