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The Reasons Wyclef

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Obviously, all of these people like working with you, which is an ironic dynamic considering that the Fugees haven't been able to come together. Last week, you said in the press that Lauryn needs to get help. She's often being referred to as crazy or strange, but nobody's really explained what makes her so complicated. Can you enlighten us?
Well let me answer the first part of your question. Okay, well, why would all of these people want to work with me? Understand, after the Fugees, I went on to doing the first hit for Destiny's Child. I wrote Carlos Santana's ''Maria, Maria.'' I wrote Whitney Houston's ''My Love is Your Love.'' I have a track record of writing worldwide smashes as a producer, so everybody wants to be a world superstar; they're not trying to be a domestic star. So any smart artist is going to be like, ''Let me get a joint from Clef, because you never know, if that Clef joint work, you over the waters.''

But you could be talented or brilliant and still be the a--hole.
I think with me, the proof's in the pudding. Everybody who's met me, they'll tell you, I'm straight up, what you see is what you get. I'm a funny dude. I like to crack jokes. I don't take myself that serious. At the end of the day, we get together, we make some good music happen, and I think that's why the Fugees worked when it worked because we weren't taking ourselves so seriously.

But...
I don't really want to dwell on a conversation [about] Lauryn Hill. I'm going to say the last thing I'm saying to you, but I will tell you something, the reason why I said that ... We got money at a young age. And I was smart when I was little. They called me the offshore man. But it messes you up. This watch in my hand is worth half a million dollars. But I've been wearing watches like this since I've been 20-years-old. Do you know what I'm saying? How that f---s you up and messes you up? All right. Lauryn was not more than 18, 19 years old. Homey! It's like, I don't care who it is, after a while if you don't have somebody talking to you, putting you on level ground, you going to get lost. I was telling you all [along] that shorty was wigging out. You all was like, ''Oh no, it's just Clef because Clef broke her heart. Boom, boom, boom, boom.'' I said, ''I'm telling ya'll, something's wrong with this girl. It's beyond that.'' Now, you all are like 10, 12 years [later], and like ''Yo, maybe Clef was kind of right.'' I think the problem is internal. And you see her, but who's around her? Who's telling her to do this stuff? It's the same with the MTV Awards [and] Britney Spears. Who's around Britney? It's not even about the person, but who's around the person and souping them up and giving them that advice. So I sent that message clear, that Lauryn Hill needs to see a psychiatrist. And I didn't say she's crazy. But what I'm saying is, kids see psychiatrists every day. You don't have to be crazy to see [a]psychiatrist. Just get an evaluation, right? I've seen a psychiatrist before. If you're bi-polar, a psychiatrist will see that, you know, prescribe you medicine. But if you don't do that, you keep showing up to shows three hours late, people looking at you on the Internet, and they're like, ''Man, this is not the Lauryn Hill we used to know.''

When you're that young, it's already so hard to figure out who you are at that age. And if you don't come from some kind of stability, coming into all of that money and fame, it's like Lindsay Lohan.
At a young age, trust me, people will say, ''Yo, that wouldn't happen to me.'' The reason they say that is because they not in that situation. What I'm telling you, ma, is when you in the situation where you can literally have like $500 grand a month just for yourself, just to be like ''What do I want this month?'' [Pretends to wrap his hands around a neck]. Somebody gotta be like, ''Hey, come to earth.''

I wonder if coming under that stress makes people in the spotlight think that there's a conspiracy against them, because all of a sudden the media has descended on them.
They might think there's a conspiracy.

Some of the things, for instance, that Lauryn has said are very anti-men. And I'm a feminist, but that's a different thing.
Yeah, I think hers is coming from a place of rage. But I've been with her in different situations. It just feels beyond that, you know. And unfortunately, in the next two or three years, it's going to manifest even more unless she gets help.

I mean, Van Halen is getting back together after like 30 years, so maybe that means there's still hope for the Fugees.
Well, let me tell you something, man, I'm the oldest Fugee, and I look like the youngest Fugee. So tell the Fugees they have to hurry up because in another 10 years, my hair's going to start getting gray.

Can you tell us about your documentary, Cry Haiti? It's already wrapped, right?
Well, everybody gotta go look at it, next year, 2008. It's about my work in Haiti for the past three years. I had a camera follow me, because I wasn't sure that I was going to live or die. It was important that that footage get documented so that I knew if something happened to me, kids would get a chance to see Haiti and make [an] effort to help. It's very humanitarian, but with a political twist. I see UN officials, gang members, the police. So it's the first time where you get to hear everybody's point of view.

Why would you think you'd die?
It was terrible. There was gangs out there that was beheadin' people and I went down there with no guards, just a backpack, a camera and said, ''I'm going to talk to them.''

So you became an ambassador of Haiti this year?
Yeah, I got that diplomatic status.

Have you ever met Aristide or Preval?
I know Preval and I met Aristide. I met Aristide in the time of the Fugees, back when the Fugees went to Haiti in '97.

I understand you're friends with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. And they went with you on a trip to Haiti. What was your first impression of them?
I was real cool with Angelina. Her going to Haiti really helped my foundation. It was in a time where she was still pregnant. Haiti being the most dangerous place in the world, for Angelina Jolie to land there —while pregnant — that's gangster. We respect that to the T.