Welcome To Haiti: Creole 101 (2004) Sooner or later, every artist has gotta do it: throw caution (and record sales) to the wind and drop an album for his peeps. Luckily… Wyclef Jean R&B
EW's GRADE
A-

Details Release Date: Oct 19, 2004; Lead Performance: Wyclef Jean; Genre: R&B

Sooner or later, every artist has gotta do it: throw caution (and record sales) to the wind and drop an album for his peeps. Luckily for Wyclef Jean, this tribute CD, performed almost entirely in his mother tongue of Haitian Creole, delivers. The sometime Fugee reinvents (a Creole ''La Bamba''), rabble-rouses (the incendiary ''President''), and represents (''Lavi New York''). The result is that Welcome to Haiti is an infectious reverie of sweet guitar licks, enchanting synths, and cannon beats. Listen and try to sit still.

Originally posted Oct 22, 2004 Published in issue #789 Oct 22, 2004 Order article reprints