Coming from Haiti and growing up in Brooklyn, there’s a lot of European influence when I get dressed up. I wear a lot of fitted suits, elegant cuts; I think it’s cool to mash up a lot of different looks. – Wyclef Jean
I like to go against the grain, against what’s out there. Every day is like a challenge. – Wyclef Jean
‘Masquerade’ is the autobiography of Wyclef Jean. A lot of people know me through my work with Carlos Santana or Destiny’s Child, winning all those Grammy Awards, but you do not know what is going on inside me. – Wyclef Jean
My grandfather was a voodoo priest. A lot of my life dealt with spirituality. I can close my eyes and remember where I come from. – Wyclef Jean
There’s not a hip-hop artist that didn’t snatch of piece of Bob Marley. It’s totally impossible. – Wyclef Jean
I lived in a hut with no roof, and I rode to school on a donkey. I used to shoot birds with a slingshot to cook for dinner. Now I prefer to get my food from KFC. – Wyclef Jean
My daddy was a minister, my grandfather was a voodoo priest, my uncle was a mason; I was raised with a lot of studies. – Wyclef Jean
I feel that life is short, so we should be disciplined, but at the same time we should have a good time. – Wyclef Jean
I was a jazz major in high school, in an all-jazz band. No matter what I do, it features my musical influences. – Wyclef Jean
Wyclef is a musician that tried to unite as many musicians at once as possible. I am trying to be successful at that. The greatest challenge is that, I just got arrested for protesting in NYC for cutting the school budgets… And I think that it’s important to stand up. Schools are important. – Wyclef Jean
You get quick money, it’s beautiful, there’s sunshine, but at the end of the day, you find out it’s all a masquerade, baby. It’s not what it seems. – Wyclef Jean
Haiti is my country. The same way the Beatles are received in England – that’s how Wyclef Jean is received in Haiti, do you know what I mean? – Wyclef Jean
I always want to know what’s wrong with you, why you ain’t smiling. That’s just my character; I just love people and want to see people having a good time. – Wyclef Jean
It was important that I became successful. People say they do it for the love, and yes, you do it for the love, but you want to be successful. – Wyclef Jean
At the end of the day, just know that God made you, so you can be your own individual, and don’t let people give you that peer pressure. – Wyclef Jean
I want people to experience what it’s like being from Haiti, coming to America, being Wyclef – multicultural, multilingual. – Wyclef Jean
I want to be part of a different kind of celebrity, one that thinks not just about charity but policy. – Wyclef Jean
That’s the best way to feed the human mind. That’s how Bob Marley did it. He never put it in your face. After you got the groove, you were just singing the hooks, because you thought it was cool. – Wyclef Jean
