Wyclef Jean Quotes

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.

I'm from the church, my dad was a pastor's kid.

My songs are really never titled. Sometimes I call it one thing. then I change it

The voice of an Angel, the Heart of a Lamb, the spirit of a Lioness, the presence of a Goddess, love you R.I.P Whitney Houston.

People often associate raves with drugs, but for me raves are more associated with self-expression.

My dad was in the hood, he was a minister, and he would always put churches in the ghetto.

What a lot of people don't know is that Wyclef started off as a battle rapper, when he decided that he would rhyme.

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.

The first thing you must learn is to always treat a man and a woman with total respect and honor, 'cause if you do that, the legacy you will leave behind will be work.

I feel that life is short, so we should be disciplined, but at the same time we should have a good time.

Rap records don't make you feel good no more. Six months after release, it can't come back as a classic

The thing which America allows you to be is it's the country of opportunities.

I like to go against the grain, against what's out there. Every day is like a challenge.

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.

If you go in the ring and box and you're angry, you're gonna lose the match.

No matter what I'm goin' through, I could still exist.

I think the greatest thing about America is the American Dream.

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.

My first record wasn't even with the Fugees. I was signed to Big Beat Records, so I was signed back in 1989 to the label that the Knocks are on now. You can always tell which generation had the pulse based on how they see things.

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.

A lot of my music is very reggae- driven. Half of my life Bob Marley was all I listened to.

I've been communicating with the Fugees, and it feels a lot better now than it did three or four years ago.

Keep in mind: true revolution is only seven people, right?

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?

Respect, my brother, nothing but respect, man.

Michael Jackson was my musical God. He made me believe that all things are possible, and through real and positive music. He can live forever! I love Michael Jackson. God Bless him.

Bob Marley stood for universal peace and love. He tried to break racial barriers.

For everybody who lost somebody out there and stuff, when you need therapy, music is the best way.

I'm not going away fast; I've been around for a while, and plan to be around for a while more.

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.

I want to be part of a different kind of celebrity, one that thinks not just about charity but policy.

When you enter the realm of politics, you don't enter it because you want to be popular. When I want to be popular, I pull on a guitar and sing a song.

I come from a hut, from a hut I went to the projects, from the projects I went to a mansion so you out there you have ABSOLUTLY NO EXCUSE!

When I'm rhyming it's all in my head... Like the slaves, when they were picking cotton, they would block out their minds. They would sing.

Ever since I was a little kid, there used to be the Carnival that used to pass.

My accomplishment has helped millions of kids see that they can come from a poor family and go somewhere, make something out of themselves. Ive been doing it for seven years professionally.

The reason why we love America so much is America is the only place you can actually come in and wave your flag.

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.

The Wyclef Jean music is eclectic music. Wyclef represents music -eclectic music. I've been doing this music since I was a child, and I said I will refuse for anyone to put me into a box.

I lived in the projects and the ghetto, and turned the negative into a positive.

Mama, you know you raised me with no father figure. I wanna take this time to thank you, even though I'm doing life.

Right now I'm trying to help my sister with her school situation, 'cause she's real smart. Besides me, my other brother's a lawyer... my parents stressed education a lot.

My father being a Caribbean minister, one day I stole the radio. The radio that I stole, I took it to school, showing off how big this boom box was and how bad I was at the time. Once my father figured out where I left the radio, he then got his belt and he walked me, he beat me all the way to where I had hid the radio, and with the boom box.

The reason why we're warriors is that we rise to the occasion; anyone that's felt like the system put them down, and then they rose to the occasion, they're a warrior. It's not about whether you come from the hood or you come from the suburbs, you know what I mean? It's about reality and life.

When you're talkin' about a great man, you're not talking more than one person. It's not about how many people are followin' you, it's about the fact that you're a great man, that's all it's about.

I always look outside.

When I lose touch with the audience and the reality of what life really is, I'll be Vanilla Ice or something.

On Sundays I give the sermons like my dad used to give. I utilize it as a revolutionary tool, as a thinking tool, as a tool where I can recruit people, DM them, and give them information that I feel that they need going forward.