After 3 years of silence and a great duo with Shakira,Wyclef Jean, ex-leader of The Fugees, makes a spectacular comeback at the end of 2007 with his sixth album, “The Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant”. Starting with the title, cover and the general sound, this album is truly a continuance for his first album, “The Carnival I”.
From the very beginning I must say this is a very social issues album, in particular that of immigrants. The first single released from this album, “Sweetest girl”, expresses in a clear manner the problems of immigrants and if you watch the video (you can find it at the end of this post) you’ll have no doubt about it.
It’s an album showing the multi-genre nature of Wyclef’s sound. Maybe, as usual, the lyrical content is not as attractive as you might think, but the chancing and vibrant attention fives a solid start, from “Riot” to “China Wine”.
It’s not a classic hip-hop & R&B album, but it does have a strong sense of continuity that will keep you listening to it time after time. The sound feels good, you get absorbed by it and start moving your feet instantly... The tracks are radio friendly and enjoyable, except maybe for “Any other day” which is not quite from the same sound area, it will make you touch the “skip” button. Still, the songs are well produced and mastered, they have a strong musical line that is well defined. The creativeness that Wyclef & Co demonstrates with this album reminds of the extremely known signature of “The Fugees” sound.
There are tracks like “Hollywood meets Bollywood” where sounds from the UK Asian scene mix great together with the unmistakable vocals of “Chamillionaire” and create a special kind of “club-banger” which proves to be a favorite up-tempo from the record. Also, the collaborations that proved to be successful before tunes up the album, giving it powerful lyrics, smooth beats and magical vocals. It proves that Wyclef got it right this time, the album was worth waiting for. You can feel the tingles in your spine, always a good sing of a winner.
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