Wyclef Jean wants you to know that he’s not the person behind the breakup of the Fugees or the reason why Lauryn Hill is now viewed as a little…odd. But he does share in his own words the story behind the group and the affair that contributed to its downfall. In his autobiography “Purpose: An Immigrant’s Story” co-written with Anthony Bozza, Jean talks about his difficult relationship with his minister father, moving from Haiti to the U.S. with little English and less knowledge of the challenges of being an immigrant in northern New Jersey and how he started making secular music which led to an estrangement from his father. Jean also writes powerfully about his trip to Haiti to help his country after the earthquake in 2010 and his attempts to raise money through his charity Yele. Those attempts went wrong when the charity was investigated after some business and recordkeeping problems surfaced and Jean addresses that, too. But that’s not what you want to know. You want to know about Lauryn, his wife, the Fugees demise and reports of his womanizing. Here are a few juicy excerpts.
ON LAURYN: “She and I started out in a friendship that was beautiful, and over time, it developed into a deep romance. And since it didn’t work out – and it tore her up emotionally – a lot of people have blamed me for Lauryn’s emotional instability and artistic inconsistency afterward. It’s sad but true, she’s not been herself as an artist in the years since “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” No one is more upset about that than I am. I mean it; I am her biggest fan and I always will be.
Read more excerpts here
