Wyclef Jean (aka Toussaint St. Jean)

From the Hut, To the Projects, To the Mansion

Rap/reggae/R&B

Carnival House/Megaforce/Sony Music

Rocks Like: Will.i.am, The Fugees

Grade: B

Wyclef Jean’s highly anticipated eighth solo studio album From the Hut, To the Projects, To the Mansion came out Nov. 10, 2009.

Considering Jean’s 15-year career as a musician (he started out with The Fugees in 1994), the all-star cast of guest artists on this record is no surprise.

Cyndi Lauper, Lil’ Kim, Eve and Timbaland are just a few of Jean’s peers who lend their vocals and personal musical style to his record.

The album is sung from the perspective of Jean proclaiming himself as Toussaint St. Jean, a character based on the 18th-century, Haitian revolutionary, Toussaint L’ouverture. Jean is of Haitian descent.

The album won’t disappoint veteran listeners, because Jean’s back with the same style, consisting of his usual hybrid of rap and reggae.

Jean reveals his activist side by illustrating various points of his own life in impoverished conditions and his ultimate transition into a life of luxury.

Overall, the album is what you would expect of Jean — good music that’s infused with his own political and moral beliefs.

However, there isn’t much of anything we haven’t already heard before from him.