Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival, also known simply as The Carnival, is the debut studio album released by Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean. The album was released on 24 June 1997 by Ruffhouse Records through Columbia Records. Wyclef Jean also served as the album's executive producer with Pras and Lauryn Hill. The album features guest appearances from Celia Cruz and The Neville Brothers and multiple appearances from Jean's former Fugees bandmates, Pras and Lauryn Hill.

The album was released to critical acclaim. While commercially it peaked at number sixteen on the US Billboard 200 chart, and at number four on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, it garnered Jean three Grammy Award nominations, including two nominations at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards, for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "Guantanamera", and Best Rap Solo Performance at the 41st Grammy Awards in 1999, for his top-ten hit "Gone till November".

Music and lyrics The album encompasses many musical genres, including hip hop, reggae, folk, disco, soul, Son Cubano and Haitian music. The album features guest appearances from Celia Cruz, The Neville Brothers, John Forté, Jeni Fujita, and Jean's bandmates from The Fugees, Lauryn Hill and Pras, among others. It also features skits between many of its songs, most of them set in a fictional trial for Wyclef Jean, in which he is accused of being "a player" and a "bad influence". The final three songs on the album are sung in Haitian Creole.

Critical reception

The Carnival was released to critical acclaim. In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, music critic Robert Christgau found the album more R&B than the "diasporan flavors" it uses as "half decoration, half concept", and remarked that Jean uses the sampler for "one-dimensional tunes" that showcase his "well-articulated morality tales and popwise carnivalesque." In his review for Playboy, Christgau asserted that the album is more likely than any other well-meaning hip hop to impact the demographic it aims at and also works as an attempt to prove Jean is equally worthy of the attention given to Lauryn Hill.

Stephen Thompson of The A.V. Club, in a favorable review, called The Carnival "a stunning solo album that's light years beyond The Score". He also wrote "In his universalist embrace of music of all forms, Wyclef Jean makes a more powerful call for peace and unity than a thousand East Coast–West Coast 'Stop the violence, y'all' intros put together." The Carnival was voted the sixteenth best album of the year in The Village Voices annual Pazz & Jop critics poll for 1997. Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it twentieth on his own list.

In 2011, Rolling Stone ranked The Carnival the 69th best album of the 1990s.

Commercial performance The Carnival debuted at number sixteen on the US Billboard 200, selling 52,000 copies in its first week. It also debuted at number four on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album spawned the singles "We Trying to Stay Alive", "Guantanamera", "Gone Till November", "Cheated (To All the Girls)" and "Gunpowder". On 16 December 1998, the album was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and sold approximately two million copies worldwide.

Track listing

Personnel

Wyclef Jean – guitar, keyboards Rita Marley – background vocals Judy Mowatt – background vocals Marcia Griffiths – background vocals Sonny Kompanek – arranger Salaam Remi – producer, engineer, mixing Warren Riker – mastering, mixing Rudy – assistant engineer DJ Skribble – scratching Funkmaster Flex – scratching Crazy Sam & Da Verbal Assassins – performer Manuel Lecuona – mastering Rawle Gittens – mixing assistant Tony Gonzales – assistant engineer Lauryn Hill – arranger, performer, executive producer Jerry Duplessis – guitar, bass, producer Alex Olsson – mixing assistant John Forté – performer Jay Nicholas – mixing assistant Pras – performer, executive producer Melky Sedeck – performer New York Philharmonic Orchestra – performer Tomas Muscionico – photography Mike Roach – mixing assistant Storm Jefferson – mixing assistant Paul Epworth – assistant engineer Brian Dozoretz – engineer, mixing assistant Jocelyne Béroard – performer Sweet Micky – performer The Neville Brothers – performer Celia Cruz – performer

Charts

Weekly charts + Weekly chart performance for Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival Chart (1997–1998) Peakposition

Year-end charts + 1998 year-end chart performance for Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival Chart (1997) Position US Billboard 20088 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)38

+ 1998 year-end chart performance for Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival Chart (1998) Position US Billboard 20091 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)81

Certifications

References