WEBVTT - Wyclef Jean Goes Back To School 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:13.920 Pushkin. Hearing the Fuji's second album, The Score, is the 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:16.840 first time I remember not just liking music but loving it. 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:20.080 Fuji Law killing Me Softly, Ready or Not would come 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:24.040 on the radio and I'd get goosebumps. I still get goosebumps. 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.880 Here and Lauren Hill sing that hook. There's something absolutely 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:29.200 timeless about the music. Why Cleff created with Lauren and 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:32.120 Praze as the fujis same as the Beatles, same as 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:35.440 Stevie Wonder. That's how high I rate this music. So 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:37.320 when white Cliff Jean pulled up to the studio we 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:40.640 recorded this interview, I was nervous. I mean, I was bugging. 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:42.720 But lucky for me, Why Cleff is one of the 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:45.440 coolest people ever. I'll put it like this. Why Cleff 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:47.920 is supposed to bring his guitar to the interview. Somehow 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:50.159 the message never got to him. Instead of throwing a 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:52.280 fit or bailing on the interview, he said, just find 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:54.840 a guitar, I'll play it. I can play any guitar. 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:56.960 Sure enough, we found the most jankie guitar in a 0:00:57.040 --> 0:00:59.120 nearby office. It's one of those guitars you'd buy it 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:00.720 for a kid who says you want to play guitar, 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:02.880 but you're not sure they're gonna stick with it one 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:06.080 of those, but he was happy to play it. This 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:08.600 is the dude who wrote a hit song for Carlos Santana, 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:12.240 remember Maria Maria. And here he is miraculously tuning this 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:19.480 junkie guitar which he plays during this episode. This is 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:22.800 Broken Record season three liner notes for the Digital Age. 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:29.759 I'm justin Richmond. Just a quick note here. You can 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:32.119 listen to all of the music mentioned in this episode 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:34.480 on our playlist, which you can find a link to 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:38.160 in the show notes. For licensing reasons, each time a 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:42.560 song is referenced in this episode, you'll hear this sound effect. 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:48.120 All right, enjoy the episode. All right? Even my first instrum, 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:55.000 what's the person's right, I'll right bass? First, up the 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:59.400 bass man. If I picked up the bass, picked up 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:01.800 a bass early high school. But first time I played 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:06.080 the bass I was fourteen fourteen. I played the bass. 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:12.440 First time I played first instrument ever was a trumbone. 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:15.880 You know. I started with the horn instrument because my dad, 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:19.000 he played like a little bit of saxophone. So I 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:21.680 was digging like some of the horn instruments in the beginning, 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:25.959 and so you grew up and hate without your mom 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:28.120 and dad to start. So your parents were already in 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:32.519 the States. Yeah, well, my dad, he he gotta work 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:37.680 visa to come preach in America because it was for 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:43.160 Church of the Nazarene. And at the time he was 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:45.560 just like a brilliant minister, and it was like, Yo, 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:48.720 we're gonna get you a visa and we're gonna bring 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:52.960 you to America so you can help bring more Caribbean 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:55.080 people to the faith. You know what I'm saying, right, 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:57.240 because you know, sometimes being the church is like a 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:00.240 basketball team. They just be recruiting, you know what I mean. 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:04.680 So they like NBA draft picked My daddy and he 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:07.640 came and he left me and hat at one years old. 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:12.240 My mama was pregnant mother, bro, and you know it's 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:15.600 it's the real immigrant story. He left in search of 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:21.800 a life. And at the time, you know the immigration laws, Bro. 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:28.400 When your visa done ran out, Bro, there was no joke. Yeah, 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:31.680 so you have to go back because if your visa 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:35.600 runs out, you gotta go back. At the time, my 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:39.640 daddy visa run out and he goes. Luck, man, if 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:44.280 I go back to the island, right now, I'll never 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:48.000 get my kids up here. It'll never happen. So he 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:51.280 was like, Yo, this must be a sign of God. 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:58.200 And dude went underground. Just folks like when you're moving underground, 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:02.800 it's like you're moving m grant like hardcore, like those 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:09.400 that understand at the time when you are illegal. What 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:14.000 used to happen was the factories had these deals, like 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:18.239 the knitting factories. So my dad also was a tailor, 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:23.279 so you know, at night they could bring like two 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:26.200 three hundred immigrants and they're having you do crazy like 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.640 sweatshop work. You know what I'm saying to you. Oh yeah, 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:32.599 this was America, dog, This this was my daddy. And 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:37.800 my daddy was working and he heard immigration and my 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:40.760 dad said, bro, he took off like a cheetah man, 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:47.400 like yeah. So somehow he got my mama up here 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:52.760 and I'm still there eighty wow. And he had a 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:57.800 they had a Brooklyn and they had a child. And 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.800 so at the time, once again with those Gracian laws, 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:05.000 you had a children in the United States. Now you 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:08.640 could apply for citizenship. So you know, that's why I'm 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:12.520 like real sensitive when it comes to like immigration policy, 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:17.000 like mad sensitive because It's like I could have fallen 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:19.720 like within the depending on what generation, I could have 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.320 been a doctor baby, you know, depends on the generation. 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:28.120 So so he had two kids in Brooklyn and they 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:33.120 they got their citizenship because once you had the kids 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:35.800 in the state at the time, they automatically became Americans. 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:38.160 Then they came to Haiti. Man. I don't know if 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.160 anybody you ever seen that movie slum Dog Millionaire. Yeah, 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:44.680 that's me and my little brother bro. Like we up 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:51.000 in the deep village until you were about like nine too, right, Yeah, 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:55.560 we lived in a village. So was nine man, dirt 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:59.560 poor like it's yo. By the time I got to 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:02.240 the project in Brooklyn, I ain't know what they was 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:03.960 talking about when they was talking about they were poor, 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:06.680 because I didn't get it, you know what I mean. 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:11.039 I'm like, yo, So we to to to go to 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:14.040 the bathroom. We usual it's called a ivene, you know, 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:17.120 and the ivene is like it ain't no bathroom. It's 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:20.400 literally like you go something like they built in the back. 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:24.920 If anybody's seen the movie Slump Dog Millionaire, literally that's 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:29.720 what're using. The bathroom ain't no electricity, you feel me? Like, 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:34.040 so you're relying on candles or a lamp. You know 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:36.239 what I'm saying. Wow, And then you have what's called 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:38.200 the oil for the lamp. You know what I mean. 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.440 That's right, that's right, bro, the oil. And we live 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:45.560 right around there was a big cemetery. So literally we 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:49.160 lived our playground, you know how like dudes, you're like, yo, 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:50.760 we you know, we're in the hood. Let's go to 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:53.120 the park. Like we'd be like, yo, let's go to 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:56.960 the cemetery. You know what I'm saying. What were you 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:00.640 doing in the cemetery man playing? Wow? We would kids. Man, 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.120 that was a playground for us, just an open space 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:05.919 to man. Listen, bro, we was having a great time 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:09.840 in the cemetery. We used to play this game. The 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:13.080 game was called I'm going to America. So bring they 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:15.960 bring the donkey around and I get in on the 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:19.160 donkey and all the kids crowd around, and you know, 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:20.880 it's mad crayol. You know what I'm saying. It in 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:24.120 English and it's all Crayol at the time, and they're like, Yo, 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:26.600 where you going? And I said, y'all know where I'm going. 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:30.040 I'm going to America. And I said, okay, everybody tell 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:31.800 me what y'all want, you know, and you know, so 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:34.840 it's like, yo, bring me back diamonds. Dudes, like, bring 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:37.480 me back food. Not keep in mind while this game 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.120 is going on, we probably ain't eat for like three days, 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:45.200 you feel me? Wow? Yeah? So you know imagination man, 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:47.640 people be like, yo, how did you escape part of you? 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:51.440 I said, through imagination. So I'm like real sensitive when 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:56.200 people be putting. Uh when in Geo's put they go 0:07:56.320 --> 0:08:00.280 to these villages and then they film like these kids 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:03.640 like you could see, like they film Haitian kids, African 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:06.240 kids are and then they come back and they'd be like, yo, 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:10.560 you know we you know, give us some money for 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.880 these kids. And I was one of those post boys. 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:17.960 I didn't need no money from nobody. It was like 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:21.080 all I needed was an opportunity. So like the cry 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:25.240 of the villagers, the kids are crying for opportunity, not 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:29.480 for anything else, Like no one really demands a handout. 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:32.559 That's really how we was brought up. So no matter 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:36.040 how crazy it was, we still was happy. You know 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:38.920 what I mean. I mean when you consider that you 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:42.600 came here you were nine ten, yeah, and you get 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:45.600 you become successful with the fujis like not even that 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:48.679 much later. So it's like it wasn't even succept Like 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:53.400 the real White Cleft story is even crazier. The foojiesus 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:59.120 that like the very last chapter of the start of 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:03.240 the White Cleft career, right. Because I came at nine, 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:08.960 I was a hustler by the time I'm fourteen years old, 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:16.480 Bailly fifteen years old, I'm in the studio with Curtis Blow. Yeah, 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.240 Curtis Blow when you see him. I was Billy fifteen. 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:24.720 Curtis Blow was producing my first crew. It was called 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:28.480 Exact Change. So this was like so for me. And 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:33.480 the way that that happened was through our school in 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:36.080 Jersey because we used to go back and forth Brooklyn, 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:39.600 New Jersey. So in Jersey they had a program where 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:42.920 you can get an internship in the summertime, and we 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:47.839 had got an internship for CBS Records, you feel me, 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:50.199 So it's like you get that summer internship. It was 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:54.240 a program for urban communities. And when I tell you, Bro, 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:59.840 I was rapping and my father never knew what I did. 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:04.240 Like the word rap a hip hop and my daddy's 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:10.360 home Caribbean home church home bro like late eighties, early nineties, 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:14.199 this is like dog, it's forbidden. So you have to understand, 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:18.400 I'm living a double life, Like you know what I mean, 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:21.280 Like when when you be seeing like them dudes, I'd 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:24.559 be watching them old like tapes of like the aretas 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:28.000 Otis and all of them. And then so when you 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:30.320 in the church, it's still the same thing, like you 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:33.040 got two circuits. Like so they'd be like, yo, you 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:36.400 can't do that kind of music. So literally you're sneaking 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:39.760 to do it without the church knowing. You feel that. 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:43.040 That's how that was my hip hop. And and then 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:45.480 in the church every Sunday is is you're pounding on 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.200 church music. So my dad thought he was strict, but 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:52.240 we had a manage a manager teacher Slash, and that's 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:55.400 what helped me get into that program. And then she 0:10:55.520 --> 0:11:00.000 was like yo, we met Curtis, and I think from 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:03.520 there he noticed like how I was in the studio 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:06.960 as a kid, because I just always would ask questions 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.440 like I'd be like, yo, why does the board move 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:13.959 like that? And then I see like it's a knave 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:16.080 board with all them keys in and I'm like yo, 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:18.240 But my brain was like yo, if you learned to 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:21.400 operate one, you can operate all you feel me. So 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:26.520 then then I met Quincy Jones. This is all dog, 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:29.319 this is We're not even talking food. Ji's yet, That's 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:33.199 what I'm saying, like the real teenager. I'm a teenager. Look, 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:37.520 Quincy Jones came to a play I did. It was 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:41.760 an off Broadway play. It was called The Twelfth Night, 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:45.280 and we was trying to get this is how crazy 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:49.600 I was. So Twelfth Nights is Shakespeare. So you have 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:54.520 these characters move Malvolio, Sebastian, the Duke and all of that. 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:56.840 So it was like, what happens if we take this 0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:59.679 play and we put in an urban setting. So we 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:03.040 Shakespeare and we put it in an urban setting. I 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:08.480 did the entire score for the play, and from the play, 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:12.000 I blew up. Mc light was in the play. Lisa 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:14.960 Carson was in the play. Lauren Hill was in the play. 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:21.080 Darren Madeline was Darren's last name, the big choreographer. Huh Darren, 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:24.679 Darren Hansen, you know Darren. He was a crazy choreographer. 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:27.719 Then he went on to choreograph for in Sync. So 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:32.080 everybody was blowing up playing from Yeah, but as kids 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:34.800 like it was just like you know, it was like 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.000 a super talent. So for me, you know, going from 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:41.439 there and loving the culture. I was a big fan 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:47.440 of rock Kim right, So now now I'm like seventeen. 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:51.520 My man coming, He say, yo, Rock Kim is shooting 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:55.280 a video in Long Island, and I was like, Yo, 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:57.600 come on, let's go. We're gonna get in the video. 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:01.240 I ain't never mean know Rock Kim. I just was 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:03.319 like a stand you know what I'm saying, like, Yo, 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:06.480 I'm a fan. I gotta get there so I'll never forget. 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:09.400 And my man was like, what's the treatment. I was like, 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:12.280 I don't care what the treatment is. We're getting in 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:16.280 the music video. So we took the train from Jersey. 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:20.880 I took my upright bass, a big gass, upright bass 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:25.199 dog on the train. My man took his drums dog, 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:28.600 and we get there bro and they got the big 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:30.800 bodyguards at the door. You know, it's like the big 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:32.960 movie scene, you know what I mean, from the hood, 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:36.000 and dudes like, can I help y'all? And I'm like, 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:38.640 what you mean, Kim, can you help us? We're the band, 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:41.560 We're here for the video. And he says, go set 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:44.679 up by the pool. So now we set up by 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:47.240 the pool, I set up my upright, my man set 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:49.000 up his drum, and I'm wink. I'm like, yo, just 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:52.280 go with this till the guard get here. So now 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:58.839 Rock Kim is late, so the director starts to bring 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:02.320 all the girls out and he gotta do these shots 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:05.240 so rock him and they ain't there yet, so guess 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:08.040 who he starts to shoot us. So now if you 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:11.120 go online and you watch Eric B and Rock Kim, 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:14.480 don't sweat the technique. I'm the kid with the upright 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:17.840 bass man the technique video. Yes, the kid with the 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:21.320 upright bass That's what I'm telling you. So it's like 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:23.400 that's what I was saying, like, you know, before we 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:27.080 talk about Fuji's I always want kids to understand like 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:31.520 the grind to even get to because it's almost like 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:33.440 you can see the glamor and the lights, but it's 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:36.560 like for a dude, a kid to come from Haiti 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:40.720 and you know, we barely talking about seventeen eighteen. So 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:44.560 so I always tell extras when I go onto videos 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:48.400 and I'm like, yo, don't sleep like yo do the bet, like, 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:51.680 don't think you an extra. And I even was showing 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:53.840 the extras like how you could steal a shot from 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:56.520 the celebrities, you know, because I did it all in 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:59.120 that rock Him video. Like you'll see I'll be like, yo, 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:04.760 this is how you still shot one on one extra. 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:11.760 So this was the culture. And then now I'm eighteen 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:16.760 going on nineteen. I always remember this because this was 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:21.560 the day that there was freeing Nelson Mandela. Wow. Right, 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.400 And what's crazy about this story? I'm giving like I'm 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:28.120 giving you. It's sort of like when people this will 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:31.320 help people understand like why they love to score so much, 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:33.720 like when they hear why it's so much like heart 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:38.560 into it. So Mandela was getting out of prison just 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:42.080 the day Mandela and I'm in Jersey and my man said, Yo, 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:47.360 there's a label in New York called Easy Street, Big 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:52.360 Beat Records, you know, and they have an instrumental and 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:55.720 they're looking for somebody to write some music to it 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:58.880 and do some vocals and you know it's paying like 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:01.800 I think like two hundred fifty dollars. So I was like, yo, 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:03.800 a man, you know, that's like a pair of pooma 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:06.600 is the whole outfit, broh. So and you could get 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:09.280 the brush to clean off your pooma, somebody step on it. 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:15.600 So I go and I'm so excited because I know 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:19.440 the story of Nelson Mandela, so I'm inspired that day. 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:24.680 It's house music, and so my first record that I 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:29.920 ever recorded was Bigbie Records, Atlantic and the records called 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:32.760 out of the Jungle. Now when you go back to 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:35.640 listen to this, it's a funny story with it. So 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:41.120 I'm vibing these lyrics, man, because and everything I'm saying, 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:44.960 I'm feeling it because I'm so excited about Mandela out 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:49.120 of prison, and I'm so excited. After I do the vocals, 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:53.080 I just I take the money. I don't sign a 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:58.800 form or nothing. I leave. I'm gone, bro. So when 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:04.080 I'm gone, this record comes out, my man, and it's 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:06.240 called out of the Jungle. So when you listen to it, 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.800 So it was a time when hip hop and house 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:13.120 music was on the same level because we always going 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:17.240 to the club and we literally was dancing to both 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:19.639 because it was a big dance culture. So it was 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:21.880 like you were either he was breaking the hip hop 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:26.240 and at the same time, house music was like the Gully, 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:28.760 you know, it was like the gully underground sound, but 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:32.560 it was like forbidden also and it was a little 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:36.520 deeper than hip hop because house. Your parents don't want 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:38.600 you to get involved a house because you know, the 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:41.199 house is a little deeper. Now you're getting you know, 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:44.840 that's when the acid starts it. It's a different yeacause 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:46.480 with the hip hop, you know you with the weed, 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:49.639 anything safe, you feel sad at the time. Yeah, you 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:55.080 dip into the house. They're like, yo. So the record 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:58.000 comes out and it explodes in the underground. It's called 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:00.760 out of the Jungle. Can you pull it up? Do 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:03.119 you have it? Do you have You could pull it? 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:04.679 You could pull it up, And I'm gonna tell you 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:10.159 what's gonna bug you out. So years later, man a 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:13.479 DJ I know called DJ Flex, not Flex from Hot 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.560 ninety seven, my other man Flex who plays e DM. 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:20.960 He goes, yo, man, did you have a twin in 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:23.040 the nineties? And I'm gonna tell you why you can't 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:24.520 find the record yet? And I'm gonna tell you how 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:27.040 you're gonna find it and you're gonna die laughing. He goes, yo, 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.800 did you have a twin in the nineties? And I 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:34.440 said no. He said, yo, dog, I'd be spinning this record. 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.680 This dude sound just like you, but he not you. 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:43.000 His name is Africalli. Right, I'm like what he said, Nah, 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.600 this dude sound he probably probably from Africa somewhere, but 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:50.640 this dude sound just like you. So if you go 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:55.000 online and you punch up Africalli out of the Jungle. 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:58.120 So I left the studio. Dudes didn't know my name, 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:01.320 and they're like, Yo, this mother fucking sound Africans. So 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:04.359 let's give him a name. Motherfucker's just called me Africalli. 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:07.320 They just they just gave me a name. Dude just 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:10.199 turned the brown and traded me like a slave bra 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:16.320 and was like, Yo, this is your name. So yo. 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:19.280 Can you imagine like years later when I blow up 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:21.920 and I see those same people and I'm like they're like, well, 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:27.200 White Cleff, I'm like, no Africa. If you check the 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:30.560 sleeve on Paradise Presents Africalli's Out of the Jungle, you'll 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:34.560 actually see dedicated to the Freedom of Vandella. We'll be 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:41.120 back with more from White Clef after the break. We're 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:44.119 back with more from White Cleft. After the Africai incident, 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:46.520 he finally connects with Prize and Lauren Hill to form 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:50.159 the Fujis. So Prize hit me up and Prize, you know, 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:53.600 Prize from Prizes like, uh, we call I used to 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:55.159 you know, like you in the hood and you you 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:58.560 make friends with. So Prize, I had a church band 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:00.680 and remember I telling you in the church, and Prize 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:04.000 wanted to come and be part of our church man. 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:06.520 So he came and was like, Yo, what do you do? 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:08.680 He said he played trumpet, and he pulled the trumpet 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:13.000 out and started playing, was making us laugh. So I 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:16.800 was like, yo, so we connected. So but Prize always 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:19.879 had a hustle too. He always had a hustle. So 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:24.080 Prize was serious. So Prize hit me up and was like, Yo, 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:28.600 I'm in the studio with two girls and I need 0:20:28.600 --> 0:20:31.679 a reggae hook. That's what he told me. So you know, 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:35.520 I'm like, what his prize up to now? Right? So 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:40.240 so I go to the studio and the producers man 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:44.399 our calis beyond from cooling the Gang. He's like the 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:47.399 mastermind behind cooling the Gang. So everything we hit, I 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:50.000 sell up bray Good all that stuff. He the one 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:52.840 who did that. So I was just amazed to be 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:55.160 in the studio. So I went and then I did 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:58.679 my little vocals and so you know, I was on 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:04.440 my one of my favorite movies. Was the five Heartbeats. Yeah, classic, classic. 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:07.639 So I was on my Eddie Kane ship minus the drugs, 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:11.280 you know what I'm saying. Still played the poker and everything, right, 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:13.760 so you know, I see the pretty girls, you know 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:17.080 I'm going there and I'm gonna smash this jack. So 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:20.879 I did my part and I came out and and 0:21:20.920 --> 0:21:23.320 the girls was like, and you wrote the part? Like yeah, 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:29.879 of course I improvised. There was a record called The Enforcer. 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:36.200 The Enforcer the worst Fouji record ever, but it was yeah. 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:41.080 So we were going and so Colie Benest like, Yo, 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:44.520 do y'all hear that? I was like, no, he said, Yo, 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:47.600 there's something going on with the four y'all. It was 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:51.760 four people. It wasn't three. It was Lauren and another 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:56.040 girl named Marcy, and Marcy sounded like Mariah Carey, and 0:21:56.080 --> 0:22:00.800 then Lauren had the Nina Simone vibe, right, So it 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:04.320 was four people and the sonics and the way the 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:07.480 vocals were sounding. This dude was like, Yo, this sounds 0:22:07.560 --> 0:22:12.080 like a group. And so Callise and his mind, who 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:14.880 has created Cooling the Gang. What you think we're gonna 0:22:14.920 --> 0:22:17.480 tell this guy? No, I mean, he knows exactly what 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:20.200 it is he got Grammys, he's sitting on it. So 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:23.919 he bought us in to start recording, and then we 0:22:23.960 --> 0:22:28.119 started recording what became blunted on reality, not even the 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:32.159 score yet. So while we was but Dude from Cooling 0:22:32.240 --> 0:22:36.320 the Gang was the Fuji's first producer and the real 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:40.040 producer of the Fuji's, the first real producer of the 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:43.399 Fuji's was Kalise Beyond from cool In the Gang, the 0:22:43.600 --> 0:22:46.960 Mad one of the like mastermind behind Cooling the Gang, 0:22:47.040 --> 0:22:50.880 Jungle Boogie, all of that. He was one of my senses, sadness, 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:54.520 all that, yeah, some yo, some of madness. That's his 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:58.560 whole brain. That's his brain. So you understand now he 0:22:58.720 --> 0:23:03.480 takes me in as an understud student because I'm always 0:23:03.480 --> 0:23:07.199 asking questions, you feel me? So he's so this is 0:23:07.560 --> 0:23:10.640 this was the birth of the Fuji's. So we struggling. 0:23:11.119 --> 0:23:15.080 So the girl Marcy parents says, look, this this group 0:23:15.119 --> 0:23:17.760 thing ain't gonna work for you. You have to go 0:23:17.840 --> 0:23:20.639 to school, Like you have a chance to go to college, 0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:23.760 you gotta go. And then she leaves the group and 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:26.160 then she goes head to college I think in Boston, 0:23:26.480 --> 0:23:31.040 and then us three we stayed. We rehearsed every day, 0:23:31.560 --> 0:23:34.560 and we didn't just like rehearse like it was like 0:23:35.280 --> 0:23:37.000 we was clear like we wanted to be a band, 0:23:37.240 --> 0:23:39.840 not a group. Like we wasn't trying to just have 0:23:39.920 --> 0:23:42.440 mics and then turn. No, we wanted to come out 0:23:42.480 --> 0:23:44.760 with the guitar, you had the drums, the base, the 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:47.359 whole put a band together. So every day we would rehearse. 0:23:47.560 --> 0:23:50.280 But where did that come from? Because that's like who 0:23:50.280 --> 0:23:52.480 else was doing this? Maybe the roots were probably maybe 0:23:52.800 --> 0:23:56.119 keep in mind my background was from the church, so 0:23:56.400 --> 0:24:00.160 as a mayastro already I had the idea of saying, 0:24:01.280 --> 0:24:03.040 you know, I played, so I was like, Yo, there's 0:24:03.080 --> 0:24:05.159 no way we're not gonna play, So we have to 0:24:05.200 --> 0:24:06.920 be a band. But like how does it even like 0:24:07.000 --> 0:24:09.400