Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival
Studio album by
Wyclef Jean
Released24 June 1997
Recorded1996-1997
GenreHip hop[1]
Length73:51
LabelColumbia[2]
ProducerWyclef Jean, Jerry Wonda
Wyclef Jean chronology
Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival
(1997)		 The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book
(2000)
Singles from The Carnival
  1. "We Trying to Stay Alive"
    Released: 27 May 1997
  2. "Anything Can Happen"
    Released: 22 September 1997
  3. "Guantanamera"
    Released: 8 October 1997
  4. "Gone till November"
    Released: 25 November 1997
  5. "Cheated (To All The Girls)"
    Released: 28 July 1998
  6. "Gunpowder"
    Released: 28 September 1998

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

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".[3]

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

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Chicago Tribune[5]
Entertainment WeeklyA[6]
The Guardian[7]
Los Angeles Times[8]
NME8/10[9]
Pitchfork8.0/10[10]
Rolling Stone[11]
Spin8/10[12]
The Village VoiceA−[13]

The Carnival was released to critical acclaim.[14] 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."[13] 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.[15]

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".[16] 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."[16] The Carnival was voted the sixteenth best album of the year in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll for 1997.[17] Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it twentieth on his own list.[18]

In 2011, Rolling Stone ranked The Carnival the 69th best album of the 1990s.[19]

Commercial performance

The Carnival debuted at number sixteen on the US Billboard 200, selling 52,000 copies in its first week.[20] It also debuted at number four on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album spawned the singles "Gone Till November", "We Trying to Stay Alive", "Guantanamera" and "To All the Girls". 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.[21]

Track listing

The Carnival – Standard edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Court Clef" (Intro)
Jean3:15
2."Apocalypse"
  • Jean
Jean3:49
3."Guantanamera" (featuring Celia Cruz, Jeni Fujita, and Lauryn Hill)
Jean4:30
4."Pablo Diablo (Interlude)" (featuring Crazy Sam and Talent)
  • Jean
Jean0:39
5."Bubblegoose" (featuring Melky Sedeck)
Salaam Remi3:49
6."To All the Girls (Prelude)"
  • Jean
Jean0:29
7."To All the Girls"
Jean4:18
8."Down Lo Ho (Interlude)" (featuring Talent and Wil Shannon Briggs)
  • Jean
Jean1:13
9."Anything Can Happen"
  • Jean
  • Duplessis
Jean4:36
10."Gone till November"
  • Jean
  • Duplessis
Jean3:27
11."Words of Wisdom (Interlude)"
  • Jean
Jean0:45
12."Year of the Dragon" (featuring Lauryn Hill)
  • Jean
  • Duplessis
  • Hill
  • G. Summers
Jean4:07
13."Sang Fézi" (featuring Lauryn Hill)
Jean4:02
14."Fresh Interlude"
  • Jean
Jean1:45
15."Mona Lisa" (featuring The Neville Brothers)
  • Jean
Jean4:30
16."Street Jeopardy" (featuring John Forté and R.O.C.)
Jean3:57
17."Killer M.C. (Interlude)" (featuring Pras)
  • Jean
Jean0:32
18."We Trying to Stay Alive" (featuring John Forté and Pras)
Pras3:11
19."Gunpowder" (featuring Lauryn Hill)
  • Jean
Jean4:24
20."Closing Arguments (Interlude)" (featuring Talent and Wil Shannon Briggs)
  • Jean
Jean1:35
21."Enter the Carnival (Interlude)"
  • Jean
Jean0:24
22."Jaspora"
  • Jean
Jean4:03
23."Yelé" (featuring Joel Servilus and Lauryn Hill)
  • Jean
Jean5:24
24."Carnival" (featuring Jacob Desvarieux (credit as "Jacob Desvavieux"), Jocelyne Béroard (credit as "Jocelyn Berouard"), and Sweet Mickey)
  • Jean
  • Duplessis
Jean5:06
The Carnival – Bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
25."Imagino (Creole version)"
  • Jean
Jean 
26."Bubblegoose (Bakin' Cake Mix)"
  • Jean
  • Remi
Salaam Remi3:30
27."No Airplay (Men in Blue)" (featuring Youssou N'Dour)
  • Jean
Jean4:46
28."Cheated (To All the Girls) (R&B Remix)" (featuring Queen Pen)
  • Jean
  • Remi
  • Hammond
  • David
Salaam Remi4:05
29."What's Clef?" (featuring Naomi Campbell)
  • Jean
  • Remi
Salaam Remi4:17
30."Chickenhead (Icerider Remix)" (featuring Spragga Benz)
  • Jean
  • Remi
  • Hammond
  • David
Salaam Remi4:31

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1997-1998) Peak
position
Canadian RPM Albums Chart[22] 42
Dutch Albums Chart[23] 48
German Albums Chart 81
New Zealand Albums Chart[24] 31
Norwegian Albums Chart[25] 24
Swedish Albums Chart[26] 16
Swiss Albums Chart[27] 38
UK Albums Chart 40
US Billboard 200 16
US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums 4

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[28] Platinum 100,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[29] Silver 60,000*
United States (RIAA)[30] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ Nelson, Havelock (3 January 1998). "The Rap Column". Billboard. p. 85. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  2. ↑ "All Music Label". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  3. ↑ "Awards Nominations & Winners". GRAMMY.com. 30 April 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  4. ↑ Stanley, Leo. "Presents the Carnival – Wyclef Jean". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  5. ↑ Kot, Greg (27 June 1997). "Wyclef Jean: Wyclef Jean presents the Carnival featuring Refugee Allstars (Ruffhouse)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  6. ↑ Bernstein, Jonathan (18 July 1997). "The Carnival". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  7. ↑ Sullivan, Caroline (4 July 1997). "Wyclef Jean: Presents the Carnival Featuring Refugee Allstars (Sony)". The Guardian.
  8. ↑ Johnson, Connie (21 June 1997). "Presenting a Daring Solo 'Carnival' Ride". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  9. ↑ Batey, Angus (21 June 1997). "Wyclef Jean Featuring Refugee Allstars – The Carnival". NME. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  10. ↑ Zeichner, Naomi (8 October 2017). "Wyclef Jean: The Carnival". Pitchfork. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  11. ↑ Morales, Ed (26 June 1997). "Wyclef Jean: The Carnival". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 1 April 2007. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  12. ↑ Michel, Sia (August 1997). "Wyclef Jean: Presents the Carnival featuring Refugee Allstars". Spin. 13 (5): 111. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  13. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (23 September 1997). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  14. ↑ Morgan, Joan (2018). She Begat This: 20 Years of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-5082-6878-9.
  15. ↑ Christgau, Robert (July 1997). "Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton, Wyclef Jean, Strip Jointz". Playboy. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  16. 1 2 Thompson, Stephen (29 March 2002). "Jean ventures far beyond the places he knows". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  17. ↑ "The 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. New York. 28 February 1998. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  18. ↑ "Pazz & Jop 1997: Dean's List". The Village Voice. New York. 28 February 1998. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  19. ↑ "100 Best Album of the Nineties". Rolling Stone. 16 May 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  20. ↑ Harris, Chris (12 December 2007). "Josh Groban Rules Billboard Chart For Third Straight Week: Blake Lewis Barely Cracks Top 10". MTV. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  21. ↑ Mitchell, Gail (24 November 2007). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.
  22. ↑ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 66, No. 26". RPM. 23 March 1998. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  23. ↑ "Dutch Album Top 100". 11 April 1998. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  24. ↑ "New Zealand Album Top 40". 31 May 1998. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  25. ↑ "VG Lista - Album Top 40". Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  26. ↑ "SVERIGETOPPLISTAN - ALBUMS TOP 60". 25 July 1997. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  27. ↑ "SCHWEIZER HITPARADE - ALBEN TOP 100". 3 August 1997. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  28. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Wyclef Jean – The Carnival". Music Canada.
  29. ↑ "British album certifications – Wyclef Jean – The Carnival". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  30. ↑ "American album certifications – Wyclef Jean – The Carnival". Recording Industry Association of America.
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