Customer Reviews

Welcome to Haiti: Creole 101

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After I bought this album, I listened to it two times through! It's that good. It is a real nice change from most other American music, it shows how awesome raegge and Carribean music is. I love how some of the songs are in different laguages and its just great music!

Here is a tip: Download iTunes (Windows or Mac) and you can buy a high quality download of this whole album, plus the cover art for just $10. What a great deal!

By the way the cover art is some of the best I have ever seen!

Ever since listening to songs like Jaspora and Sang Fezi from Wyclef's Carnival Album, I always wondered what happened to the Creole in his albums? In every consequent album he released, no songs in Creole. This marks a new beginning in his music career, he started his own label, his previous CD the Preacher's Son was a great hit and I see many great things in the future for Wyclef. If you are not Haitian, don't worry, I'm not either, but you can still enjoy his songs and the rhythm of Haiti in his songs and his voice. He gives props to Quebec and Montreal; he has Muzion perform on one of the tracks, so to any Montrealer, such as myself, its good to hear some of his songs. SAK PASE!

This is one of the best CD's I've heard so for, I hope he keeps up the good work. I have all the fugees albums from Wyclef, Laurn hill, and Pras. I understand that there will always be critics from everywhere. But understand that coming from a Haitian back ground and blowing up like Wyclef did is a very hard thing and then trying to stay on top with all this other fake singers out there and they know who they are. I love all of their (Wyclef) albums and there is not a thing I would change if I was in their shoes myself.
This is from the Haitian Princess, much respect to my Haitian crew.

Wyclef is doin exactly what im tryin' to do: REPRENT HAITI: in this album hes represnting me and my haitian family(beacause im haitian) a little fact: his sampler of this cd came out in 2001 when my mom came back from visiting her cousins in haiti and taking care of buisness down there she brought back 2 samplers of masquerade(his album before the prechers son) and 2 hot off the studio copy of the Welcome to Haiti Creole 101 samplers for me and my sisters but after i heard that sampler 3 years ago i was like "I WANT THAT CD!" so then i went looking on every cd store shelf for Welcome to Haiti Creole 101 but then i found out the actual cd wasnt even out yet but now three years later when my sampler of Welcome to Haiti Creole 101 is all ratty and old my sister's boyfriend brings me a real FULL copy of Welcome to Haiti Creole 101 but basiclly what im trying to say is this cd is suprisingly good and SAK PASSE HAITI MAP VINI

There are 18 tracks on this CD; 1 is in English, 1 is in Spanish, 3 are in French, and 13 are in Haitian Creole. I am a native English speaker who took four years of French in high school [Class of 1991] and live in MN - which does not have a large population of Francophones. (Everyone whom I've met who speaks French have been from Haiti or French-speaking countries in Africa.) Despite my limited knowledge of the French language, I do listen to a lot of French hip hop - Amazon.com being one of the better sources - and love Carribean music, not to mention being a big Fugees (Reguee Camp AND Tranzlator Crew) and the three people of whom the lyrical portion was comprised.
I cannot understand all of the lyrics but still appreciate the music though much of the verbal intent is lost. The sole English song is "President" which Wyclef performed when he was in town a few months ago - I had wondered where that song was from. It would be a big big hit (which in my experience is not always good) if popularily released, combining the better parts of the first half of «Carnival» and the second half of «The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book». The release of this album *almost* makes up for the lack of songs in Creole on the last few CD's - in my opinion «Carnival» had the best mix, variety speaking, while «Ecleftic» was the most polished of the first 3. I'm excluding from discussing «the Preacher's Son» from the list of Wyclef albums; it was wholly too commerical. (A soundbite of "This one goes out to the ladies" for «Preacher's Son» is implied, though not included on the CD, preceding every song.)
The main thing that disappointed me when I did see Wyclef live was that he didn't perform any songs in any other language than English. He preceded one of the first songs in Spanish - and that was it. If he's decided to go commercial, he should at least be real about it and admit it. The release of this CD as an import-only is almost rubbing our faces in it; assuming we who appreciate diversity in music being the minority. Whomever is in control of the airwaves (radio or at the clubs) is in charge of what people are being musically fed; I've never even heard «Guantanamera» off Wyclef's «Carnival» played anwhere. My first impression of Wyclef is that he was an artist willing to diversify the often limited world of Hip Hop; it was pretty limited in the old school (of which I am a big fan) and pretty limited now. It's either gangsta, for the ladies, or talkin' out the side of your neck - though a limited amount of people are on the peace tip (De La Soul's release of «Buhloone Mind State» really let me down), but that's about it. With the exception of OutKast, it's all seeming pretty trite - even Nas has slipped. I had wished Wyclef would have made more of a difference, but he's letting people down. To quote him, «Don't forget where you came from, where you came from». (From «Pullin' Me In» off «Ecleftic: 2 Sides II A Book».)

When you first pop this album in and listen to the intro, you are thrown back to old skool Wyclef. The second song gives you more hope. 24 Hours To Live, is comparable to any track on the Carnaval/Ecleftic, displays soul and deaph of the early Wyclef Ablums. Its that moodness in the beats which give that remenecent sound which made Wyclef famous. However, the album changes dramatically for the worst after that. Almost every song is crapy upbeat Foreign Language version of soething you would be able to find on the Masquerade. Its just not the same Wyclef from the years back. There is one more which is worth mentioning, and that is Vie Ny (Ft Passi), everything else just doesn't make this worth the import price.

like so many of His Projects after "the Carnival" Clef just can't find enough tight material to make a complete set.I dig what he did with taken it back Home,but Musically nothing new is coming through this stew.