Wyclef Jean - The Preacher's Son
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Free Music Notes for The Preacher's Son
Free Music Review: Remember Masquerade?
Hit: 4 Stars
I almost lost hope in Wyclef after Ecleftic, a disappointing album with only a few solid songs. But thankfully he bounced back. This is a great album - diverse, smooth, funky - some dance songs, some slow tips, and some conscious tunes. Well balanced and FULL of amazing cameos from cool cats like Patti LaBelle, Wayne Wonder, Missy Elliott, Buju Banton (!), Elephant Man... A couple of red hot songs feature Sharissa and Monica. Pick this one up - if you liked the Wyclef on Masquerade and have a taste for some reggae tinged tunes, you will love this one.Free Music Review: Self Indulgent Tripe
Hit: 2 Stars
Of course ego is all part of the game in hip hop music. But this CD is basically one man's inflated ego put on digital record. The low point is when he thanks God -- at length -- about simply being Wyclef. Not for his family, fans, talent .... no, simply BEING the great Wyclef is worth great thanks to God. Wyclef is his best when he puts on his reggae hat, such as in "Take me as I am," but even then sounds like a boring, flat version of Marley. And even in this celebrated love song, "Take me as I am" the subject matter is Wyclef himself. It's hard to imagine a love song that's all about "me, me, me" but Wyclef manages to do it. There's a few head-bobbing moments here, but overall the album is erratic, filled with dozens of guest apprearances. It's like 'clef is trying to impress us all with all the famous people he knows. Makes you wonder if he's capable of carrying an entire album by himself. Sure there's variety on this ablum. He throws in a million genres. Trouble is, like the venerable jack of all trades, Wyclef does a million different things, but none of them very well. The end result is boring. It comes across as self aggrandizing tripe. "But he throws in a middle eastern thing in 'Rebel Music!'" True, but it still sucks.
Free Music Review: YOUR BEST SO FAR WYCLEF
Hit: 4 Stars
INTRO - no reviewINDUSTRY - good beat, good lyrics with an important message 4/5.
PARTY TO DAMASCUS - one of the weak spots on this album, i don't understand why this became a single, anyhow not all bad 2/5.
CELEBRATE - hard to describe, but it's very good 4/0.
BABY DADDY - good song with Redman(exellent choice) 4/5.
THREE NIGHTS IN RIO - latino-influenced party song 4/0.
CLASS REUNION - mellow song, still very good 4/5.
BABY - a good chilloutsong for the ladies 4/0.
I AM YOUR DOCTOR - a very good reggae-song with gueststars such as Wayne wonder and elephant man, one of the best song's on this cd if you like that kind of music 4/5.
LINDA - Average 3/0.
TAKE ME AS I AM - wyclef new single(a clear choice) amazing vocals from monica on top of a good song 5/O!!!
GRATEFUL - good, but not a masterpiece 4/0.
NEXT GENERATION - the same as on grateful 4/0.
REBEL MUSIC - a good song with an indie sound 4/5.
WHO GAVE THE ORDER - a good song with an imortant message 4/5.
PARTY PY THE SEA - even tho this a good cd it's very tragic in a lot of places, so you you need a happy and postive song to cheer you up, this is it 4/0.
PARTY TO DAMASCUS REMIX - the worst song on this album 2/0.
Free Music Review: I'm now a Wyclef fan
Hit: 4 Stars
This was the first Wyclef anything that I've ever bought, and I was pleasantly surprised. The stand-out tracks for me are "Celebrate" featuring Patti LaBelle, "Take Me As I Am," and "Rebel Music." I also really appreciate the consciousness of "Industry." I'm not the biggest "rap" fan, but I really appreciate those MC's/rappers/artists, like Wyclef, OutKast, Common, etc. This album proves that Wyclef can talk about a variety of issues without resorting to the kinds of played out, stereotyped rhetoric that other artists have resorted to.Free Music Review: 2-1/2 stars -- Does Wyclef even know what he wants to do?
Hit: 2 Stars
As one of my favorite websites said, Wyclef Jean has been unsuccessfully blending hip-hop, R&B, reggae, and Pepsi on his last two albums. The Preacher's Son is his fourth solo album, and it isn't much more interesting than his other post-Carnival releases.Because of the aforementioned problem, the production on this album is all over the place. But the songs are all over the place too. Actually, scratch that -- a lot of the songs talk about the same thing: imagining how life would be if such-and-such didn't happen. If that's not the case, the songs are political commentaries gone wrong ("Grateful", "Baby Daddy", "Next Generation").
The lyrics in these songs aren't that interesting, either, by the way. "I Am Your Doctor" (featuring Wayne Wonder and Elephant Man)" has the chorus: "I am your doctor/Here's the prescription/Girl, two teaspoons of my friendship/A full cup of my love". And "Industry" neither helps nor hurts the album, and it's full of "what if"s, like what if Biggie, 2 Pac, Big L and Jam Master Jay didn't killed, and what if the World Trade Center was still around. Those topics aren't terrible to talk about, but the fact that every bar says "what if" something or "imagine" something makes things get a little mundane after a while. And in one place in the song Clef says: "I kinda hope that the Fugees didn't break up." Yeah, sure you do, Clef.
The rest of the songs aren't HORRIBLE, but they're just not that great. A lot of the songs are filler, like "Party By the Sea" (featuring Buju Banton and T-Vice) and "Celebrate" (with Cassidy, being wack as usual, and Patti LaBelle). The Carlos Santana-assisted "Three Nights In Rio" is okay, but you can tell that it's trying desperately to measure up to "Maria Maria" (by the way, has anyone seen The Product G&B?). Scarface drops a nice verse in "Next Generation" (also featuring Rah Digga), but I'm still scratching my head as to what he's doing there. And another thing, who told Clef to sing falsetto all the way through "Baby"?
I agree with the people that said "Party to Damascus" is overrated, and by the way, I don't know why its remix is included as a bonus track, because -- well, maybe it's just me, but the remix doesn't sound any different than the original version. If his material doesn't start to be more organized, then there's not much hope left for the preacher's son.
Anthony Rupert