Most Popular
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Kill Gus Boulis's Killer?
Paul Brandreth didn't want to murder anybody. Or did he?
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City Hall Stinks
There's a war on Dinner Key, and Marc Sarnoff is a bomb-thrower.
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Mayor of the Nude Beach
So he's naked and in his seventies. He's still the coolest guy you'll ever meet.
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I Have HIV
But I'm not telling you, babe. Happy Valentine's Day!
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Vamos a Cuba!
Join us as we try to hitch a ride to the island before the gold rush strikes.
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City Hall Stinks (58)
There's a war on Dinner Key, and Marc Sarnoff is a bomb-thrower.
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Sarnoff Turns His Back on Blacks (20)
Coconut Grove's other half feels left out.
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Sarnoff Shmarnoff (14)
Commissioner Marc's claim to a famous bloodline just might be fiction.
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Jumping the Snapper (5)
Brosia boards the Mediterranean bandwagon, with mixed results.
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Cyclists Court Death Daily (55)
It's dangerous, but Miami is getting friendlier to bikes.
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Another Side of Page and Plant
If the Internet had been around, would there still be a mythology of Led Zep?
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Pick Up and Go
Blue Martini is maybe a good place to meet a significant other. But first listen to the stories they tell.
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The Prodigal Piano Man
Johnny Rodgers plays his hometown a song.
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Miami Movement
Our guide to the 15th annual Caribbean Festival.
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As Nastie as They Wanna Be
This wrestling makes that Ultimate stuff look wimpy.
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Massacre Victims Finally Win: $37 Million
08:48AM 03/07/08 -
Weekly News Wrapup - Getting Paid For Good Grades, Skyrocketing Gas Prices and Warrants for Bush and Cheney
08:40AM 03/07/08 -
Bike Blog: Friday Flotsam
08:35AM 03/07/08 -
G. Love and the Special Sauce Hit Langerado
08:55PM 03/09/08 -
Langerado Last Night: Matt Pond PA and the Walkmen
04:50PM 03/08/08 -
Langerado: No Vampire! Denied!
04:43PM 03/08/08
What we are writing about
- Art Basel
- Arturo Sandoval Jazz Club
- Carnival Center
- Coconut Grove
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- downtown Miami
- Fillmore Miami Beach
- Fort Lauderdale
- Francisco Goya
- Freedom Tower
- Hugo Chávez
- In the Continuum
- John Timoney
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- Karen Kilimnik
- Marc Sarnoff
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- Miami-Dade County...
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- Museum of Contemporary...
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Recent Articles By Dan Leroy
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Duran Duran
Red Carpet Massacre (Epic)
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Snap to It
Comeback kids, rhymin' Limeys, and songs about partying defined Hip-Hop Nation in 2006
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God Save the Scene
Sassy Brits, hoochie mamas and a dude named Beans attempted to invigorate a stagnant year for hip-hop.
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Handsome Boy Modeling School
White People Elektra
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Kanye West
College Dropout (Roc-A-Fella)
National Features
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Houston Press
"It Was Like an Armageddon Movie"
For days after Hurricane Rita, a Texas prison was hell on earth.
By Chris Vogel -
SF Weekly
The Candidate
Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.
By Matt Smith -
The Pitch
How Not To Be a Rap Star
First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.
By Nadia Pflaum -
Village Voice
Project Runaway
What becomes a gossip columnist most?
By Michael Musto
Wyclef Jean
Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant (Sony)
By Dan Leroy
Published: January 24, 2008
Subject(s): Sony, Wyclef Jean, Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant
In a recent interview, Wyclef Jean summed up, in just a few words, the very thing fans both admire and abhor about the former Fugee. Bubbling over with understandable enthusiasm for Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant, the star-studded sequel (of sorts) to his 1997 solo debut, Clef couldn't resist comparing it to Bob Marley's Exodus and Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. Those two classics set a standard that Memoirs can't reach, but give the ever-ambitious Clef his due: This tuneful, multiculti bouillabaisse is his most fully realized project since the Fugees' 1996 masterwork, The Score. It's also an impressive bit of genre-juggling. (Give a listen to Timbaland's recent solo CD to hear how a style-spanning lineup doesn't guarantee greatness. Wyclef wisely roots most of Memoirs' songs in familiar Caribbean and Latin amalgams. If that seems to be the way pop music is headed, it's still not an easy task to work Paul Simon ("Fast Car"), Norah Jones ("Any Other Day"), and Mary J. Blige ("What About the Baby") sensibly into a mix. Clef's own rough, island-inflected croon unites the disparate strands of Memoirs. So does the way he draws on his own history as an immigrant to highlight the musical melting pot he's created here. Memoirs sounds like world music as it was originally envisioned, before record company execs got their hands on it.
