Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival

Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival
Studio album by Wyclef Jean
Released	24 June 1997
Recorded	1996-1997
Genre	Hip hop
Length	73:51
Label	Columbia
Producer	Wyclef Jean, Jerry Wonda
Wyclef Jean chronology
Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival (1997) The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book (2000)
Singles from The Carnival
"We Trying to Stay Alive" Released: 27 May 1997 "Anything Can Happen" Released: 22 September 1997 "Guantanamera" Released: 8 October 1997 "Gone till November" Released: 25 November 1997 "Cheated (To All The Girls)" Released: 28 July 1998 "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".

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
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Chicago Tribune
Entertainment Weekly	A
The Guardian
Los Angeles Times
NME	8/10
Pitchfork	8.0/10
Rolling Stone
Spin	8/10
The Village Voice	A−

The Carnival was released to critical acclaim. 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." 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.

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

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

Commercial performance

The Carnival debuted at number sixteen on the US Billboard 200, selling 52,000 copies in its first week. 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.

Track listing

Personnel

• Wyclef Jean – guitar, keyboards
• Rita Marley – background vocals
• Judy Mowatt – background vocals
• Marcia Griffiths – background vocals
• Sonny Kompanek – arranger
• Salaam Remi – producer, engineer, mixing
• Warren Riker – mastering, mixing
• Rudy – assistant engineer
• DJ Skribble – scratching
• Funkmaster Flex – scratching
• Crazy Sam & Da Verbal Assassins – performer
• Manuel Lecuona – mastering
• Rawle Gittens – mixing assistant
• Tony Gonzales – assistant engineer
• Lauryn Hill – arranger, performer, executive producer
• Jerry Duplessis – guitar, bass, producer
• Alex Olsson – mixing assistant
• John Forté – performer
• Jay Nicholas – mixing assistant
• Pras – performer, executive producer
• Melky Sedeck – performer
• New York Philharmonic Orchestra – performer
• Tomas Muscionico – photography
• Mike Roach – mixing assistant
• Storm Jefferson – mixing assistant
• Paul Epworth – assistant engineer
• Brian Dozoretz – engineer, mixing assistant
• Jocelyne Béroard – performer
• Sweet Micky – performer
• The Neville Brothers – performer
• Celia Cruz – performer

Charts

Weekly charts

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

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)	Platinum	100,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)	Silver	60,000*
United States (RIAA)	2× Platinum	2,000,000^
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.