On November 10th, former Fugees member Wyclef Jean, in conjunction with mixtape honcho DJ Drama, will release on Carnival House via Megaforce/Red, a 13-song EP entitled DJ Drama Presents Wyclef Jean, aka, Toussaint St. Jean: From The Hut, to the Projects, To The Mansion.
In addition to DJ Drama, the EP will feature guest appearances by some of music’s biggest names (Eve, Timbaland, Maino, Cyndi Lauper, and Lil Kim).
From The Hut, to the Projects, To The Mansion revolves around the character Toussaint St. Jean, Jean’s alter ego persona (suggested to him by fellow rapper T.I.). The protagonist in Jean’s musical odyssey is partly derived from the story of Toussaint L’Ouverture, an 18th-century Haitian revolutionary hero that contributed to propelling Haiti into the international spotlight.
In this new role as Toussaint, Jean, who also hails from Haiti, decided to take on a more rebellious and bold persona stating, “Toussaint is more direct.” Jean then goes on to say, “Whatever he’s thinking, he’s going to tell you.”
According to Jean, he reached out to DJ Drama to participate on the project to give the EP a tougher and edgier sound, which he felt was necessary to match the gritty stories told vicariously through Toussaint. “I asked myself, ‘Who’s the toughest guy out there?’ “Then I said, well, DJ Drama is pretty badass. So I called him and asked if he’d be interested in doing a mixtape. He heard what I was up to and he said, ‘We gotta do a book—this is a novel!’ He got excited, and it became more like an EP than a mixtape.”
Tapping into his earlier experiences of poverty, Jean (Toussaint) penned songs such as “The Streets Pronounce Me Dead,” “Warriorz,” “Letter From the Penn,” and “Toussaint vs. Bishop,” which deal with the reality and consequences of street life. On “Slumdog Millionaire,” Jean sums up his life’s journey as going “from the hut to the projects to the mansion.”
Wyclef Jean is scheduled to release his self-titled LP “Wyclef Jean” in March 2010 via Columbia Records.
Below is the track listing:
1. Interlude – From The Hut, To The Projects, To The Mansion
2. Warrior’s Anthem
3. The Streets Pronounce Me Dead
4. Slumdog Millionaire featuring Cyndi Lauper, aka, Luscious Loo
5. Interlude – Every Now & Then
6. Walk Away
7. More Bottles featuring Timbaland
8. You Don’t Wanna Go Outside
9. Toussaint vs. Bishop
10. Interlude – The Struggle
11. We Made It
12. Suicide Love featuring Eve
13. Letter From The Penn
14. Robotic Love
15. Gangsta Girl featuring Lil Kim
16. Interlude – Tell The Kids The Truth
17. The Shottas
