From his earliest days with the Fugees, Wyclef Jean seems to be bursting both with musical talent and interest in a variety of genres. This attribute meant it was hardly surprising that Jean was the first of the Fugees members to embark on a solo career. Since then, he has stretched himself musically and became a respected humanitarian. Jean was born in Haiti and started singing in church when he was just three. His family moved to the United States when he was six. In his teens, Jean formed the group Tranzlator Crew in 1987 with Lauryn Hill and Pras Michel. The group changed their name to the Fugees and started looking for a record deal, which they found in 1993.

Their debut album, Blunted On Reality, was also the group's first success with their mix of hip-hop, jazz reggae and R&B. They became worldwide superstars with the release of their second album, The Score, in 1996. They had multiple hit singles along with winning two Grammys for the release. The next year, Jean decided to start his solo career and released The Carnival in the summer of 1997. The long list of famous guest artists helped the album climb the charts. Instead of immediately working on a follow up, Jean instead turned his attention to producing, songwriting and remixing, working with artists like Mya, Michal Jackson and Whitney Houston.

He released his next album, Ecleftic, 2 Sides II a Book, in 2000, which was another successful release full of stars like Mary J. Blige and Kenny Rogers. The album also marked the beginning of Jean's own label, Yclef. In 2002, he released Masquerade not long after his father died. The album was a top ten release and was followed by The Preacher's Son in 2003 as well as an album that gave tribute to his Haitian roots, Welcome to Haiti, Creole 101, in 2004. He released a sequel to his debut Carnival album in 2005 called Carnival Vol 2, Memoirs of an Immigrant.