Wyclef Jean Honored By Harvard Foundation

The allegations to Yele’s financial troubles? I always figured the full story was never told because, well, most of the times it isn’t. From a music perspective, I’ve always been a fan of ‘Clef. Everyone knows his story from the Fugees to creating his own mainstream (solo) respect. Hell, he even showed up on the Chappelle Show once. Classic episode, too. More importantly, I’ve always had respect for Wyclef because regardless of how big of a star he became, he always remembered where he came from. Haiti never seemed far from his mind, actions or words. And remember, he was doing this LONG before the earthquake which basically broke his country in half occurred.

That’s why I was pleased to find out he was being by the Harvard Foundation as “Artist of the Year” during their Cultural Awards ceremony on February 27.

The Harvard Cultural Rhythms festival will begin that day at 3 p.m. in Sanders Theatre. The award will be presented around 4 p.m. There also will be an 8 p.m. performance.

“His contributions to music and distinguished history of creativity have been appreciated by people throughout the world,” said S. Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation, “and he is admired worldwide for his humanitarian efforts on behalf of the people of Haiti.”

Again, he’s always come off as a stand up dude to me. Whether you feel he deserves the honor or not is completely subjective. It is, however, always a great feeling to see artists be recognized for their positive efforts instead of the opposite.

Haitian-American Artist Honored