Wyclef Jean

It was important that I became successful. People say they do it for the love, and yes, you do it for the love, but you want to be successful.

All that violence in the world, we need to stop that.

I feel that life is short, so we should be disciplined, but at the same time we should have a good time.

My parents were Christian.

My grandfather was a voodoo priest. A lot of my life dealt with spirituality. I can close my eyes and remember where I come from.

My daddy was a minister, my grandfather was a voodoo priest, my uncle was a mason; I was raised with a lot of studies.

I don't have to be president to do great things for my country, but at the same time, to get legislation and policy passed, you have to be in some kind of office. So I don't know what the future will lead to.

Me and my father went through a war period where we wasn't talking. He wanted me to go to theology school - I didn't want to go. I wanted to do music. I told him I was a minister through music.

I'm cheap, and I'm proud of it!

When the Fugees were big, we made a whole lot of money, and what happened was that I saved my money and never spent it.

I know that the nice shines I have on is going to pass. The nice cars will pass. All that will stay is the music and the work. That's where I get the inspiration to help people out and work.

I do music for the love of it, and I've been doing it from a very young age: about 11.

I'm the hip-hop Quincy Jones of today.

What I'm trying to do is break the genre from what is rap and what is music.

Rap records don't make you feel good no more. Six months after release, it can't come back as a classic.

I was a jazz major in high school, in an all-jazz band. No matter what I do, it features my musical influences.

When I'm rhyming it's all in my head... Like the slaves, when they were picking cotton, they would block out their minds. They would sing.

You get quick money, it's beautiful, there's sunshine, but at the end of the day, you find out it's all a masquerade, baby. It's not what it seems.

My songs are really never titled. Sometimes I call it one thing. then I change it.

I'm like Cab Calloway: I love the entertainment, and I've loved entertaining people ever since I was little.

I always want to know what's wrong with you, why you ain't smiling. That's just my character; I just love people and want to see people having a good time.

That's the best way to feed the human mind. That's how Bob Marley did it. He never put it in your face. After you got the groove, you were just singing the hooks, because you thought it was cool.

There's not a hip-hop artist that didn't snatch of piece of Bob Marley. It's totally impossible.

Bob Marley stood for universal peace and love. He tried to break racial barriers.