Wyclef Jean Set To Release 7 Albums In 1 Year Using AI, But Acknowledges ‘One Thing That The AI Can’t Duplicate Is The Soul’ – AfroTech
Wyclef Jean has big plans ahead for his music career.
In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Jean, a Haitian-born musician, took a blast to the past to reflect on making music in his basement, where he built a studio. One of Hip-Hop’s best-selling albums, The Fugees’ 1996 album “The Score,” was created there. According to BET, the album, which includes “Killing Me Softly With His Song” and “Ready or Not,” sold 22 million copies.
“‘The Score,’ one of the, you know, the biggest Hip-Hop selling albums, is done out of a basement. So, which is normal today. For a young kid to have a computer, be in their room, and literally lay out the entire music,” Jean told Yahoo Finance. “We was doing this 30 years ago inside of a basement and making it cool to do music in your bedroom. ‘Ready or Not,’ I did that in my small little bedroom in the Booga basement in the hood.”
Now, that many years later, Jean is not only planning to release a new album but also to explore nearly every genre he has performed in. The artist has revealed he plans to release seven albums in a single year, through his “Quantum Leap” project, according to Yahoo Finance. This will include Reggae, R&B, Country, and Carnival music. He has been working on the albums for six years.
“The last album you’re gonna get is called ‘La Mardi Gras.’ That’s the carnival. Anybody that knows my energy coming from the island, coming from the Caribbean, that’s where we put all of the world rhythms together, and you’re gonna need two pairs of shoes with that one and a towel, baby,” he expressed to the outlet.
Releasing seven albums in a year is unheard of, but through AI, that is now possible. Jean said that it is an “exciting time for people that want to thrive.” He gave an example of how he used AI for the albums in his interview with Yahoo Finance.
“We at the era now where we can be our best selves. So again, we embrace the technology. How do I use AI [in] music? I use it as a tool. I’ll give you an example. So back in the day, I had a song called ‘Gone Till November,’” he explained. “And when you look at the video or you hear the song, it’s the philharmonic orchestra. So, Hip-Hop with the orchestra. Now to do this, it took five days, right? Because first of all, to write all the sheet music, it takes like three to four weeks because you’re writing all the parts out, right? That’s one thing… I literally can write out the bass part and then I literally can tell the AI music, ‘Yo, write out the cello, write out boom, boom, boom, boom.’ Now when the conductor comes, he still comes with the orchestra. I’m still Wyclef Jean. Dude, I just saved an entire month and $150,000.”
While AI was a useful tool for his album rollout, he added that “one thing that the AI can’t duplicate is the soul.”
