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Stars At The Shore: Wyclef Jean Talks Haiti, Album And Untimely Death Of Whitney Houston

By Veronica Dudo

Haitian music artist, producer and political activist Wyclef Jean hosted a pool party in Atlantic City over the weekend. The musician performed on-stage in the night club, the Pool After Dark inside Harrah's Resort. After posing for photographers on the red carpet, Jean talked about the untimely death of his colleague and friend Whitney Houston, his plans for an arts school in Haiti and his new album.

News broke that Whitney Houston died--looking back on her career, what are your thoughts about her contributions to the music industry?

I just want to say RIP to Whitney Houston. I got a chance to work with her in the studio; wrote the record "My Love's Your Love" and today is really a tragic day personally for me, for my family. I think one of the hardest things as entertainers is despite what is going on we still have to come and perform.

This is really affecting you?

Yeah, it affects me because knowing Whitney, knowing her comedy side, 'Wyclef' her calling my name, knowing her professional music side and knowing her as the human being definitely took a toll on me but I know if she were here she's be like, 'Get your ass on-stage' (laughs) you know what I mean.

What are some upcoming projects you're working on?

Everything is going good on my end. Right now I'm focusing on my label which is called, 'All Hands On Deck' with my little brother Sedeck and right now we're producing an artist by the name of Cris Cab which is a young phenomenon. Back to what I do best—finding talent, discover talent so you're going to be hearing a lot of that.

How is your new album coming along?

The new album I'm working on is called, 'Feel Good Music' that's the title. Just music that feels good, that's what I want to do right now. That's what my brain space is at so we'll see what comes out of that.

You're going to be performing inside can you tell us what you have planned?

You know I'm from the Caribbean so invite me to a pool party is perfect for me I didn't know it was a performance--I thought it was just a block party so that's the best way to explain to you what I do. It's very cool tonight, it's laid back, it's more casual so the style of the performance is just really we by the pool so for me it's dope. I said just get me a guitar and a DJ we gonna make it very fun and very sexy and y'all gonna have fun.

You've done a lot for Haiti, how are things going?

Definitely, you see I committed a lot of my time and I would say a rock star's weakness is always charity because you always want to do more for people and the label's like, 'Yo, where's the album? Where's the album?' You're like, 'I got to go ahead.' I think my next thing is I want to focus on seeing how I could build a Wyclef Jean School of the Arts. I feel if I focus on that, maybe that's something that can sustain itself and it can last forever and can produce successors so that's my focus--that's what I'm focusing on right now.

BUZZ @ THE BEACH

For the February 17 weekend, Mario Lopez hosts the party at the Pool After Dark while Chris Botti performs in the concert venue at Harrah's Resort. Borgata welcomes Aaron Lewis, Lisa Lampanelli and The Deadmeat Tour: Steve Aoki & Datsik. The House of Blues in Showboat Casino will present Eddie Money and Little Anthony & The Imperials.

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