Last night at a sold out BB Kings in NYC the international superstar Wyclef Jean brought the Carnival from the Caribbean to the NYC. The night was full of energy, good vibes and great music.
The night began with a suited up Wyclef accompanied by a band playing some of the superstar’s most memorable hits like “911” and “Sweet Girl” just to smoothen out the crowd before the madness began.
The Haitian sensation had plenty of surprise guest that hit the stage with him to show love to Clef on the celebration if his April Showers project. The first of many guest appearances was Uncle Murda, who hit the stage to spit bars about the current New York City rap scene. Murda literally murdered the freestyle and got much props from the BB Kings crowd.
After performing a few more of his smash hits, Clef warned the crowd “No more old hits, if you want old joints, go buy my old albums. It’s time for that new shit, April Showers.” Shortly after the statement Wyclef brought out his next guest, Troy Ave. The former Refugee Camp member asked the young BK MC to spit a freestyle for the crowd, in which Troy responded in impressive manner. The both then performed the title track of the mixtape “April Showers,” and Clef kicked into April Showers mode for the most part of the night from there on.
Just like the mixtape, Wyclef’s set got very eclectic. From mixing Hip-Hop with Trap, to playing the Rock classic “Smells like Teen Spirit” and even the United States national anthem, Wyclef did it all for the love of his fans. One of the key moments of the night was when Wyclef packed the stage of beautiful females and surprised the people when Waka Flocka came out to perform their catchy tune “Trap N Roll.” From there Waka got things turnt up when he gave the crowd his street smash “Hard in the Paint” even getting in the middle of the action with the fans in BB Kings. In between the madness of Waka’s performance, the beautiful ladies and the band on the stage, Wyclef introduced the National Haitian Soccer Team to the audience of New York and congratulated them for their current success.
Guest surprises continued courtesy of Clef. Papoose, hit the stage to rep for Brooklyn and give the crowd a sixteen. The funny thing about Pap’s freestyle was that it touched base on his incident from Summed Jam. Clef jokingly told Papoose that he was not going to let him “bumrush” his BB King show. The Champs were also in the building, those being Zab Judah and Petey Quillin who came out to see the former Fugee member. As the night winded down Clef introduced Prodigy of Mobb Deep and shared a story about both performing together back in the days at the Apollo. Clef asked Prodigy to perform his favorite song and Capital P delighted fans with verses from the Mobb Deep classic “Shook Ones.”
The night close down with the concert being in full Carnival mode with Haitian flags waving in the air, and everyone dancing till the very last song. Wyclef was presented with a special cake for his success with April Showers. The night capped off with Clef calling all the guest back to the stage to thank them and close out the show.
Roger Krastz @walldoe
Photography: Chelsea Odufu
