Wyclef Jean, 'Selena' (Sessions)

AOL: How gratifying is it to you, then, to be at this level, where you can get someone like Paul Simon, someone like Serj, and break those barriers?
WJ: It's the best gratification for Wyclef Jean. Because I remember critics were like, "This kid's all over the place. We give him three years max, because there's no ways to be doing so many different forms of music and be sustainable." And if you look at an iPod, a kid has every form of music. So, it's a great thing to be able to have artists that believe in the same thing that I believe in and want to change that aspect of the game.
AOL: The Paul Simon track actually reminded me a little bit of Hendrix, and I know that for this record you wanted to focus quite a bit on songwriting.
WJ: Yeah, my whole new album is about the songwriting. No hype. You just get the song. And, of course, Hendrix, being one of my favorites, it's gonna influence my writing.
AOL: Let's switch gears for a second. During the last few years, you've been very involved with different Haitian charities, and it's something that's been very important to you. Talk a little bit about how doing something like that, seeing those worlds influenced the music of this album.