ILL NA NAS, GODDESSES, AND DRAMA MAMAS

PFasMl8hsl, launyn Hlll, Wyclsl Jcan took their zeilgeist and brought it straight home to Haiti with the HomecomingConcert to benefitHaitian orphans and relocateHaitian refugees who'd beensent home.For the crowd of nearly100,000, it was a monumental eventrThe ehow was broadcasta9 an MTVspecial, and reportersfollowed the band's every move,From visiting for. mer PresldentJean BertrandAristide'e orphanageto playingat Club Med for Haiti's elite and braving the streets to greettana, the Fugeesused their power as a sourceof positivityand reconcilla- tlon to bringall eyesto Haiti. Perhapsthe reverberationsof theh humanitarianeflorts wlll be thelr most lastingcontributlon. Hill foundedthe RetugeeProiect to help at risk young-

and creatinga funkdaliedsparssn€ss I esque determlnism,they lounded an sters, brlngingtogether Blackademics forLauryn'srendltlonofRobertaFlack's I informal famlly of perlormers like and MCs for a highercaus€. In May "KllllngMeSoftly,"theyexpressedtheirI Canibueand John Forteand Refugee 1998,the Wyclef Jean Foundatlon made intentto stand on the shouldersof I CampRecords.LaurynHillcameoftthe an attemptto correctthe disaslroustall- giantsand rein hip hop back into the I roadto haveher flrst child,Zlon Davld, out from lhe Haitiangovernment's mis- continuumof blackmusic. They defled I andflnd herselfagain. Wyclef released appropriatlonol tho $300,000raised by borders drawn between Haiti and I Wyclel Jean Presents the Camivat the HomecomingConcert by organiz- Amerlca, between musical genres, I FeaturlngRefugea All-Slars, a magical ing anotherbenefit in Mlami with thE betweenthe pop mainstreamand hlp I solojourneytoplatinumstatusonwhlch same name,which Jean has declared hop'sunderground. With the mantralike I he coltaboratedwith artistefrom Cella will be an annualevent. refrainand meditativelyrics to "Ready I Cruz to the NeviileBrothers. ln 1998, And the theme of "homecoming"

or Not," the band seemed bent on cre- | Hlll unveiled The Miseducation ol is the hook hiddenin the brldge,work- ating a lean, mean zeitgeisl. LaurynHill, which critics held compara. ing us all over subliminallybecause

Forthebridge,thebandpersistedinI ble to the rising ot the sun. And Pras what the Fugees express teela so breaking boundaries.ln the face of I fulty embracedglitz and glam with the familiar.Selt-proclaimed "Haitian-by- rumorsof a split-upand divisivehype i Ghetto Supastaralbum and several association"Lauryn Hill, who still lives presentingLauryn as the band's true I movieproieets. in herchildhood house in SouthOrange, talent,all movesmade remained on the ln April 1997, the Fugees-in- drawsstrength and inspiration from the

I Fugees' own terms. With a Warhol- I I neigtrOortroodwhele she first met I "on","n,-avolution-Always-Becoming I 370