Wyclef Jean

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0:48That's why over 200 ,000 happy customers have made the switch. Upgrade your space today. Visit washablesofas.com now and bring home a sofa made for life. That's washablesofas.com. Offers are subject to change, and certain restrictions may apply. You are listening to Ruthie's Table 4 in partnership with Montclair.

1:12You never know what's going to happen. A few nights ago, having dinner with friends in the Garden of the River Cafe, a message came that Wycliffe Jean was sitting at Table 4, and he wanted to say hello. So an hour later, he joined us at our table, and an hour after that, we were still there, talking about music, politics, and of course food late into the night. What a man.

1:43Wycliffe emigrated age nine from Haiti to the Brooklyn Projects, played 14 instruments by the time he was 13, won three Grammys, speaks seven languages, and was asked to run for president at least two times. When the evening was over, saying goodbye, we agreed we would do a podcast when he was back. And like his beautiful song, I thought he'd be gone till November. This morning he called and said, Ruthie, I've delayed my flight. Let's record tonight. So here we are back in the River Cafe, two new friends continuing our conversation about food and music and memories. You never know what's going to happen.

2:22Hi, that's beautiful. Well, it was a very good night, wasn't it, that night? It was a surreal night. What way? Because I'm a viber. You saw how I just walked in here and I saw the piano and I just jumped on the piano. And I believe, like, everything is energy. And I came in the restaurant humbly, just chilled, and I was looking at everyone's eyes. Everyone was amazing. And it was cool because one by one, people started coming to me. They was like, you are Clef Jean, right? I was like, yeah, yeah, what's up? Yeah, this is why Clef. And then I really wanted to meet you. So I was like, yo, I got to meet you.

3:04And then when you came over, we just clicked. You know what I'm saying? We clicked, clicked. Like we said, okay, I'm going to give you all a lot of hip-hop terminology here So we click, click. Translation means we bonded. And so when you were here last time, you had, I think you had these peppers, which we're cooking right now. One of the duties of this podcast is that the guest reads a recipe, which kind of connects you with the people who are listening to you. So would you like to teach us how to cook through reading this recipe? Perfect. But we about, you know, as a producer and as a creator, I'm a creative.

3:44I already knew I was going to do this. So I was like, so in hip-hop, we do this in a cafeteria. This is where we beatbox. So I was thinking what's dope is you start off every recipe you go, I'm going to repeat it, but I'm going to repeat it in a hip-hop way. You feel me? So like we used to do in a cafeteria. So it's going to be rocking. Okay, let's go. So this is the recipe here? Mm-hmm. Okay, perfect. We're going in. Oh, oh, yeah. Yeah. You can just read it. I'm ready for you. Go. You want me to read it? Yes. Okay. I got you. Grilled red peppers, anchovies, capers, and bruschetta. Bruschetta and capers, anchovies, grilled red peppers.

4:32Here we go. Oh. 50 salted capers, soaked. A-A-I, 50 salt capers, soak, soak, soak, let's go, y 'all. 100 salted anchovies. Hold up. 100 salted anchovies, why cleft that refugee? Come on. 12 red peppers and 3 garlic cloves. 12, uh, uh, uh, 12 red peppers and 3 garlic cloves. Come on, y 'all. Come on, y 'all. Basil leaves. extra virgin olive oil. I like the way you did that three slice. Sore dough cut in half. Let's go baby girl. I like you. Grilled whole peppers until blackened on all sides. I like that. That could be a top line. Grilled whole peppers until blackened on all sides. Yeah. When cool, remove the blackened skin by rubbing peppers in your hands.

5:34And do not worry if they fall apart. Remove the seeds and cores. Layer the peppers in a large dish with slivers of garlic. Layer the peppers in a large dish with silver of garlic. Don't panic. Let's get it right. Capers and anchovies, basil black pepper. Eh, eh, eh, eh, black peppers and generous amount of extra virgin olive oil. The final layer should have all the ingredients visible. I agree with you. Grill the bread on both sides and gently rub garlic over one side. Only, only, only, only, only. Serve the peppers with the bruschetta. I agree with you.

6:42Earlier, I got a chance to go to Buckingham Palace, right? Oh, yeah. You went to a garden party today at Buckingham Palace. Yeah, I went to the garden party, but the part I was most excited about was the chambers to listen to the parliament, right? This is very important, right, because this simple act of democracy don't happen in a lot of places, right? Because you got places where, you know, in these chambers when they don't agree, next thing you know, one of the, like in our countries you have what's called senators or deputies, right? One leaves and next thing you know, you hear about, you know, this person getting killed or this person.

7:25So the democratic process within anything, I applaud 100%. The interesting thing, isn't it, that they disagree and they insult each other? It must have been question time, right, on the Wednesday? Yeah, it was question time. That's why I was like, you know, into it. Coming from Haiti, I came to the United States. And I have an uncle. His name is Raymond Joseph. and he has a book called For Whom the Dogs Spy. So my poli-sci brain, as a young child, I would always hear these stories. So he was one of the guys that was up front in the idea of baby Doc having to leave. So he was someone like, if you're a dictator, he's going to come for you because the idea is, you know, we don't support that.

8:25So Raymond Joseph made his way to America and he started a newspaper called IT Observateur, which is equivalent to like the New York Times, but in French and Creole. This is where the consciousness of just the idea of understanding policy and how important it was. So at a very young age, this is why I gravitated towards Barb Marley a lot, because I feel like a man who's saying, Emancipate yourself from interslavery. None but ourselves can free our mind. Have no fear for atomic energy, for none of them can stop the time. How long will they kill our profits while we stand aside and look? Some say it's just a part of it.

9:13We've got to fulfill the board. Won't you help me shame? Another song of freedom Cause all I ever had Redemption song Right? Again, so I always go back to the music Because just, again, and I'll constantly say this The artist should be present in this time It's very important Growing up in Haiti, you grew up in poverty Extreme poverty And was that a reflection of the food that you ate? I remember food very well. So my father left me when I was one years old. He had got a work visa to come preach in the United States. And so we was raised mostly with my grandmother. So one of my bandmates from the Fugees, Miss Hill, she was like, yo, Clef.

10:15Yo, remember back in the days, man When you used to tell us you used to eat dirt, man We thought you was like beyond exaggerating Until we went back and did our research And realized mud pie was a real thing Me and my brother was eating dirt from the floor When you are in extreme poverty You don't feel it. You have to understand. So when I would see a poster of a child from either Haiti, Africa, Brazil, different places, and you show me the child crying and he looks desperate and he looks in need, I'd be like, but hold up, hold up. I'm from extreme poverty When you're inside of the poverty You don't feel it Because that means That you're living inside of it So Your way out is imagination You were not exposed to wealth You didn't compare yourself To someone with wealth I wouldn't know what that is, right?

11:28Yeah So my level of wealth would be this Man, no matter how much we can't eat I know one thing about grandma She just got two chickens And once the chickens have laid some eggs And then we go to the main city And she sells some of them eggs We gonna come back And we gonna We gonna have the biggest meal So I want you to think like So every like Three weeks No matter what happened My grandma would go She would go and from planting tomatoes to corn to different things. She would always get these seeds. And from there, she would go to the city. She would. Was it Port-au-Prince? Yeah, Port-au-Prince, Coyote Bouquet, and then she'd go to Port-au-Prince.

12:19She would sell in the market. She'd sell what she'd grown. She'd sell what she'd grow. And she comes back. So that was wealth to us. So no matter what we was going through, it didn't matter because we know at the end of the day, Grandma is going to make us Jiri Sospwa Kalalu. Okay. Tell me what that is. Translation. I know it. Jiri rice. Jiri. Kalalu black beans. I'm sorry. Kalalu okra. Kalalu okra. Okra the vegetable. Yes. Okra. Love okra. And sauce pois is black beans. Okay. So this was one of the things that we always was excited to look forward for. What about fish? We get poisson gousel. What's that?

13:11White fish. Okay. Well, it's a lot of white fish. Snapper. We get snapper. We get shrimp. So now my daddy's side, straight fisherman. Yo, let me tell you something about my daddy. My daddy, he the original Aquaman. Like this dude can hold his breath for a day. Like when he going underwater to get that fish, oh, he coming up with that fish. Like, you know what I'm saying? How did he catch it? Did he have a dagger or did he have a nest? They have the stick. They have the stick and then they have the nest. So, you know, this is like I remember being now later in Brooklyn and with my daddy and then my grandma, my daddy's mother.

13:56telling us, you know, she would make us laugh how my dad would like just jump in the water and he would get the fish. So that side where the fisherman was at was a little more easier to eat, right? To get the food. But the thing is, once he left us, remember, we wasn't on that side. We was more on the side of, you know, depending on, is it going to rain today? Is it not going rain today. Let's go back to your childhood. You lived with your mother and your grandmother. I was one. My mom was pregnant and my dad left. And my mother joined my father right after she had the baby. My second brother, Samuel.

14:36In America. In Haiti. This is Haiti. They didn't even have babies yet. By the time my parents got to America, because of the immigration laws now, Ford was the president, and it was said, like, if you had a child in America, now you can go back and bring the kids. So my parents had two kids in America. Who was looking after you? Your parents were in America. My grandma. Your grandma. My grandma and my aunt. Your mother's mother. So were you going to school by that time? I was going to school when I was, like, five. Right. Yeah, I started going to school when I was five. So my father was a teller.

15:10He worked in a factory. He was a sewer. as well as being a pastor yes and so keep in mind the visa done ran out right and so he's knitting and then he hears immigration and my father takes off to start to run like a gazelle this dude done took off his name should be changed to greyhound that's how fast this boy running my daddy running he running. How old do you think he would have been? My dad, while he was running, my dad was like 30-something. He already was like 30, so he was running because he didn't want immigration to catch him. So now they raided this place, and while he running, the immigration unit goes to my mama, the apartment that they're staying in.

16:02So while my dad's running, this is a big raid. In Brooklyn. This is in Brooklyn. Yes, this is in Brooklyn. Now, immigration officer gets to my mama, Apartment. Immigration. Open up the door now, man. And my mom is so scared. The immigration officer has a translator with him that speaks French and Creole. So the immigration officer says, I'd have knocked on this door four times. they ain't open and I know somebody in there I need you to say it in Crayol and French whatever language that is tell them to open that door and the translator says to my mother in Crayol Faire Sovle Me Pauvet Potla Do not open that door right now the reason why I say this is at the end of the day people get caught up in these situations and we the united states of america like there was a time where we would take heed to this and we would take like cause to this and we would be so sensitive to that like where we could say we'll give you a pass because we know what you're doing here.

17:35You're not breaking the law. You just had a bad day. And these days do not exist. Also, you're making the country better by coming from another country. And I was just given a prize in America. I was asked to be in the academy. I was made a member of this Academy of Arts and Letters. And I wrote the letter and I said, my grandparents came from Russia. And I can, in 1917, you know, they were part of that Ellis Island. And I just think in two generations how, you know, if your grandparents were here watching you, did they, did your grandparents know the measure of your success? Did they see? No, my, my, my grandparents, my grandma knew my musical abilities at a very young age because I would just like make songs up.

18:28There was these women in the village every Sunday that would sing these church hymns. And I would just get, I would just be part of that. Can you remember one? Yeah, I remember a few of them.

18:56Si chaque fête Où d 'oujou en paix Où béni, mwen béni E mwen konessa Pogo di amen Di alleluia Pou benediction Wadewa

19:39So that was, you know, you could just feel it. But the hymn is saying we're blessed and we should acknowledge that, like basically every day of our life. So, again, that was some of the, I would hear these amazing women, and then so the hymns would just channel through me. And after church, would there be food? Would there be a meal? Would you go home and sit right? We call it Lucky Sunday. What was that? You get that Lucky Sunday, everything come out on that Lucky Sunday, but it doesn't happen often. Lucky Sunday happens on Easter. The meal is big. What is it? The meal is a lot of meat, goat.

20:27Goat. Goat cooked very interesting. It's called tasso. It's fried. Traditionally in Haiti, if you see how they cook, they use the charbon, charbon. Charbon. So it's caught with the charbon because you know the food won't taste different. And then they put the big aluminum pan. And so the goat is fried. they would make poisson grossel. The poisson grossel is the white fish. A little salty, like codfish at times. It sounds like you're saying grossel. Yeah, grossel. Grossel means large salt, doesn't it? Yeah, gros, yeah. En français, yeah. En français. Yeah, ça va en français. So in Creole, the word gros means big.

21:12Okay. Yeah, so yeah. And then phonetically, yes. Yes, because Creole and French at times, the words do mean the same thing, yes. And so when your father ran and your mother didn't open the door, so were they safe in the United States for you to come? They were safe. But let me tell you, so in the village, what I want you to understand, I've never seen Leblanc. I've never seen a white person in my life in this village. Never, right? So one day, I'm in the village, and a Jeep pulls up in this village. Keep in mind, I've never seen no Jeep before, so that looks like a UFO to us. You were how old?

22:00How old were you? Like five. And we all get next to my grandmother, and we're standing next to her. And I'm right next to her. And then LeBlanc gets out. So now this is my first time seeing a white man. I've never seen that. long hair. He got this robe thing on, and then he goes in the back, and then he gets these bags of rice. I was like, Grandma, who's this? My grandma looked at me dead in my eyes, and she said, that's Jesus Christ. So when Jesus brings me this rice, we take this rice, brings it to my grandma, does the prayer, right, because he's actually a missionary. And then as he's leaving, I'm five.

22:48And I remember telling my grandma, why didn't Jesus leave the seeds? Why didn't he bring no fertilizers? Because once he's leaving, I'm five. And I'm saying that. And I say that to show you these kids in these villages and what they want is an opportunity. Even at a very young age, I'm screaming, bring back the rice mills. Like, is there a way where we can just start producing in the country? So in saying that, this is how it started. So my parents came and got me and my brother. Now they get on the plane. The immigration laws work out. They come and get us from Haiti. So me and my brother go and see my parents for the first time.

23:38I was going to say you were five and they left when you were. Yeah, so now I'm like eight, nine, and now my parents are coming to get me. And I've never seen them. So my grandma gets us dressed. She takes our bags. She brings us to the airport. I never seen an airport before. So when the airplane is landing, you can imagine what that looks like to me. It looks like another UFO. So the airplane lands, and I'll never forget, my mother had a yellow outfit. She looked like Jackie O. She had the glasses on. She looked like Miss America. I was like, yo, that's my mama right there. You know what I'm saying?

24:20My dad had the long beard looking like he Moses. You know, he comes and they come and they hold me and my brother in that hug. I can still feel that hug. They hadn't seen you for how long? They haven't seen us since we were born.

24:42The River Cafe Cafe, steps away from our restaurant, is now open. In the morning, an Italian breakfast with Cornetti, Ciambela, and Crostata from our pastry kitchen. In the afternoon, ice cream coupes and River Cafe classic desserts. Come in the evening for cocktails with our resident pianist in the bar. No need to book. See you here.

25:13life's messy we're talking spills stains pets and kids but with anabay you never have to stress about messes again at washablesofas.com discover anabay sofas the only fully machine washable sofas inside and out, starting at just$699. Made with liquid and stain-resistant fabrics, that means fewer stains and more peace of mind. Designed for real life, our sofas feature changeable fabric covers, allowing you to refresh your style anytime. Need flexibility? Our modular design lets you rearrange your sofa effortlessly. Perfect for cozy apartments or spacious homes. Plus, they're earth-friendly and built to last.

25:56That's why over 200 ,000 happy customers have made the switch. Upgrade your space today. Visit washablesofas.com now and bring home a sofa made for life. That's washablesofas.com. Offers are subject to change, and certain restrictions may apply. Parking shouldn't slow you down. ParkWiz gives every driver a shortcut. Book ahead, save up to 50%, and skip the hassle of circling the block. Park smarter. Park faster. ParkWiz. Download the ParkWiz app today and save every time you park. Did they continue cooking the food of Haiti and Brooklyn? My mama had a thing you only can eat in the house. I didn't even know what it was like to go to a fast food restaurant.

26:41A lot of what was cooked in Brooklyn was something called legume. Vegetables? Yes. Legume is similar to a gumbo, right? but all in vegetables. So eggplants, watercress. This was like part of it. Also a lot of yam, sweet potatoes. And this is natural. A lot of fish. In the morning, it was very, very important that you had breakfast. My father, who was also an amazing cook, he used to cook liver for iron, right? So again, like it would be all, but he would like cook the liver with egg whites. They dipped the liver in the egg whites? They beat the egg whites? Yeah, they beat the egg whites. So it's like a batter around the liver.

27:30A batter, yeah, and they batter the liver so it's very, it's not rough. So everything is very tender. And so this is like some of the stuff, there was a juice that we had called kowasol. I don't know how you say that in English, but it helped. She always made us drink this juice If the name comes to me in English If anybody from Haiti is listening It's Kowosol Maybe you can send the translation But this helped with cancer This was It's called Kowosol I have to find the name of it But it was Kowosol So we might have to I might have to call My wife figured that out But it really Like helped So this is some of the So we naturally grew up in an environment where the food wasn't processed.

28:19Like they literally, oh, you know what she used to do? Pulji, chicken. So from the chicken, she would always go to the butcher. Like they would not, if the meat wasn't from the butcher, there's no such thing about she go to the supermarket and get chicken. So everything is from the butcher. And it was called pulji. And I got to tell you, just thinking about that chicken right now and how they seasoned it and cooked it was pretty amazing. Did you ever go in the kitchen and cook with your mom? My mother, she was like, you're going to be real successful. I said, why? Because she said, every time we cook in, all you do is you come in the kitchen and sing, and you sing, and you stay here, and you wait, so you're the first one with the first meal out, right?

29:05My mom, when she would cook rice, she would have me work with the seasons with her. There's a seasoning called Maggi. You've ever heard of it? I think I have, actually. It's like amazing because it's like a mixed season. Yeah. And it was something like she can't, it literally works in everything. Like literally. Is it like a little cube? Yes. A little cube. Yeah. Yeah, like a yellow. Yeah. Okay, yeah. It's like a cube of vegetables. Man, they put Maggie in everything. I remember seeing those yellow. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like a stalker. So that was one of the things. She was like, yo, give me the two Maggies.

29:43So the rice game is crazy in Haiti and in the kitchen. So she'd be like, okay, put this amount of water in the pot. And when she put the water, she says, okay, put this amount of oil. And one of the things she used to have me do was wash the rice. Cleaning was very, very important to her, how she actually cooked the food. So I'd be like, but the rice is already in the pack. No, she says, you got to put the rice in the water. Got it so literally for five minutes, she has me cleaning this rice out. And I remember like now I would sit back and I watch the water boil. And while the water was boiling, I was singing my mother's favorite French song.