Wyclef Jean has influenced and inspired so many hip-hop artists from around the world that it’s difficult to imagine who his heroes must be.

The rapper and former Fugee said that he is most influenced by Curtis Mayfield, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley, since he grew up listening to them in Haiti.

‘Coming from Haiti when I was 19 and living in Brooklyn, I grew up with a lot of Haitians, Trinidadians, Puerto Ricans, Jamaicans,’ he said. ‘I think the mixed culture is what mainly influenced my music.’

Wyclef and the other performers from last night’s Block Party at the Carrier Dome credit their successes to the artists who paved the way for their genre to become mainstream. Though the influences themselves may vary, the performers agree that hip-hop’s influence on today’s culture is far greater today than it was when they were listening to the genre as children.

For Talib Kweli, his influences came from his colleague and childhood friend, Mos Def. At times, Mos would turn down concerts if Kweli couldn’t be involved in some way. Kweli said he learned a lot about how to behave onstage from Mos because of his friend’s natural talent as a performer.

‘Going onstage with Mos was kind of like throwing a baby into a pool of water,’ Kweli said. ‘He was already so good at it that I had to be dope onstage to be able to share a stage with him. Even in the areas I wasn’t so great in, I had to step up.’

Northern State draws much of its influence from female artists such as Le Tigre, but has also learned from old-school groups such as Run DMC, Brand Nubian, De La Soul and Public Enemy. There is one group, however, to which they are most often likened.

‘People compare us to the Beastie Boys a lot,’ said Robyn ‘Sprout’ Goodmark of Northern State. ‘We understand the comparison, and we’re flattered by it.’

The three members of Northern State had been friends since childhood, but attended different colleges. They eventually moved back to New York City and decided to write rhymes and rap, realizing that if they worked together, they could make it happen, Goodmark said.

Kweli, also from New York City, said that people who grow up there are lucky to have hip-hop as such a huge influence.

‘New York as a hip-hop culture is woven into the fabric of New York City so much that we’re spoiled by it a little bit,’ he said. ‘There’s other places that you could have grown up and not been influenced by hip-hop, but not New York.’

Kweli said that even though he and other hip-hop artists have to struggle to succeed in the industry, the prefabrication of television makes it even harder for groups like Da Band to earn respect. Kweli said that people see them on TV and think that they’re spoiled, but insists they worked hard to get where they are.

‘In the hip-hop community, they have to work twice as hard,’ he said. ‘It’s like being a black dude in a white man’s world – you have to work twice as hard.’

Julie ‘Hesta Prynn’ Goodman of Northern State said bands come together in the same way as Da Band all the time, but that it normally isn’t aired on television. She thinks the fact that the group was compiled, and not naturally formed, will hurt its staying power because individual members don’t get along with each other.

‘It’s not natural for people to come together in a contrived way and then try to work together,’ Goodman said. ‘They’re going to blow up in a bad way because they can’t get along. It takes years to learn how to get along with people.’

‘They might be very talented emcees or musicians, but it’s not the same as when you start from the ground up with your friends,’ Goodmark said.

Members of Da Band agreed that some people see them as fake because of the fact that they were produced as a television show in addition to a musical act. Chopper, an emcee in Da Band, said people think they’re TV show actors but that he’s fine with it because he likes being shown on TV.

Televised conflicts were a huge factor in drawing viewers into the show but were played up in editing, said Sara, the lone singer in Da Band.

‘It took some adjustment, but we got used to each other,’ said Ness, another of Da Band’s emcees. ‘In the beginning it was rough because we grew up in different cities and had different ways of living. Sometimes we’d clash, and other times our differences helped one another.’

All of the artists agreed that the influence of hip-hop on today’s youth culture in America is undeniable. Kweli said that half of the artists on the Billboard charts at any given time are hip-hop artists. He credits this to the powerful messages often found in hip-hop music. There are other artists, like Bono, Sting or Chris Martin, who are making a stand, Kweli said, but their angle is different because hip-hop has to adhere to the whims of current events and street culture.

‘Really, it’s just freedom of expression,’ Wyclef said. ‘Kids listen to rap before they do their homework, so they put some of the lyrics in their homework.’

‘Hip-hop influences everybody,’ Chopper said. ‘Hip-hop is the thing. I respect rock, pop and everything else, but hip-hop influences urban America, middle-class America and the suburbs. Without hip-hop I wouldn’t be here.’

Published on April 25, 2004 at 12:00 pm