This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
WHO IS HE? The multi-talented musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, emcee, producer and arranger formerly of hip-hop phenoms The Fugees.
WHAT’S THIS? His third solo album, and a typically eclectic — or is that Wycleftic? — affair.
HOW IS IT? Strikingly similar, both in quality and tone, to his previous albums. On the 70-minute Masquerade, Haitian-born Jean again displays his gift for blending musical sources — soul, hip-hop, reggae, R&B, disco, pop, dancehall, you name it — into seductive, smoothly flowing grooves. As always, he also combines deep social consciousness with get-down superficiality in his poetry-of-the-projects lyrics. There’s even the mandatory Kitschy Celebrity Sample: Tom Jones moaning, “Whoa, oh-whoa, whoa-ho” in the superbly silly Pussycat.
WHERE TO LISTEN TO IT? In your Jeep with your crew as you head to the club.
WHY BUY IT? Because it’s as close as you’ll get to a new Fugees CD.
