Stuck in a hut

Wyclef Jean wants to get rich or die tryin,’ but he’s no 50 Cent.
The sad reality is that this business model for rap superstardom has been re-hashed as an artist’s back-story  – 50 times over.

In an attempt to relate to his origins and rationalize his fame, the self-proclaimed “hip-hop Amadeus,” under the pseudonym Toussaint St. Jean, has crafted his latest LP, “From the Hut, to the Projects to the Mansion.”

It leaves you wondering what happened to “Ms. Hill” and if the Fugees will ever reclaim the throne of soulful hip-hop royalty. The formula of this album is not only old, but hideously formulaic.

Wyclef, always a political pundit with the heart of a satirist, could very well be pulling our chains with crunk-rock mash-ups like “You Don’t Wanna Go Outside” and the Nas-aping, Blaxploitation-era jazz strut of “Toussaint Vs. Bishop.”

In fact he must be joking with the most insane in the membrane collaboration of the year: Cyndi Lauper guesting on “Slumdog Millionaire.”

If this album is a satire of hood drama, Jonathan Swift would’ve written “Gulliver’s Travels” as a melodrama.