‘Prizon for the CEP’ goes back and forth between English and Creole. By Gil Kaufman Wyclef Jean (file) Photo: PictureGroup Wyclef Jean is protesting his exclusion from the upcoming presidential election in Haiti the only way he knows how: by releasing a song. The former Fugees leader posted a new track called “Prizon Pou K.E.P.A.” (which translates into “Prison for the CEP”) on Wednesday, in which he compares the rigorous scrutiny he faced to a child receiving a failing report card. The title is a pointed reference to the Haitian election commission, CEP, which ruled that he was not eligible to run for office in his birth nation. “I am contesting, I am going to the court, I am contesting/ I don’t agree, I am contesting, I am going to the court, I am contesting,” Wyclef sings. “Look, they gave Wyclef a report card/ They say Wyclef, you don’t speak Creole/ You are the Diaspora’s candidate.” Over a subtle, skittering beat and gently picked acoustic guitar, ‘Clef, 40, sings about his disappointment in the ruling in the island’s native language of Creole. “Even my own Haitians curse me out on Facebook when they hear I want to be president,” he says before calling out former bandmate Pras for the Fugees member’s negative reaction to Wyclef’s attempts. “Even my friends say to give Wyclef a report card/ Even the Catholic priests are surprised, they told me to leave Tigoav, come to Les Cayes/ All weekend I was celebrating Our Lady [Notre Dame].” His tone is sedate and conversational for most of the tune, but at just past the two-minute mark, he breaks into a Bob Marley-like wail, during which his vocals take on a pained, urgent quaver. The decision to pour out his heart in Creole in the nearly four-minute song is a pointed bid to speak directly to the Haitian people, as well as a possible winking rebuke to actor Sean Penn , who wrote a stinging column for the Huffington Post this week questioning ‘Clef’s motives in his failed presidential bid, as well as his fluency in the island nation’s two main languages: French and Creole. Jean has pointed words for the nation’s current president as well, Ren
