Wyclef Jean spent close to three years on his first full reggae album, yet the songs came together in less than a week.
That’s the story executive producer Tom ‘Panic’ Jones is telling, and it explains the title, One Night in Kingston.
The Fugees star is in Kingston on a press run organised by One876entertainment.com Publicity Relations.
On Tuesday, November 17 at 8:00 pm, he joins Jones for a special edition of Tuesday Service at The Compound, the same studio where the album was made.
Jones told Observer Online the long wait was deliberate. Everything is timing, he had a lot to do,” he said, borrowing a line Clef likes to use: “we’re playing chess, not checkers.
The record is the third entry in Wyclef’s seven album Quantum Leap series, which spans hip hop, jazz, reggae, R&B, country and Caribbean music.
It follows Q Theory, a jazz project honouring his mentor Quincy Jones, and Jones says a country album and a gospel album come next.
The release date is still a little fuzzy. Jones pointed to the end of November, while the publicity notes only promise the album by the end of 2026.
The partnership itself goes back more than 20 years. “This is the brotherhood that me and him had from I was a teenager until now,” Jones said, adding that the writing credits are split between the two of them.
Musically, Jones frames the album as a modern take on classic Kingston production. He compared it to what Junjo Lawes or Sugar Minott might make today, calling it “a new age, new version of what a Bobby Digital would do in the early 1990s.
The heaviest moment may be Guns Guns Guns, where Jones appears alongside Wyclef. The track looks at gun violence across the Caribbean and the mass shootings in the United States, a “reign of terror” that Jones links to gang and political violence alike.
The guest list mixes veterans with newer names. Jada Kingdom, Luciano and Ghana’s Stonebwoy all appear, and Grammy nominee Lila Iké joins Wyclef on One in the Chamber, one of the earliest songs recorded for the project.
The band is just as deep. Grammy nominated Dub Squad players Nicolas Groskopf, Ottmar Campbell, Keneil Delisser and Kawayne Williamson teamed up with The Compound Squad, featuring Evan Mason, N’namdi Robinson, Oliver ‘Bliva’ Thompson and Oneil Dacres.
None of this is new territory for Wyclef. The Fugees’ cover of Bob Marley’s No Woman, No Cry introduced the song to a fresh generation, and the Haitian artist has spent his career linking Haiti, Jamaica, Africa and the wider diaspora.
He isn’t slowing down after this one either. Next year marks 30 years since his solo debut, The Carnival, and he’s already planning new music and live shows to celebrate it.
