''Masquerade'' is the third studio album released by Haitian

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

musician

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean ( ; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Haiti, Jean emigrated to the Northeastern United States, United States as a child. He gained fame as a founding member of the Fugees, a Ne ...

. It was released by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

on June 18, 2002 in the United States. The album debuted at number six on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, making it Jean's highest-charting album. The title song "Masquerade" featuring

M.O.P. M.O.P. (short for Mash Out Posse) is an American hip-hop duo composed of rappers Billy Danze and Lil' Fame, best known for their song " Ante Up." The group has frequently collaborated with DJ Premier. The group is part of the Gang Starr Fou ...

was later removed from all streaming platforms and is no longer available.

Promotion

The album features the singles " Two Wrongs", " Pussycat" and "Knockin' On Heaven's Door".

Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer *Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...

makes a guest appearance on the album, singing his rendition of "Pussycat".

Critical reception

''Masquerade'' was met with generally mixed or average reviews from music critic. On review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the album received a score of 60 out of 100 based on 8 reviews.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

editor

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

rated the album three out of five stars. He found that the "primary problem is that Wyclef wants to be everything to all people ..He pushes too hard on sermonizing, no matter if it's pompous pleas to the ghettos or heartfelt laments, which offsets the lighter tracks. Instead of sounding generous and openhearted, it's a bit muddled and confusing, especially when taken all at once – but when isolated in parts, or heard in passing, it's an enjoyable record."

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

, writing for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', felt that "Wyclef's third solo album, while entertaining enough, is short on the sane, humane pleasures so plentiful on the first two. Even those who believe there's nothing wrong with star-time cameos, high-profile samples and world-music beats won't spin this disc a year from now and delight in one minor stroke after another." ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' wrote: "As always, Wyclef’'s creativity and talent save the album from being a failure. His splendid guitar skills and knack for making strong tracks ultimately overshadow his second-rate skills on the mic. Nevertheless, without a clear theme or direction, ''Masquerade'' is the least enjoyable of Wyclef's three albums. For the next album, hopefully Wyclef will finally decide to stick to his strengths and leave the rapping to those who are good at it." ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

''s Nathan Rabin found that ''Masquerade'' "is far from an embarrassment, but rarely has Jean's fabled eclecticism felt so tired." He noted that "Jean has always been a musician of outsized strengths and weaknesses, but on ''Masquerade'', his weaknesses begin to obscure his formidable strengths. Yet another overreaching, overlong musical erector set, the album offers an uneven, conceptually muddled tour of the rapper's current musical obsessions, from gritty underground hip-hop to

Caribbean music Caribbean music genres are very diverse. They are each synthesis of African, European, Asian and Indigenous influences, largely created by descendants of African enslaved people (see Afro-Caribbean music), along with contributions from other c ...

Commercial performance

''Masquerade'' debuted at number six on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 82,000 copies in its first week of release. This became Jean’s second US top-ten album on the chart. The album also debuted at number two on the US

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

chart. By May 2003, the album had sold 357,000 copies in the United States.

Track listing

Sample credits * "Peace God" contains elements from: ** " Let's Straighten It Out", written by Benjamin Lattimore, and performed by Latimore. ** "Chuji Komari-Uta", written by Toshio Nomura and Itsuro Hattori, and performed by Yatsuo Koyama and Tokyo Mandalin. * "Masquerade" contains replayed elements from "

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

", written by

Jerry Lordan Jeremiah Patrick Lordan (30 April 1934 – 24 July 1995) was an English songwriter, composer and singer. He had three hit singles on the UK Singles Chart before focusing purely on songwriting. Amongst his songwriting credits were the cha ...

. * "You Say Keep It Gangsta" contains elements from "Two Sisters of Mystery", written by Neftali Santiago, and performed by

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. * "Oh What a Night" contains replayed elements from: ** "

December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" is a song originally performed by American band the Four Seasons, written by original Four Seasons keyboardist Bob Gaudio and his future wife Judy Parker, produced by Gaudio, and included on the group's albu ...

", written by

Bob Gaudio Robert John Gaudio (born November 17, 1942) is an American songwriter, singer, musician, and record producer, and the keyboardist and backing vocalist of the pop/rock band the Four Seasons. Gaudio wrote or co-wrote the vast majority of the ban ...

and

Judy Parker Judy Parker Gaudio (September 1938—September 14, 2017) was a record producer and songwriter who is best known for her collaborations with and marriage to fellow producer and songwriter Bob Gaudio. Born to a family in Michigan, Parker began her ...

. ** "

Leaving on a Jet Plane "Leaving on a Jet Plane" is a song written and recorded by American singer John Denver in 1966, originally included on his debut demo recording ''John Denver Sings''. Its original title was "Babe I Hate to Go". He made several copies and gave t ...

", written by

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American Country music, country and Folk music, folk singer, songwriter, and actor. He was one of the most popular acoustic m ...

. * "Pussycat" contains elements from "

What's New Pussycat? ''What's New Pussycat?'' is a 1965 screwball comedy film directed by Clive Donner, written by Woody Allen in his first produced screenplay, and starring Allen in his acting debut, along with Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, Romy Schneider, Capuc ...

", written by

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. Start ...

and

Hal David Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David was born and raised in New ...

, and performed by

. * "The Mix Show" contains elements from: ** "

Pass the Dutchie "Pass the Dutchie" is a song performed by the British reggae band Musical Youth, taken from their debut studio album, '' The Youth of Today'' (1982). It was produced by Toney Owens from Kingston, Jamaica. The single peaked at the top of the UK ...

", written by

Jackie Mittoo Donat Roy Mittoo (3 March 1948 – 16 December 1990), better known as Jackie Mittoo, was a Jamaican-Canadian keyboardist, songwriter and musical director. He was a member of The Skatalites and musical director of the Studio One record label. ...

, Headley Bennett, Lloyd Ferguson, Leroy Sibbles, Robert Lyn, Huford Brown, and Fitzroy Simpson; performed by

Musical Youth Musical Youth are a British reggae band formed in 1979 in Birmingham, England. They are best known for their 1982 single " Pass the Dutchie", which was number 1 in multiple charts around the world. Their other hits include " Youth of Today", "N ...

. ** "Material Man", written by

Gregory Isaacs Gregory Anthony Isaacs OD (15 July 1951 – 25 October 2010)Thompson, p. 127. was a Jamaican reggae musician. Milo Miles, writing in ''The New York Times'', described Isaacs as "the most exquisite vocalist in reggae".Miles, Milo (1992),RECORDI ...

and Sylvester Weise, performed by Gregory Isaacs.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2002 albums Albums produced by Wyclef Jean Wyclef Jean albums Albums produced by Jerry Duplessis Columbia Records albums