Haitian Official Claims Wyclef Jean Ineligible for Run

Exclusive Video: See Wyclef Jean Discuss His Run for President of Haiti

Jean dismissed the report. "I wanted to clarify a rumor on Reuters that there's a list of candidates that came out and that [my] name isn't on it," he told CNN yesterday. "That's not true. The list is supposed to come out tomorrow…It's looking good for us." In a statement released this morning, Jean continued campaigning. "Regardless of what's going on with my candidacy, I feel like it's my duty to keep reminding the world that on Jan. 12, my homeland of Haiti suffered its worst natural disaster in its 200-year history…My job as the commander-in-chief will be to make Haiti once again the "pearl of the Antille" ("La perle des Antilles"), so that we can call upon the diaspora to again invest in their homeland. I have a plan to ask all the Haitians living abroad to invest $10 each, and for this investment each person will get a share in a project, whether it be roads, schools, hospitals, airports, stores, even hotels or movie theaters. These are all things our country needs to flourish."

In this week's issue of Rolling Stone, Jean addressed the possibility of being denied candidacy. "If [i can't get on the ballot], I have to be willing to accept that as law, and not provoke my people to erupt. At the end of the day, the law is the law." But, he added, "that doesn't mean we're not going to challenge the judicial system if we feel like there's foul play. I'm going to keep doing what i'm doing, even if I am excluded. The movement will continue right up until election day on November 28."

Yesterday Jean also met with current Haitian President Rene Preval for a two-hour talk. Preval, who cannot run for reelection, is meeting with all potential candidates. According to the AP, the two had a positive conversation. "I feel that the president that I voted for five years ago is the same person that was sitting in front of me today," Jean offered. The singer, who said he was forced into hiding in Haiti after receiving death threats relating to his candidacy, declined Preval's offer of extra security, saying he now felt "comfortable" with his level of safety.

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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