In January 2010, Haiti was hit by a catastrophic earthquake, leaving behind devastation and death on a scale that’s difficult to grasp to this day. It remains the deadliest natural disaster to affect a single country in the 21st century. This disaster directly led Wyclef Jean, rapper and Fugees co-founder, to plan a bid for presidential candidacy in Haiti that year.

However, despite an eccentric campaign plan, he never made it to the ballot. Haiti’s election officials ultimately rejected his bid in August 2010. While he expressed disappointment when speaking to The Guardian that December, he was also confident that he would have won if allowed on the ballot.

“If by any remote chance they had let me pass, I would have won the elections,” he said at the time. Jean’s campaign caught attention not just in Haiti, but internationally as well. The majority opinion was that he wasn’t fit to lead the country. Still, Jean remained positive that he had the youth vote secured.

Wyclef Jean didn’t Get To Run For President of Haiti, But He Still Saw it as a Way to keep the Country in the News

“After the earthquake, I was like, I have to do something different for this country,” he explained. “I said, ‘I can’t just keep singing.’ I felt that, if I ran for president, there would be too many eyes on the country for even the most corrupt to break the law.” Unfortunately, he added, “In that aspect, I was wrong, because I got kicked out of the race before even running.”

Ultimately, Haiti still chose a musician as its next president in April 2011. Michel Martelly, also known as Sweet Micky, won the presidential run-off election with 60% of the vote. Pras Michel, also of the Fugees, chronicled his campaign in the 2015 documentary Sweet Micky for President. Michel helped organize Martelly’s campaign, and later said that the news of Wyclef Jean’s bid for president “blindsided” him.

Michel told NPR in 2015 that he felt like Jean was his own man and could do what he wanted. However, he said, “I didn’t really think that Wyclef would’ve made a good president anyway.”

Although he was born in Haiti, Wyclef grew up in New Jersey

He noted that Jean didn’t have enough of a grasp on the two main languages in Haiti, Creole and French. Additionally, Jean may have been born in Haiti, but he was primarily raised in New Jersey. According to Pras Michel, he didn’t have the same ties to the country that Martelly had, who was born and raised there.

Wyclef Jean, on the other hand, felt deeply connected to his birthplace. After the earthquake, he felt driven to be involved on a different level. The foundation he started in 2005, Yéle Haiti Foundation, had a strong presence during the relief efforts. And while his presidential campaign didn’t go anywhere, Jean was adamant that it was still good for the country.

“For me, this is the greatest legacy of my entire life — so far,” he said. He then listed it among his accomplishments. “He’s a Grammy winner, he started a foundation, he has millions of fans around the world, he ran for president at a time when his country really needed him. The vibe you get from Bob Marley or Fela Kuti, that’s the kind of legacy I want to leave.”