For some people, last year’s celebrations surrounding the 50th anniversary of hip-hop have been an opportunity to revisit the genre’s past glories and incredible rise to global prominence. There’s nothing wrong with that, but Wyclef used the moment to look toward the future.
The legendary producer, rapper, singer, and Fugees member has partnered with TIAA on their Retire Inequality campaign, where the next chapter aims to address the fact that 54% of Black Americans don’t have enough savings to retire. Wyclef’s main contribution to the initiative is the new song “Paper Right,” a collaboration with Pusha T, Lola Brooke, Capella Grey, and Flau'jae. Watch Wyclef break down the meaning in a recent episode of our Verified series.
“Hip-hop has a long and storied history of shining a light on problems disproportionately impacting Black Americans,” Wyclef said in a statement. “I was eager to work with a brand dedicated to taking action against this issue and create a piece of music that not only spotlights the racial retirement gap, but also combats it.”
With “Paper Right,” Wyclef is hoping to stir up conversations that lead young people to start investing and building generational wealth. All of the proceeds from “Paper Right” go to First Generation Investors, a nonprofit that promotes financial education among underserved high school and college students.
In selecting his collaborators for “Paper Right,” Wyclef was careful to highlight different eras of hip-hop. Whereas Virginia Beach icon Pusha T is a veteran MC who’s been in the game since the ’90s, Brooklyn native Lola Brooke is a relative newcomer just getting started on her journey. Capella Grey, meanwhile, is a multi-faceted artist from the Bronx, hip-hop’s birthplace, and Flau'jae is a rapper and women’s college basketball star who won a national title earlier this year with the LSU Tigers.
“Within the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, we teamed up with incredible artists across different generations to create a song that’s authentic to true hip-hop culture and allows us to reach everyone from Generations Z to X,” Wyclef said.
Read all the lyrics to “Paper Right” on Genius now—and watch Wyclef break down the lyrics on Verified.
