Wyclef Jean: Masquerade

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * )

The third solo album from the one-time Fugee reminds that while he might have been the musical force behind the band, he's still the dreadlocked Puff Daddy. That is, he's not much of a rapper and he could never be accused of having an original idea. Again, he's relying on others to supply the hooks — which, in this case, come lifted from Tom Jones' What's New Pussycat, Dylan's Knocking on Heaven's Door and the Four Seasons' Oh What a Night. All of which are pretty awful.

Elsewhere, Jean talks tough about those humble beginnings and how big a star he's become (in his own mind anyway), but his various guest voices leave him in the shade — and that's especially so on the most Fugees moment, Two Wrongs, on which Claudette Ortiz, of City High, plays the Lauryn Hill role.

As an album, Masquerade is aptly named — though it's not hard to see behind the front its creator puts up.

Label: Columbia