Wyclef Jean Talks New iRoar Speaker Venture, Performs At The #BudLightParty Concert

Super Bowl 50 was an unforgettable experience for many football fans who flocked to the sunny city of San Francisco, California. And to make this year the biggest event of the weekend, Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light brought the party to beer lovers from all around the world.

Held at the Ruby Skye nightclub, the official NFL sponsor held a private concert featuring performances from New York’s own Wyclef Jean, pop band One Republic and a DJ set by Jack Novak on Saturday night (February 6). Before hitting the stage, VIBE had a chance to sit down with the former Fugees member to talk about his latest venture, music and more.

***VIBE: Besides this Bud Light event, what brings you to San Francisco?
Wyclef Jean: I’m a big fan of football perieod. American and Caribbean. For me, coming out to San Fran is great. I’ve historitally played a few Super Bowl Parties and I’ve been known to be a little bit of a Master of Ceremonies. I always say the Super Bowl parties are one step from playing the Super Bowl, so I think the parties are really cool. I have a lot of friends out here in the tech space. I was just out here last week, too. I’m out here in San Fran doing a lot of tech work. It’s all good. It’s fun.

Speaking of tech, tell us more about your new venture, iRoar.
So it’s ’96. Think about what the equipment was like. I’m in the hood [recording music], so I basically have to go to Sam Ashe and pay for what I can pay for. I can’t really afford much. Naturally I’m an engineer by trade, so I would read a lot about frequencies.

Credit: us.creative.com

Now let’s move on to modern day. One of the things I did when I ran from President of my country [Haiti] was notice the problems with kidnappings. I felt like it was important to work on beaming technology, where you can track a cell phone and help with kidnappings. For me, coming back into the space of music, I wanted to be progressive and I wanted to focus on hardware and software. With the iRoar, that’s just one of the products. I basically created an algorithm. With the iRoar, you can eliminate the 5 or 6 speakers, you don’t need that anymore to get that movie theater sound. So what you were watching with 5 speakers, you can now put your movie on, take your little box, open it up and it becomes more convenient. The exciting part of this is that it’s hardware. Also, the vision that I had for the Fugees’ album The Score, whether you’re listening to “Ready or Not” or listening on your headphones, it sounds like a movie theater.

For the software, as the future is moving forward, you’re listening to everything in stereo. So I’ve created what is called “super stereo.” It’s sort of like how one person has a black & white television, another has color and the other person says this is high-definition. I felt like the algorithm I have is where the future is going. It’s very exciting.

How is your product different from other competitors in the same field?
This is a little different from products like Beats by Dre deal. I’m not coming from a position of a headphone. I can make the Beats headphones sound better. I can make the Monster headphones sound better. My whole thing is that “super stereo” is the software audio of the future for anything. Plus, it’s developed by some Haitians, so we’re rocking. [smiles]

There are a lot of different speakers in the market, but for me this iRoar speaker showcases the “super stereo” technology that’s going to come. Put it up against anything.

***And we look forward to doing just that. Part 2 of our chat with Wyclef Jean goes up later this week. Stay tuned and flip through photos from Bud Light’s Super Bowl event.