Wyclef Jean, De La Soul, and Black Eyed Peas were the next edition of MTV’s Campus Invasion tour in 2000. They were touring a handful of dates but were coming to Kent State. If I remember correctly the tour was playing at Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center (The MACC or M.A.C.C) on October 14th, 2000. I was excited for all the artist but especially excited to see Wyclef and BEP.

I remember meeting Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas as he walked through the audience on the floor before their set. Most people didn’t recognize him because this was before BEP really blew up. I told him that I loved their album “Behind The Front” and that they made true hiphop by way of talented musicians and writers. He smiled, said “Thank you” and hugged me. I’ll never forget that moment because only a short time later they blew up the POP charts for the next decade.

Now to the story which inspired this post. At the time of this concert I was only 18 years old. The only thing on my mind at that time was having fun, girls, partying and music. It’s important to keep this in mind with the events that follow. 

Wyclef Jean was the headliner and he was already a monster of an artist. He was already major because of The Fugees and was headlining the show this night. His album was “The Ecleftic” but “The Carnival” was already out. Some of his biggest hits were already there. Again, the man was a monster of a star.

Wyclef Jean puts on an amazing show just like you would expect. Now this is where things get hazy. At this time, I knew I wanted to work for a major record label so I was laser focused on street teams, artist managers and getting backstage. I don’t remember if Wyclef finished his last song or his encore or what. All I know I remember is mysteriously and quickly ran off the stage. My eyes followed him and so did a small group within the thousands of college/high school kids that night. I followed and ran after him too.

Wyclef starting running out of the venue in the darkness of the Kent State Campus. As he ran, his security followed and more people dropped off the chase into the darkness. I didn’t know where he was running too or the significance of hallowed ground that we were running on. All I knew is this was like nothing I’ve ever seen or experienced in life. A famous celebrity left the safe and layered security perimeter of their daily life for the midnight darkness of an Ohio college campus. Why is he doing this? Where are we going? It doesn’t matter because this is fucking awesome!

We finally land at our destination with Wyclef and our group of about 15 students which included myself. I left my friends and the other thousands of other kids back at the convention center and it didn’t matter because I was here with Wyclef.

The scene is somewhere around midnight, it is pitch black except for the silhouette of our group and The Pagoda sculpture. I had no idea what this object why, why it mattered and where exactly we were. Wyclef calmed the excitement of us fans clamoring to be close to him. He said that this particular show was special for him because this was where the Kent State shootings happened on May 4th, 1970. He knew the names of the victims, told us what happened and explained right where we were standing was where the Ohio National Guard fired their shots.

He became our teacher and he was an expert. Maybe it was the setting or everything that happened but we could feel the power of the hallowed ground we were on and the spirits of the victims that lost their lives. They were students just like us and our age. It was a very powerful event that was even more life changing than the concert.

I will never forget that special moment with Wyclef, the education of the event and impact it had on my life going forward. I wish I knew the other people that were there with me but I think it’s very important to recognize both events that happened.