Wyclef Jean years prior to the election. Jean's efforts at earthquake relief, highly publicized in 2010 throughout Haiti and the United States, were channeled through his charitable organization, Yéle Haiti. The charity, which conducted education and welfare activities in Haiti between 2005 and 2010, effectively closed in 2012. It was investigated for failure to file tax returns and mismanagement of funds; a high proportion of its money went to travel and administrative expense. The "New York Times" reported that much of the money raised by the organization in the telethon was retained by Jean for his own benefit. In 2012, Jean published
Wyclef Jean their debut album, entitled "55", released in March 2016. Jean featured on the Young Thug song "Kanye West", from the rapper's mixtape "Jeffery", released in August 2016. Wyclef wrote an autobiography entitled "Purpose: An Immigrant's Story" with the help of journalist Anthony Bozza, published in September 2012. On May 17, 2016, Wyclef released his first song in two years, which gave hints to a new album release. A month later on June 17, he released a new song called Hendrix, and later released a short film featuring Michael K. Williams. He then did many interviews teasing that his new J'ouvert