Reconstructivist Art: Mona Lisa

Chris SunamiMusic, Reconstructivist Art

Repost: Wyclef Jean’s Mona Lisa as an example of Reconstructivist Art

Mona Lisa was a little noted deep-album cut from hip-hop impresario Wyclef Jean’s multiplatinum album The Carnival (1997). A radical reinvention of the remixed version of Nappy Heads (1994, a single from the first album released by Wyclef’s celebrated former group, The Fugees), Mona Lisa was a surprisingly sentimental ballad sung by guest vocalists the Neville Brothers over a reggae-influenced beat.

 

    1. Nod to Artifice: Throughout the song, Wyclef comments (hip-hop style) over the lyrics, with self-referential comments such as “I never wrote a love song before.”

    2. Classic Structure: Despite its inclusion on a hip-hop album, this standard-form love-ballad is lush with classic melody, harmony, instrumentation and lyrics.

    3. Transcontextual and Iconic Elements: As mentioned above, the raw materials for this song all come from a previous song also featuring Wyclef. The sampled horns of the earlier song form the basis for the later song’s instrumental accompaniment, and the catchy hook of the earlier song (“Hey Mona Lisa, can I get a date on Friday?”) is the presumptive inspiration for the song’s lyric. The song’s eponymous heroine is likely also inspired by Nat King Cole’s iconic hit Mona Lisa (1950) which in turn is a reference to Leonardo DaVinci’s painting known as the Mona Lisa (1503), perhaps the most famous painting in Western Art. Even the singers themselves are transcontextualized, given that they are icons of a classic New Orleans sound that is a world away from the typical sonic environment of a hip-hop album.

    4. Moments of Genuine Emotion or Significance: In marked contrast to the shallow emotions that typified the popular music of the times, the song genuinely evokes the complex and bittersweet emotions of a troubled relationship.

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Reconstructivist Art: Mona Lisa

askmeMusic, Reconstructivist Art

Wyclef Jean’s “Mona Lisa” (from The Carnival) as an example of Reconstructivist Art

Hip-hop impresario Wyclef Jean reinvented one of his earlier hits as this sentimental ballad from his multiplatinum album “Wyclef Presents the Carnival.”

  1. Nod to Artifice: Wyclef comments (hip-hop style) over the lyrics with self-referential comments such as “I never wrote a love song before.”
  2. Classic Structure: Despite its inclusion on a hip-hop album, this standard-form love-ballad is lush with classic melody, harmony and instrumentation, as rendered by the Neville Brothers.
  3. Transcontextual and Iconic Elements: The raw materials for this song all come from “Nappy Heads Remix”, the first (minor) hit created by Wyclef’s former band, the Fugees. The sampled horns of the earlier song form the basis for the later song’s instrumental accompaniment, and the catchy hook of the earlier song (itself a reference to Nat King Cole’s hit “Mona Lisa”, which in turn references DaVinci’s famous painting) is the presumptive inspiration for the song’s lyric.
  4. Moments of Genuine Emotion or Significance: The song is filled with the bittersweet emotions of a troubled relationship, and possesses a level of depth missing in most “love” songs of the same era.

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