Happy Birthday, Wyclef!

Very few artists could use secular sounds to transcribe the ghetto like Wyclef Jean. The Haitian rapper-songwriter turns 48 years old today (Oct. 17).

Of course, 'Clef is known for being one-third of the Fugees. The trio rose to fame with The Score. It was Wyclef's songwriting and production that defined much of the album, with his gift for melding hip-hop, soul and reggae influences into one unique sound that propelled the Fugees to superstardom in the mid-1990s.

After the Fugees broke up, Wyclef released his critically-acclaimed solo project The Carnival, which established him as a solo star and continued his hitmaking run—as did it's follow-up, The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book.

Clef has more recently become known for his activism and charitable efforts.

Wyclef is still making music. In September, he released his latest album The Carnival III: The Fall and Rise of a Refugee. The release was also part of Wyclef celebrating the 20th anniversary of his debut album, The Carnival and the 10th anniversary of The Carnival II. In addition to the album, the former Fugee released a new video for his song “Borrowed Time.” Wyclef used sounds recorded by the Juno satellite, which has been orbiting Jupiter and taking picture and recording sounds, to create the track.