[Tracks] "John Forté, grab the mic roots sway it this way..."

John Forté first hit the scene in the mid-90s as part of The Fugees crew, working with the group on a few tracks from The Score. After the group disbanded, Forté was closely aligned with Wyclef Jean and Pras, appearing on two tracks on Jean's The Carnival. He was groomed as the next of the crew to hit it big, but his 1998 solo debut Poly Sci, while playing to solid reviews, didn't meet the label's expectations in sales.

In 2000, Forté introduced a drug dealer to several women who ended up working as couriers for the dealer. After two of the couriers were caught trafficking liquid cocaine, they cut a deal with the DEA and set up Forté to receive the product. He was involved in some way, as he and the dealer were in contact about the transaction, but he claimed he didn't know what was in the bags he was giving to the dealer. Forté was sentenced to fourteen years in jail. While out on bail between the arrest and the trial, he recorded I, John, an under-heard, but solid album. Forté served eight of the fourteen years before President Bush pardoned him on his way out of office in 2008.

Since his release from prison, Forté has begun teaching at City College of New York and wrote about his experiences for the Daily Beast (here, here and here). He's also gotten back in the studio to record StyleFREE the EP and is playing shows on the East Coast, to solid reviews. Check his remix of Kanye West's "Homecoming," sort-of cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" and original track "Nervous" below.

John Forté - Homecoming (feat. Talib Kweli)
John Forté - Running Up That Hill
John Forté - Nervous
Wyclef Jean - Stayin' Alive