Take reggae, R&B and hip-hop, throw them together and you get Wyclef Jean.

Add 15 guest appearances and you’re left with an album needing serious work.

The first half of “The Preacher’s Son” is classic Wyclef.

–

His indie beats fused with guitar make for easy listening. However, he has a lot of help from Missy Elliot, Redman, Patti LaBelle, Carlos Santana and Monica. Pull them from the album, and it would be terrible. The guest appearances save Wyclef’s fourth album like Chingy saved Disturbing Tha Peace.

Wyclef’s first two singles, “Industry” and “Party to Damascus,” show two different types of music.

“Industry” deals with prominent hip-hop figures and their beefs with one another, as well as what the scene would be like if all the legends still were living. Wyclef pleads with current artists and fans not to blame the industry: “Black-on-black crime needs to stop/ Y’all can’t blame it on hip-hop.”

With every ‘Clef album comes the token party song. “Party to Damascus” has no real point, but it’s catchy as hell. The sitar beat, paired with Missy’s idiosyncrasies, pull this album up by the bootstraps. It’s too bad Missy couldn’t be on every track.

With the exception of a remix and “Rebel Music,” the second half of the album is straight garbage. The tracks sound too much like a reggae version of Luther Vandross’ music. ‘Clef made it with a great love song, “Gone ‘Til November,” but apparently that was a one-time deal. He needs to stick with his own blend of hip-hop.

The lesson learned here is 15 different artists, no matter how talented, cannot save an album.