John Forté

John Forté became the first outsider to join the Refugee Camp imprint after crossing paths with the Fugees through Lauryn Hill in the early 1990s, well before the trio obtained a recording deal. Sharing Haitian ancestry, he handled production duties on their breakthrough 1996 release The Score and later performed on the road with Wyclef Jean’s Refugee Camp Allstars during the latter’s solo phase.

Forté first appeared on record with the 1998 album Poly Sci and its single “Ninety Nine,” then withdrew from the music industry for roughly four years. He resurfaced with the reflective I, John on a different label, an effort that contained zero participation from the Fugees, in contrast to his debut. In their place he enlisted co-writer Joel Kipnis together with Tricky, Esthero, and Herbie Hancock.