Grammy winning artist Wyclef Jean wants Newark youth to get out and rock the vote.

Student’s camera phones flashed as the international hip-hop artist walked on to the stage.  Wyclef Jean came to Essex County College as part of a civic awareness seminar for Newark students, urging them to understand and participate in the democratic process. Jean, born in Haiti, grew up in Newark and though he cannot vote himself, he stressed the importance of exercising that right.

“You should vote because you’re probably not even doing it for yourself right now, you’re gonna be doing it for the daughter that your probably gonna have in the future or the son that you’re gonna have in the future. It’s important that you don’t think of the present but you think of the future, because at the end of the day Martin Luther King thought of the future, and that’s why we’re here.”

Jean has been a long time participant in the Rock The Vote initiative and says music is one of the best tools to engage the youth.