PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Singer Wyclef Jean officially announced his bid to be president of Haiti to a roaring crowd of supporters on Thursday, thrusting himself into a contentious race to lead an impoverished country reeling from a devastating earthquake.

At one point the hip hop artist-turned-politician bodysurfed on the hands of bandana-waving supporters in Haiti's capital and stepped onto a speaker truck to address the crowd of hundreds. Jean had submitted his candidacy papers 10 minutes before the provisional electoral office closed.

"America has Barack Obama and Haiti has Wyclef Jean," shouted Jean, who was born in Haiti but raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. Many in the crowd wore T-shirts distributed by supporters.

Carrying his wailing 5-year-old daughter on his shoulders, Jean told The Associated Press: "It's a moment in time and in history. It's very emotional."

The former Fugees frontman enters a highly competitive and crowded race for a difficult and dangerous job. Only one person has completed a democratically elected 5-year term in Haiti's history - current President Rene Preval - who is poised to do it again and hand it off to an elected successor.

The winner of the Nov. 28 general elections inherits a destroyed capital, 1.6 million homeless people and countless groups fighting over billions of dollars in international reconstruction funds pledged after a January earthquake that killed an estimated 300,000 people.

...

Jean's U.S. upbringing could be a roadblock to his candidacy, but the singer says his appointment as a roving ambassador by Preval in 2007 exempts him from the residency requirement.

The singer was born on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince but left the country as a child and grew up in Brooklyn. He gained fame as a member of the Fugees and went on to have a successful solo career. He is known for such hit singles as "We Trying to Stay Alive" and "Gone Till November." With the Fugees, he recorded the Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling album "The Score."

In recent years, he has been active in Haiti with the charity Yele Haiti, prompting long-running speculation that he would run for president one day.

Earlier Thursday, he stepped down as leader of Yele Haiti, which faced criticism for alleged financial improprieties.

Jean helped found the charity five years ago to raise money and build awareness of the myriad problems in his impoverished homeland. It raised $9 million in the wake of the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed a government-estimated 300,000 people. Of that, it has spent $1.5 million on food, water, tents, clothes and other products for quake survivors, said Cindy Tanenbaum, a spokeswoman the musician said.

"I am not stepping down in my commitment to Haiti. On the contrary, regardless of what path I take next, one thing is certain: My focus on helping Haiti turn a new corner will only grow stronger," Jean said in the statement.

Jean's personal statement about his decision to run, from Huffington Post:

Dear Reader,

My four-year-old daughter, Angelina, and my wife, Claudinette, are the angels of my life -- and I know this year has been especially trying for them, as my efforts for Haiti have taken so much more of my time since January, when the devastating earthquake nearly destroyed my home country. In fact, my concern for my family was my primary thought as I was being urged by others to seek the presidency of Haiti.

But then I came to realize that I have to make this decision for them, and especially for my daughter, as much as for myself and my country. At age four, my daughter has already seen so much suffering in Haiti, but we've done our best to have her also witness the beauty of the country and the beautiful spirits of its people. I have always believed in the need to parent her by example, to show her that her dad is a man of action and a man of his word. I've told her throughout her life that Haiti's future lies in our hands -- including hers, as one of the young people of the country -- and I want to show her by example what I'm willing to do to make Haiti a better place. I believe that to move Haiti forward, it's going to be necessary to embrace the energy of its people, to unite around a common goal of moving ahead together. Taking all of these factors into consideration over the last few weeks, I have decided to run for president of Haiti.

I'm happy to have my family as my biggest supporters. They've been right there with me, helping with the programs of my NGO, Yele Haiti, over the years. Angelina and Claudinette and I were all in Haiti a few weeks before the earthquake, in fact. We went to Cite Soleil, one of the country's most dangerous neighborhoods, to give toys and backpacks to the kids. The hotel where we had stayed was destroyed by the earthquake, crumbled to the ground. We escaped death by only a few weeks -- my daughter, wife and I would have been under the rubble.

Once, I told Angelina she was going to perform with me on Nickelodeon, and she asked me if she was going to get paid. I asked her, "What are you gonna do with the money?" When she said she needed it to send to the kids of Haiti, I cried tears of joy! And when some people attacked my involvement with Yéle Haiti and tears rolled down my cheeks on Oprah, she said, "Daddy, you are too tough to cry. I've never seen you cry." I said to her, "I'm not crying for myself; I'm crying for the people of Haiti."

Some negative stories continue to be written about me. People might question my motives. Because our daughter is so young, we have shielded her from the negative stories, but when she is a little older, we will talk about those (and there might be many more to come in the next few months -- or years, even, depending on how things go in my campaign to make a brighter future for Angelina and the rest of the youth of Haiti).

I've tried to do the right thing in every part of my life, but especially when it comes to family and to Haiti. Sometimes I've been successful; other times not so much. But for years, I have been trying to help Haiti grow and prosper, and now I think I have the biggest chance I will ever have to make a difference there. I feel my calling is to serve our country in whatever way the people will have me.

I trust that Angelina understands why I feel a responsibility to my countrymen who suffer so much, because I know that my daughter's heart is as beautiful as she is. I hold Haiti and its growth and development dear to my heart; I have pledged to work for my beloved country just as I have pledged to be the best father I can be to my daughter.

My daughter and my wife, my mother, my brothers and sisters, my cousins and the rest of our family are always first in my heart. But Haiti and its people are a very close second. I hope and pray that my baby girl will understand that, and I think she will -- I can tell in her eyes and with the questions she asks that she already understands that to live for yourself is to live selfishly, but to live for others is the best sacrifice that we can make as human beings.

As the Creole saying goes, "L'union fait la force" -- "there is strength in unity." That is something I live by; I get strength from my family, and from all my supporters in Haiti.

Sincerely, 

Wyclef Jean

Is it wrong to wear a CHANEL dinner jacket with a T shirt to the airport if it's still breakfast time out here in Singapore uugh TOO LATE!

about 19 hours ago via web

1. Tell everyone at the label only use Gothic or Helvetic fonts for email blast unless I otherwise approve
   

   about 21 hours ago via web
   

2. Neon suit check ... Wut I look like on stage Ibn... am I glowing??? OK THEN!!!!
   

   about 21 hours ago via web
   

   1. Twit pic acting up ... I wanna bless yall with this hotel view but it wasn't meant to be I guess
      

      10:00 AM Aug 4th via web
      

   2. Limitation spawns innovation
      

      9:52 AM Aug 4th via web
      

   3. In life... Sometimes you gotta just wait for the next elevator
      

      5:57 AM Aug 4th via web
      

   4. Don't you hate it when you say bye to someone then yall get on the elevator together and it's like, now what?? Awkwaaard
      

      5:47 AM Aug 4th via web
      

   5. sometimes I push the door close button on people running towards the elevator. I just need my own elevator sometimes, my 7 floor sanctuary
      

      5:44 AM Aug 4th via web

      I don't understand why they have a do not disturb button on the plane if they keep waking you asking if you want juice.
      

      2:20 PM Aug 3rd via web
      

1. I used to go to the Bang & Olufsen store and just stare at the TVs and speakers, that store was one of my main inspirations
   

   9:19 AM Aug 1st via web
   

2. Fur pillows are hard to actually sleep on
   

   8:55 AM Aug 1st via web
   

3. I need more church in my life
   

   8:49 AM Aug 1st via web
   

4. It's gonna be a super good day
   

   8:48 AM Aug 1st via web