For a reminder of what could have been, Wyclef Jean just has to roll up his left pant leg and point to the toonie-sized welt on his knee.

"This is a .22 (bullet) right here," Wyclef, 29, told The Toronto Sun yesterday in an interview at a downtown hotel. "Still in there. It would dislocate my joint if they took it out. I got shot when I was 14. Crazy stuff."

That run-in with mortality occurred when the Haiti-born New Yorker was just a budding musician, a long way away from the worldwide respect he has earned today as an accomplished rap/reggae/pop solo artist.

"Everyone is a tough guy until they see the Grim Reaper," he said. "If anyone dead on some beef-thug s--t could come back to life, they'd tell you to cut the bulls--t."

Hence, the title of his new album: Masquerade, an emotional examination of growing up in the projects.

"I've got a lot of albums in my chamber, and every one gotta theme,"Wyclef said. "This one was a message to the streets."

In keeping with Wyclef's previous efforts -- including his 2000 hit The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II A Book -- Masquerade blends moments of tension and trademark optimism the same way it mixes sturdy hip-hop with classic pop and reggae.

Threading the tracks together are snippets from a mock radio station, "93.1" --a nod to Wyclef's father, who died on Sept. 3, 2001.

"I'm trying to talk to the kids the way he talked to me," Wyclef said. "He'd point to the drug dealer in the Benz and call it a masquerade: 'It's not real and it won't last.' He said his way, going to work every day -- that was real, that we have a dream and when we accomplish it, it's going to be real."

Wyclef first tasted fame with the Fugees, the '90s hip-hop group that also featured future Grammy queen Lauryn Hill.

He said he's still trying to dispel preconceptions about hip-hop by using elements that aren't widely viewed as hip-hop in fashion.

"They never tell the stories of those kids in the 'hood who liked Billy Idol or Billy Joel. Or Johnny Cash. You don't hear that people love country music in the Caribbean.

"People hear me sample Burt Bacharach and go, 'How does he know What's New Pussycat?' Well, I'm from a DJ background. I used to get $150 a party. That was my hustle. If they wanted Sinatra, I'd play Sinatra. What that did was give me a form of eclecticism.

"I'm like a scientist. And if you're a scientist, you have to respect other scientists and how things are invented. What's New Pussycat? had a 3/4 rhythm with a symphony and Tom Jones' vocals. I thought that was incredible. So, flipping through the vinyl collection, I'm thinking, 'Yo, this is a hot one right here.' "

Speaking of Tom Jones, Wyclef's next project is a collaborative album with him, for which 10 songs are already complete. Wyclef previously has worked with Carlos Santana, Mick Jagger, U2, Destiny's Child and Sinead O'Connor.

A future Fugees effort remains doubtful. As for Hill's reported move to eschew technology and go strictly acoustic, Wyclef seemed as skeptical as everyone else.

"I think she's just going through a phase, like Aretha Franklin or Billie Holliday," he said. "The best of the best go through these phases differently. I think when she finishes the phase, she'll overcome it.

"But," he added with a chuckle. "If she sticks to that phase, I don't know what's going to happen!" (More on Wyclef Jean)