Some say life is a carnival -- and that goes double for hip-hop iconoclast Wyclef Jean.

But the Haitian-born rapper -- and co-founder of trailblazing trio The Fugees -- discovered the parties had given way to epiphanies when it came time to revisit his landmark solo debut The Carnival.

"I've seen the towers go down, I had a daughter who's three years old now, and I had a chance to go back to my home country," says Wyclef, who last year released a sort-of-sequel to his debut, called Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant. "It made me reflect on the purpose of life, you know?

"I guess I'm just having a revelation, the same as when John Lennon and those dudes had theirs. Sometimes the music shifts and you realize what you're supposed to be doing."

So while most of us would be hard-pressed to see the silver lining behind terrorist attacks -- or the sudden passing of Wyclef's dad, who died one week prior -- he says the tragedies, coupled with a few happier milestones, have helped him realize what he was put on this earth to do.

"The purpose of my existence is to help other people. I'm clear on that," says Wyclef, 35, whose self-started Yele Haiti foundation partnered a few months back with the United Nations' World Food Programme. "And when I say other people, I don't just mean Haitians. Travelling the world, people have come up to me and said, 'I was going to kill myself, and then I heard the 911 song.' And then I'm like, 'What?' It's almost like you're here to save people, or make situations better for them."

The changing times -- and the current situation in Haiti -- served to inspire the latest Carnival disc, says Wyclef, as did the current wave of "fusion culture" he helped kickstart with The Fugees.

And given this is the same guy who once dropped apocalyptic rhymes over an Enya sample -- and later paired with Mary J. Blige, Kenny Rogers and even The Rock -- it's no surprise that Carnival II welcomes a similarly diverse roster of collaborators, among them Paul Simon, Norah Jones and System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian.

"I think I'm like the most eclectic producer in the whole game ... everyone's always like, 'How did you get so eclectic?'" he says. "Well, I suck at sports, I took the test for law school but I failed -- the one thing I really loved was music. Like a kid who's been kicking a soccer ball since he was little, that's what I've been doing all my life."

A self-described "student of music" -- one who thinks the best musicians are the ones who claim "they're OK, but every day they're still learning," -- Wyclef nonetheless hit a dry spell a few years back when he wondered whether his time in the sun was over.

"I was like, 'Yo, maybe my musical time is finished,' because I kept putting out these records and nothing was sticking," he says. "Then I did the Shakira record (2006's Hips Don't Lie) and it was a huge hit. But I was like, 'Wait -- that record was made two years ago.' So I guess nothing's wrong with me -- I'm just ahead of my time. I gotta slow down and let everyone catch up."

Such boasting is rare for the rapper -- on his albums, anyway -- though in casual conversation he's not quite as modest about his accomplishments.

"I'm from the biggest hip-hop group in history -- we sold 22 million copies of a record I did in my basement, and it became a blueprint for everyone else," he says. "I've been out of the game, then I came back with the Shakira record and broke Michael Jackson and Elvis (Presley's) records. But why should I be saying that in a song? To me, that's just corny. You don't hear Quincy Jones going around bragging about what he does. Anyway, if I was to take the time out to brag, it would probably take a whole century."