The 2004 Wyclef Jean and The Game Cover of 'Wish You Were Here' on a Hip-Hop Tribute Album That Split Pink Floyd Fans

In 2004, Wyclef Jean and a then-rising The Game laid down a rap version of “Wish You Were Here” for The Black Star Project: A Tribute to Pink Floyd, a compilation that swapped psychedelic rock for hip-hop and R&B. The album was one of the first full-on hip-hop tributes to Floyd, and this track was its most talked-about moment.

Why the division? Purists heard the song’s aching, slow-burn acoustic opening replaced with a syncopated beat and verses about survival and beef, and they recoiled. The chorus was half-sung, half-rapped, and the emotional register switched from longing to aggression. For many, it felt like stripping the soul out of a sacred song.

But others argued the cover did exactly what a tribute should — it made the meaning new. Wyclef and The Game pulled the lyrics into their own world, rapping about absent fathers and the streets. Whether you think it was a creative reinterpretation or a cultural misstep, it still gets people arguing two decades later.