Their remake of "Killing Me Softly" was the hit, but that's only the beginning of the story. A hip-hop trio whose talents reach out into the world of the pop song (Wyclef Jean is a fine guitar player, and Lauryn Hill's a heck of a singer), the Fugees are also all distinctive, inventive rappers--you find yourself waiting for each of them to take the next verse in turn. The beats are the familiar crossed-armed boom-bip, but the group's understated grooves and subtle effects lie low in the mix. Aside from two kicky covers of classics (the other is Marley's "No Woman, No Cry"), The Score's focus is on the stars' rhyming with the free-form grace of performance poets and showing that they have thought deeply about the issues they raise. --Douglas Wolk
Review by Steve Huey
A breath of fresh air in the gangsta-dominated mid-'90s, the Fugees' breakthrough album, The Score, marked the beginning of a resurgence in alternative hip-hop. Its left-field, multi-platinum success proved there was a substantial untapped audience with an appreciation for rap music but little interest in thug life. The Score's eclecticism, social consciousness, and pop smarts drew millions of latent hip-hop listeners back into the fold, showing just how much the music had grown up. It not only catapulted the Fugees into stardom, but also launched the productive solo careers of Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill, the latter of whom already ranks as one of the top female MCs of all time based on her work here. Not just a collection of individual talents, the Fugees' three MCs all share a crackling chemistry and a wide-ranging taste in music. Their strong fondness for smooth soul and reggae is underscored by the two hit covers given slight hip-hop makeovers (Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly With His Song" and Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry"). Even when they're not relying on easily recognizable tunes, their original material is powered by a raft of indelible hooks, especially the great "Fu-Gee-La"; there are also touches of blues and gospel, and the recognizable samples range from doo wop to Enya. Their protest tracks are often biting, yet tempered with pathos and humanity, whether they're attacking racial profiling among police ("The Beast"), the insecurity behind violent posturing ("Cowboys"), or the inability of many black people in the Western Hemisphere to trace their familial roots ("Family Business"). Yeah, the Chinese restaurant skit is a little dicey, but on the whole, The Score balances intelligence and accessibility with an easy assurance, and ranks as one of the most distinctive hip-hop albums of its era.
The Fugees translated an intriguing blend of jazz-rap,
R&B, and reggae into huge success during the mid-'90s,
when the trio's sophomore album The Score hit number
one on the pop charts and sold over five million
copies. The trio formed in the late '80s in the New
Jersey area, where Lauryn Hill and Prakazrel Michel
("Pras") attended a local high school and began working
together. Michel's cousin Wyclef Jean ("Clef") joined
the group (then called the Tranzlator Crew), and the
trio signed to Ruffhouse/Columbia in 1993. After
renaming themselves the Fugees (a term of derision,
short for refugees, which was usually used to describe
Haitian immigrants). Though the group's debut album,
Blunted on Reality, was quite solid, it reflected a
prevailing gangsta stance that may have been forced by
the record label.
No matter how pigeonholed the Fugees may have sounded
on their debut, the group had obviously asserted their
control by the time of their second album, The Score.
With just as much intelligence as their jazz-rap
forebears, the trio also worked with surprisingly
straight-ahead R&B on the soulful "Killing Me Softly
With His Song," sung by Lauryn Hill. Elsewhere, Clef
and Pras sampled doo wop and covered Bob Marley's "No
Woman No Cry," giving the record familiarity for the
commercial mainstream, but keeping it real with
insightful commentary on their urban surroundings. The
Score became one of the surprise hits of 1996, reaching
number one on the pop charts and making the Fugees one
of the most visible rap groups around the world. During
1997, the crew played on the Smokin' Grooves tour, and
took time out while Hill gave birth to a child and Clef
issued a solo album, The Carnival Featuring the Refugee
Allstars. In 1998 Hill released her smash record The
Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and in 2000 Clef released
his second solo disc, The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book.
In turn, their solo success cast further doubt on
another Fugees release. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
|
