About

In the summer of 1994, the Fugees were in danger of getting dropped. The New Jersey hip-hop trio’s debut LP Blunted on Reality, produced by Kool and the Gang’s Khalis Bayyan, was a misguided effort to conform to the aggressive street sounds that, while popular at the time, failed to capture the multi-faceted perspectives of Prakazrel Samuel Michel, Wyclef Jean, and Lauryn Hill. After the first single “Boof Baf” whiffed on commercial radio and record sales flagged, the Fugees appeared to have flopped. Were it not for remix guru Salaam Remi, they just might have.

The Score was birthed at those early sessions with Remi. Not long after the “Nappy Heads” remix dropped, he played a beat originally made for—and snubbed by—Fat Joe, flipping a Ramsey Lewis sample into a boom-bap film score that inspired Wyclef to spontaneously shout his prophetic opening bar: “We used to be number 10/Now we permanent at one.” It was Lauryn that brought the “La,” riffing on hooks until she landed on Teena Marie’s 1988 hit, christening the ineffable “Fu-Gee-La.” The song would serve as the spiritual center of the new record, and their new sound.

“Fu-Gee-La” may have been the spiritual center of The Score, but its biggest hit was a cover, wasn’t even officially released in the U.S. as a single, and was the last song they recorded for the album. It was Pras who suggested they cut Roberta Flack’s 1973 hit, but “Killing Me Softly With His Song” ultimately served as a vehicle for Lauryn Hill’s debut to the world at large, and was the catalyst for The Score’s unprecedented commercial success.

The Fugees managed to diversify the voice of the ghetto, one often depicted in a single dimension. They reclaimed pride for Haitians worldwide, a heritage maligned for its postcolonial poverty and strife but still remembered as the setting for the new world’s first successful revolt of enslaved people against their oppressors. Their sound was multifaceted because they were, too, their music diverse, just like the Black experience. — (via Pitchfork)

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In 1996 the Fugees, after the limited but respectable sales of their debut Blunted On Reality, released sophomore effort The Score to worldwide acclaim. It wasn’t long before their well-balanced blend of hip hop, pop, roots and R&B established Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Pras as global stars.

It begins inauspiciously with “Red Intro”, building with the laid-back “How Many Mics”, before bringing out the big pop guns and Lauryn’s mature yet spirited voice for “Ready Or Not”. Although the “Killing Me Softly” cover was, and remains, the record’s biggest hit, the highlight is undoubtedly "Fugee La". Combining awesome Salaam Remi production with exuberant turns by Wyclef and Hill - including her incredible eerie laughter at the midway point – it is the album’s centre.

“Family Business” is classic moody mid-nineties hip hop, “The Mask” utilizes smooth fretless bass and muted trumpet, and “No Woman No Cry” avoids becoming too R&B with the aid of acoustic guitar that can be likened to Ben Harper. The album ends with some interesting but inferior remixes and “Mista Mista” - an unsubtle, sentimental plea to a junkie to kick the habit. “Needle and The Damage Done” it ain’t. — (via BBC Music)

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Label: Columbia // Ruffhouse Records
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Stereo
Reissued: 2017 / Originally Released: 1996
Genre: Hip Hop
Style: Pop Rap, Conscious, Boom Bap

File under: Hip Hop
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