Album: The Score
Artist: Fugees
Born: South Orange, New Jersey
Released: February 1996
Genre: Hip Hop
After the slightly rambling opening, the album starts to come together with How Many Mics and Ready Or Not, on which the trio of Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Pras perfect their laid-back sound. To my ears, their interweaving flow sounds very similar to Massive Attack. Like the conscious hip hop of the Native Tongues collective, the Fugees position themselves in opposition to gangsta rap and its crass bravado, with Hill singing on Ready Or Not, "while you be imitating Al Capone, I be Nina Simone". The Fugees updated Arrested Development's Afrocentric style of hip hop by blending in elements of R&B, soul and reggae, notably on the two successful covers from the album, Killing Me Softly (most famously sung previously by Roberta Flack) and No Woman, No Cry (Bob Marley). Hill's vocal performance on Killing Me Softly is stunning and is almost matched by the singing of Wyclef on No Woman, No Cry. The two were apparently in the midst of a love affair while recording the album, and the chemistry between the two is undeniable throughout the album. Killing Me Softly was not only a US No.2, but also became the biggest single of 1996 in the UK, helping the album to achieve worldwide sales of 6mn copies. Clearly, there was still an appetite for intelligent hip hop.
Of all the Fugees singles that dominated the airwaves in 1996, my favourite was Ready Or Not, thanks to its brilliant use of Enya and Delfonics samples and the quality of the rapping. Fu-Gee-La was another great single, produced by Salaam Remi and containing a sample of If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don't Want To Be Right by Ramsey Lewis. Pras is the one to shine on this track, with his lyrics paying homage to reggae's stars (“From Hawaii to Hawthorne, I run marathons / like Buju Banton, I'm a true champion"). I'm also fond of the title track, which in its atmosphere and lyrical concerns is heavily indebted to the Wu-Tang Clan. Many of the album tracks deal with a wide variety of issues, from racial profiling by the police (The Beast) to the difficulties African-Americans face when attempting to trace their ancestral roots (Family Business), giving The Score a socially conscious grounding. The record also launched the solo careers of Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean, with Hill especially seizing this opportunity with the brilliant The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill (1998). For me though, no albums they made separately matched what they achieved together on The Score.
After the slightly rambling opening, the album starts to come together with How Many Mics and Ready Or Not, on which the trio of Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Pras perfect their laid-back sound. To my ears, their interweaving flow sounds very similar to Massive Attack. Like the conscious hip hop of the Native Tongues collective, the Fugees position themselves in opposition to gangsta rap and its crass bravado, with Hill singing on Ready Or Not, "while you be imitating Al Capone, I be Nina Simone". The Fugees updated Arrested Development's Afrocentric style of hip hop by blending in elements of R&B, soul and reggae, notably on the two successful covers from the album, Killing Me Softly (most famously sung previously by Roberta Flack) and No Woman, No Cry (Bob Marley). Hill's vocal performance on Killing Me Softly is stunning and is almost matched by the singing of Wyclef on No Woman, No Cry. The two were apparently in the midst of a love affair while recording the album, and the chemistry between the two is undeniable throughout the album. Killing Me Softly was not only a US No.2, but also became the biggest single of 1996 in the UK, helping the album to achieve worldwide sales of 6mn copies. Clearly, there was still an appetite for intelligent hip hop.
Of all the Fugees singles that dominated the airwaves in 1996, my favourite was Ready Or Not, thanks to its brilliant use of Enya and Delfonics samples and the quality of the rapping. Fu-Gee-La was another great single, produced by Salaam Remi and containing a sample of If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don't Want To Be Right by Ramsey Lewis. Pras is the one to shine on this track, with his lyrics paying homage to reggae's stars (“From Hawaii to Hawthorne, I run marathons / like Buju Banton, I'm a true champion"). I'm also fond of the title track, which in its atmosphere and lyrical concerns is heavily indebted to the Wu-Tang Clan. Many of the album tracks deal with a wide variety of issues, from racial profiling by the police (The Beast) to the difficulties African-Americans face when attempting to trace their ancestral roots (Family Business), giving The Score a socially conscious grounding. The record also launched the solo careers of Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean, with Hill especially seizing this opportunity with the brilliant The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill (1998). For me though, no albums they made separately matched what they achieved together on The Score.
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