We just do our thing.” This definitely worked in their favor as their album is still recognized as one of the most influential albums of all time mostly due to the fact that it covers many darker and more controversial topics. In a Rolling Ston e interview in 1999, she explained her process stating, “I write songs that lyrically move me and have the integrity of reggae and the knock of hip-hop and the instrumentation of classic soul…a sound that’s raw.”Īnother reason to celebrate the Fugees is because they didn’t let societal norms constrict them, “Hip-hop has no boundaries, it’s good to expand,” Michel said after a concert, according to Rolling Stone. It was a major step towards stopping the prejudice against female rappers, especially when Hill proved to be a lyrical genius. For example, in the first half of the first verse of the track “The Beast,” there are already 14 rhymes, “Conflicts with night sticks illegal sales districts/Hand-picked lunatics, keep poli-TRICK-cians rich/ Heretics push narcotics amidst its risks and frisks/Cool cliques throw bricks but seldom get targets.” This technique, also known as multisyllabic rhyming, was also popularized by rapper Biggie Smalls and MF Doom.Īdditionally, the Fugees was one of the first groups that prominently featured a woman rapping, which shook gender roles in the male-dominated rap genre. Many songs also include a technique called “rhyme stacking,” in which member Hill uses to take them to the next step. The album consists of 20 songs that tell stories of life in the inner city. When “The Score” debuted, it shook the world when it shot to the #2 spot on Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart right behind 2Pac’s “All Eyes on Me.” After that, the album’s popularity continued to skyrocket when it eventually earned the coveted #1 spot on the Billboard 200 on May 25, 1996. Twenty-five years later, it is still recognized as one of the greatest hip-hop albums to ever be released.
Hill's dual-threat presence, Jean's booming toasts and Pras' knotty rhymes made Fugees a shining example of balance The Score's sonic palette, which honoured the New York area's then-burgeoning underground through precise use of massive hits and crate-dug gems, made the group's second album a key part of hip-hop's 1990s explosion.On February 13, 1996, the hip-hop trio The Fugees, which consisted of Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel, released their second album “The Score” which would go on to dominate 90’s hip-hop music charts.
The former allowed her to show off her reference-packed, thoughtful MC skills, while the latter established her rich, confident alto as one of R&B's great voices. "Ready or Not", which flipped a late-'60s single by the Philly soul outfit The Delfonics into a rallying cry for Black music, and "Killing Me Softly With His Song", a boom-bap-propelled cover of the ode to musicians made famous by Roberta Flack in the early '70s, both defined late-'90s hip-hop and turned Hill into one of its biggest female stars. (If you use the intricate, incisive rhymes the trio cast across The Score as a predictor, the answer is "a lot".)įugees' take on the swaggering yet claustrophobic sonics of '90s East Coast hip-hop give The Score a charge that remains electric decades later, as the boastful "Fu-Gee-La" and the hazy title track prove. Its lyrics are pointed and political, while also being laced with wit: "How many mics do we rip on the daily?" Hill and Jean crow on "How Many Mics", the album's first proper song. The homespun hip-hop production on The Score gives it a vibe not unlike a lengthy listening session with friends, complete with running gags that bust up the room its sample list includes hooks from classic soul sides and sound-system-worthy beats, as well as bits borrowed from Enya, Francisco Tárrega and The Moody Blues. The album that came out of that cellar, 1996's The Score, became one of the defining hip-hop albums of the '90s and launched Jean and his bandmates Lauryn Hill and Pras to stardom. When the New Jersey hip-hop trio Fugees regrouped to record their second album, they went underground-to the basement of Wyclef Jean's uncle, which was transformed into a recording studio and rechristened as the Booga Basement.
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