Evoking Black Moon’s 1993 underground hit “How Many MC’s,” the braggadocious album opener “How Many Mics” represents one of the greatest verbal displays the trio ever committed to wax, as the trio show and prove that inventive rhymeplay is most definitely their natural calling. The album’s other standouts can be found in the opening three tracks, all of which revolve around the group’s assertions of microphone superiority. Irresistibly addictive first single “Fu-Gee-La” is the finest of the album’s several fine moments, with Hill flashing her best Teena Marie impression in the song’s chorus, as she confirms the group’s mission of getting heads “super high off the Fu-Gee-La.” Not entirely sure why Ruffhouse thought it was a good idea to toss three mediocre remixes of the track onto the end of the album, instead of simply letting them live on the maxi-single, but their curious presence doesn’t undermine the allure of the original. Lyrically, the album is chock-full of clever rhyme schemes, memorable turns of phrase, and countless metaphors and similes that namecheck a motley roll call of pop culture luminaries like Alec Baldwin, Buju Banton, Dick Van Dyke, Menudo, Tommy Mottola, Paul McCartney, Carlos Santana, Seal, John Travolta, and Stevie Wonder, among others. “We’re trying to bring musicality back to the hood.”ĭefined by its subdued soundscapes, inventive use of samples, catchy-as-all-hell hooks, and multitude of sonic inspirations, The Score resonates with a distinctive sound and eclecticism all its own. “If you want to call us ‘alternative,’ so be it,” she declared to Vibe magazine in a March 1996 interview. Liberated to flex her venerable vocal prowess, lyrical dexterity and incisive songwriting throughout the sophomore song suite, L-Boogie’s contributions across the album are nothing short of revelatory, not to mention compelled by a noble calling. Recorded in the latter half of 1995, the Fugees’ follow-up was, as Wyclef explained to MTV, “the big payback” inspired by the group’s shared commitment to “settling the score for those who slept on the Fugees.” Flaunting a considerably more polished and kaleidoscopic sound imbued with soul, reggae, and folk along with its fundamental hip-hop core, The Score seamlessly straddled the seldom achieved line between street credibility and coffeehouse charm.Īlthough both Wyclef and Pras upped their lyrical game on The Score, the dynamic and precociously self-assured Hill, who was just 20 years old at the time of the album’s release, made the most impressive leap of all. An underrated gem of lo-fi, bohemian boom-bap, Blunted failed to resonate critically and commercially, despite two stellar singles, the buoyant “Nappy Heads” (Remix) and the acoustic-tinged “Vocab.” The trio changed their name to Tranzlator Crew in 1993 and subsequently to the Fugees, before releasing their debut LP Blunted on Reality in 1994 via Ruffhouse, an independent label distributed through Columbia Records. The East Orange, NJ native Hill formed the original incarnation of the group, Tyme, with her Brooklyn-born high school chum Prakazrel “Pras” Michel in the late 1980s, and the pair joined forces with Pras’ cousin, the Haiti-born Wyclef Jean, shortly thereafter in 1990. Unlike Roxanne Shanté, Dionne Farris, Sister Paulette, and Ladybug Mecca, Lauryn Hill shared-and oftentimes, commanded-center stage, by means of her own ambition and her bandmates’ deferential respect for her many indisputable talents. However, what fundamentally differentiates the Fugees from their peers is the prominent role that their female member adopted within the broader group dynamic. The Juice Crew, Arrested Development, Digable Planets, and today’s subject, the Fugees, are the high profile, immediately recognizable examples. Over the course of hip-hop’s nearly 50-year history, the mixed-gender group has been a rare breed indeed.
Happy 25th Anniversary to Fugees’ second & final studio album The Score, originally released February 13, 1996.