Fugees Album: “The Score [Edited]”

Description :

Fugees (Refugee Camp): Lauryn Hill, Prakazrel "Pras," Wyclef. Additional personnel includes: Garfield "Gus" Parkinson , Rah Digga, Forte, Omega, Red Alert, Ras Baraka (spoken vocals); Handel Tucker (keyboards); Robbie Shakespeare (bass); Sly Dunbar (drums, programming); John Forte (programming); DJ Skribble, Backspin (vinyl scratches). Producers include: Wyclef, Shawn King, Lauryn Hill, Salaam Remi, John Forte. Engineers include: Warren Riker, Gary "Mon" Noble, Wyclef. Recorded at Booga Basement, East Orange, New Jersey; The Crib, Quad, New York, New York; Anchor Studios, Kingston, Jamaica. Samples include "Ready Or Not, Here I Come" (Hart/Bell), "Ooh La La La" (as performed by Teena Marie) and "I Only Have Eyes For You" (Warren Dubin). THE SCORE won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, and "Killing Me Softly" won a 1997 Grammy for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. The album was also nominated for Album Of The Year. On their second album, the Fugees utilize a couple of the mid-'90s trends in hip-hop--cinematic construct and references to Asian fighting techniques. But THE SCORE transcends much of the genre's recent output, because it's as much about musicality as it is about beats. In fact, deep beats often take a back seat to tense, noir grooves. More importantly, all three rappers--Haitian males, Wyclef and Pras, and New Jerseyite female, Lauryn Hill--swing hard, syncopating around the beats like jazz instrumentalists, making THE SCORE a complex and challenging listen. THE SCORE also boasts some of the most intelligent, non-exclusionary rhymes in recent memory. Wyclef claims to "run through Crown Heights/Screaming out Mazel Tov" and Hill draws parallels between herself and both Nina Simone and Elliot Ness. Too politically astute and musically talented to fall into the ruts of rap cliches and dependence on overused samples, the Fugees are placing a significant, personalized stamp on the direction of hip-hop.

The Fugees (Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, Pras) sophomore album "The Score" (1996) is a first class album and deserves all the recognition it has recieved. Musically and lyrically the Fugees dropped a gem with this release, delivering an album to remember. What I appreciate most about this album is the variety of musical influences the Fugees use in there music whether it be Hip Hop, Soul, Reggae, Gospel or Blues. The Fugees do justice to the originals on there covers for "Killing Me Softly With His Song" (Roberta Flack) and "No Woman, No Cry" (Bob Marley), both of these songs are off the hook. I wont front either, I had never heard the original versions back in 96, but have since listened to and enjoyed them and become a Bob Marley fan, thanks to this album. Love the instrumentals, Fugees rhyming and Lauryn Hill's outstanding vocals on "Ready or Not" and "Fu-Gee-La". The Fugees rip "Zealots" warning other MCs not to mess around, and talk about police discrimination on "The Beast". The darkly deep "Family Business" with Omega and Forte is another sick track. Both the "Fu-Gee-La" mixes are good, I especially like the "Refugee Camp Remix". Individually and collectively the Fugees shine on the "The Score" an album for every Hip Hop collection.

God alone knows what the hell, 50 cent, g-unit, nelly(who by the way has absolutely no skills on the mic), lil' jon etc are doing.

Well for me this is the best Hip Hop album of all time. the year is 2006 (10 yr after its release)and i quite often am bumping fu-gee-la, ready or not and killing me softly, just to break away from the crap that dominates mainstream hip hop radio.

Sorry to be a young black male and say, 95% of the Hip Hip/rap music and even now R&B music these days are pure crap.

this album is one of music's gems.

Aight, I just bought this album a couple of days ago. I was sitting in my room listening to the radio, and I hated some of the mainstream hiphop that they were playing. I needed a old school hiphop group that i could listen to. So i went out and bought the Fugees cd cuz i heard their stuff from the past, and thought they were fresh, so i bought it. I dont know what the hell took me so long to go buy this record. This is possibly one of my top 10 albums of all time. I think that the old school beats, the lyrics, the flow of the group is crazy fly. I think that all hip hop fans should go cop this album right now, if you dont already have it. This is no doubt a classic album, one of the best of all time. If you want a old school real hiphop album, this is one that you should go buy.

I just started listening to this album recently after it had been gathering dust for years in my CD collection. STILL such a great album..."Ready or Not" (my favorite track) still sounds just as fresh and enjoyable as it did when I first heard it. And of course Killing Me Softly is a great R&B/hip-hop fused remake. At their prime, the Fugees were the biggest thing in hip-hop, and I think that if they were around today they still would be.

this album not only touched on hip hop, reggae and soul but also elements of world music and acoustic music and it gets very political at times while romantic at others. This was the best hip hop record to come out in the 90's along with lauryn hill's miseducation. I can't wait for the fugees to get back together so wannabes like black eyed peas are forgotten.