Fugees

Formation and beginnings

Lauryn Hill and Pras first met at Columbia High School, in South Orange, New Jersey. Pras, Lauryn, and a mutual friend named Marcy formed a musical trio called Tyme; Pras' cousin, Wyclef Jean, joined the trio and Marcy left soon after in 1990. The moniker Tranzlator Crew refers to the name of their band at the time, which included Johnny Wise on drums, T Boss (Jerry) on bass guitar, and Leon (DJ). In 1993, after some gigs and recorded demos, the trio signed to Ruffhouse, distributed through Columbia Records. The trio's name was later changed to Fugees, which was purposely taken from a word often used derogatorily to refer to Haitian-Americans (refugee). Refugee Camp, while a name sometimes credited to the trio, also refers to a number of artists affiliated with them, and particularly Jean.

The trio soon changed musical direction, and released their first hip-hop LP, Blunted on Reality, in 1994 under the guidance of Kool and the Gang's producer Ronald Bell. Although the album did not contain as many lyrics with overtly political messages as songs from The Score, there were still political intentions. The album spawned the singles "Boof Baf", "Nappy Heads" and "Vocab", but gained little mainstream attention, despite earning plaudits for its artistic quality and innovative use of samples.

The Score

The musical qualities of their first record would be revisited with their second album The Score which was released in February 1996.

The Score became one of the biggest hits of 1996 and one of the best-selling hip-hop albums of all time. The Fugees first gained attention for their cover versions of old favorites, with the group's reinterpretations of "No Woman No Cry" by Bob Marley & the Wailers and "Killing Me Softly with His Song" (first recorded by Lori Lieberman in 1971, remade by Roberta Flack in 1973), the latter being their biggest hit.

The album also included a re-interpretation of The Delfonics' "Ready or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide From Love)" in their hit single, "Ready or Not", which featured a prominent sample of Enya's "Boadicea" without the singer's permission. This prompted a lawsuit resulting in a settlement where Enya was given credit and royalties for her sample. The Fugees have continuously thanked and praised Enya for her deep understanding of the situation, for example in the liner notes for The Score.

The Fugees won two 1997 Grammy Awards with The Score (Best Rap Album) and "Killing Me Softly" (Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group).

Later career

In 1997, the Fugees all began solo projects: Hill started work on her critically acclaimed The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill; Jean began producing for a number of artists (including Canibus, Destiny's Child and Carlos Santana) and recorded his debut album The Carnival; Pras, with Mýa and Ol' Dirty Bastard, recorded the single "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" for the soundtrack to the Warren Beatty/Halle Berry film Bulworth. In early 1998, they reunited to shoot a music video for the song "Just Happy to Be Me" which appeared in the Sesame Street special Elmopalooza, and also on the Grammy Award-winning soundtrack album.

The three Fugees reunited and performed on September 18, 2004 at the concert in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn featured in the film Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2004), headlining a star-studded bill that included Kanye West, Mos Def, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, The Roots, Talib Kweli, Common, Big Daddy Kane, Dead Prez, Cody ChesnuTT and John Legend. Their performance received several positive reviews, many of which praised Hill's near a cappella rendition of "Killing Me Softly".

The Fugees would make their first televised appearance in almost ten years at BET's 2005 Music Awards on June 28, opening the show with a twelve-minute set. With a new album announced to be in the works, one track, "Take It Easy", was leaked online and eventually released as an Internet single on September 27, 2005. It peaked at number 40 on the Billboard R&B Chart but was met with poor reviews, noting its radical departure from the Fugees' sound.

Disbanding

In 2005, the Fugees embarked on a European tour - their first together since 1997 - from November 30 to December 20, playing in Finland, Austria, Norway, Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Slovakia. They had been scheduled to play at the Hammersmith Apollo on 25 November 2005; however they were forced to move the gig to December due to production issues. The tour received mixed reviews. On February 6, 2006, the group reunited for a free show in Hollywood, with tickets given away to about 8,000 fans by local radio stations. Later that month, a new track called "Foxy" was leaked, a song dubbed the "REAL return of the Fugees" by several online MP3 blogs.

However, following the reunion tour, the album that was said to be in the works did not materialize and was postponed indefinitely, as relationships between band members apparently deteriorated. In August 2007, Pras stated, "Before I work with Lauryn Hill again, you will have a better chance of seeing Osama Bin Laden and [George W.] Bush in Starbucks having a latte, discussing foreign policies, before there will be a Fugees reunion". Meanwhile, in September 2007, an equally outspoken Wyclef told Blues & Soul: "I feel the first issue that needs to be addressed is that Lauryn needs help... In my personal opinion, those Fugees reunion shows shouldn't have been done, because we wasn't ready. I really felt we shoulda first all gone into a room with Lauryn and a psychiatrist... But, you know, I do believe Lauryn can get help. And, once she does work things out, hopefully a proper and enduring Fugees reunion will happen."

Legacy

Since their inception, a central part of the Fugees endeavor was promoting the concept of black empowerment. The band's members, both collectively and individually, have used their song lyrics and musical influence, advocating for social change. The multi-platinum success of The Score enabled the Fugees to increase the impact of their activism. They organized and performed at hip-hop charity festivals like Harlem's Hoodshock where the proceeds were used to fund a non-profit youth summer camp in New Jersey. They also turned their recording studio, The Booga Basement, into a transitional house for young Haitian refugees immigrating to the United States.

After the group split, Wyclef Jean co-founded and headed the Yele Haiti Foundation, a non-profit organization "focusing on emergency relief, employment, youth development and education, and tree planting and agriculture" in Haiti. Pras Michel starred in a documentary about homelessness in Los Angeles and remained outspoken about Haitian politics. Lauryn Hill continued recording and performing socially conscious music and went on to advocate for female empowerment especially within the music industry.

Scholarship

Alexander Weyheliye's "Sounding Diasporic Citizenship" looks to the Fugees to consider the possibility for the term "refugee" to be a liberating call that builds international community as an empowering form of 'diasporic citizenship'. He writes that the Fugees "address the prejudices against Haitians in the States and also reclaim the figure of the Haitian refugee not as an instantiation of the abject but as a point of solidarity.

Discography