(Redirected from Fugees)
This article does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.
This article has been tagged since July 2007.
The Fugees were a critically-acclaimed New Jersey hip hop group that rose to fame in the mid-1990s, whose repertoire included elements of soul, and Caribbean music, particularly reggae. The members of the group are rapper/singer/producer Wyclef Jean, rapper/singer Lauryn Hill, and rapper Pras Michel. Deriving their name from the term "refugee", Jean and Michel are of Haitian heritage, while Hill is from South Orange, New Jersey. The group recorded two albums — one of which, The Score (1996), was a multi-platinum and Grammy-winning success — before going their separate ways after 1997. Hill and Jean each went on to successful solo recording careers, while Michel focused mainly on soundtrack recordings and acting. All three members of the group are Haitian-descended.
The trio released their first LP, Blunted on Reality, in 1994, which spawned two underground hits with "Nappy Heads (Mona Lisa)" and "Vocab", but the album failed to live up to the reputation of their live shows and gained no mainstream attention.
Despite the relative failure of their first album, The Score became one of the biggest hits of 1996 and one of the best-selling hip hop albums of all time. The Fugees 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)" by Roberta Flack, the latter being their biggest pop 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).
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; Michel, with Mya and Ol' Dirty Bastard, recorded the single "Ghetto Supastar" for the soundtrack to the Warren Beatty/Halle Berry film Bulworth. After each member found success in other ventures, the group failed to reform. Though the Fugees remained tight-lipped about the exact reasons, most fans believed that a serious personality conflict between Hill and Jean contributed to the groups breakup following Wyclef's The Carnival.
Refugee Camp, while a name sometimes credited to the trio, also refers to a number of artists affiliated with them and particularly Wyclef. John Forté was an early member, rapping and drum programming on two of The Score's tracks; Forté however is currently serving a 14-year prison sentence for cocaine trafficking.
The three Fugees reunited and performed on 18 September, 2004 at the concert in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn featured in the film Dave Chappelle's Block Party, 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 ChestnuTT and John Legend. Their performance received mostly 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 28 June, opening the show with a twelve minute set. With a new album announce to be in the works, one track, "Take It Easy", was leaked online and eventually released as an Internet single on 27 September, 2005. It peaked at #40 on the Billboard R&B Chart and was met with poor reviews, noting its radical departure from the Fugees' sound.
In 2005, The Fugees embarked on a European tour - their first together since 1997 - from 30 November to 20 December, playing Finland, Austria, Norway, Germany, Italy, France, England, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Slovakia. Internet reviews reported the concerts to be underpromoted, were very disorganized and had poor sound - but the group itself arguably put on some of the best performances of their career. When they were touring in Norway, Hill decided to do her first stage dive, however, the concert hall was poorly lit and she jumped off the stage and landed hard on the floor, concluding the concert. On 6 February, 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" leaked, a song dubbed the "REAL return of the Fugees" by several online MP3 blogs. Chappelle, the Fugees and the rest of the film's line-up also toured several cities in February and March, under the moniker "Block Party All-Stars featuring Dave Chappelle", in promotion of the film's release.
During an interview with SOHH.com, Pras confirmed that a Fugees reunion is "straight dead." He indicated this was due to Lauryn Hill having "some things she needs to deal with."
Year
Title
Chart positions
WW Sales
Billboard
200
Top R&B/
Hip-Hop
UK Albums
Blunted on Reality
#62
4,058,697 million
The Score
#1
#1
#2
18,048,445 million
Bootleg Versions
#127
#55
Greatest Hits
Year
Title
Chart positions
Album
US Hot 100
US R&B/Hip-Hop
UK Singles Chart
"Boof Baf"
Blunted on Reality
"Nappy Heads"
#49
#52
#172
Blunted on Reality
"Vocab"
#91
Blunted on Reality
"Fu-Gee-La"
#29
#13
#21
The Score
"Killing Me Softly"
#2A
#1A
#1
The Score
"Ready or Not"
#69A
#1
The Score
"No Woman, No Cry" (with Stephen Marley)
#38A
#2
The Score
"Hip-Hopera" (with Bounty Killer)
#81
#54
My Xperience
"Rumble in the Jungle" (feat. A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes & John Forté)
#71A
#3
When We Were Kings Original Soundtrack
"Take It Easy"
#119B
#40
A peaked at airplay charts
B peaked at Bubbling Under charts
The Fugees
Members
Lauryn Hill | Wyclef Jean | Pras Michel
Studio albums
Blunted on Reality (1994) | The Score (1996) | Refugee Camp - Bootleg Versions (1996) | Greatest Hits (2003) | Reconciliation (2007)
