The Score (Expanded Edition)

The Fugees translated a seamless blend of jazz-rap, R&B, and reggae into huge success during the mid-'90s, when the New Jersey-area trio's seminal sophomore album The Score hit number one on the pop charts and sold over five million copies before winning a pair of Grammy Awards in 1997. Featuring the songs "Killing Me Softly" and "Ready or Not," the effort became a '90s classic, while each member went on to pursue solo careers that extended into the 2000s.

The trio formed in the late '80s in South Orange, New Jersey, where high school friends Lauryn Hill and Prakazrel Michel ("Pras") began working together. Michel's cousin Wyclef Jean joined the group, dubbed the Tranzlator Crew, and they signed to Ruffhouse/Columbia in 1993. After renaming themselves the Fugees (a term of derision, short for refugees, which was usually used to describe Haitian immigrants), they entered the studio to record their first official full-length, Blunted on Reality. Issued in early 1994, the album showcased a beat-driven, hip-hop crew vibe, with Hill, Jean, and Michel trading verses in a fashion similar to A Tribe Called Quest, Poor Righteous Teachers, and Digable Planets. While an underground favorite, the album didn't make much of a dent on the charts and they veered in a different, but ultimately more successful, direction on their follow-up.

The Score arrived in 1996 and was an instant hit. Retaining some of their earlier jazz-rap spirit, while incorporating traditional R&B that showcased Hill's singing abilities, the album topped charts across the globe and was certified multi-platinum around Europe and in the U.S. Featuring the soulful, chart-topping single "Killing Me Softly" and a top 40 cover of Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry," The Score made significant dents in the commercial mainstream while retaining their existing fan base, becoming one of the surprise hits of 1996. At the 1997 Grammy Awards, the Fugees won Best Rap Album and Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for "Killing Me Softly."

Following the success of The Score, the Fugees took a break, pursuing solo endeavors that eventually made the hiatus permanent. Jean issued his first solo album, 1997's The Carnival Featuring the Refugee Allstars, while Michel joined Mya and Ol' Dirty Bastard for the hit single "Ghetto Superstar (That Is What You Are)." In 1998, Hill released her chart-topping, neo-soul opus The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which went on to outsell The Score and win five Grammy Awards in 1999. While Hill bowed out while on top of her game, Pras continued rapping and also pursued acting and film production. Meanwhile, Jean continued to release solo material -- issuing over a dozen albums -- and produced for artists, working with the likes of Destiny's Child, Santana, Shakira, Young Thug, and many more.

Almost a decade after peaking with The Score, they reconvened in 2005, performing together on a European tour and releasing the single "Take It Easy." However, the reunion was brief, and the trio disbanded once again. While their overall time together was short, The Score endures as one of the most critically acclaimed albums of all time and each Fugee remained active -- both musically and politically -- for decades to come. ~ Neil Z. Yeung & John Bush

Lauryn Hill broke through with multi-platinum-selling, Grammy-winning group the Fugees, but with her 1998 solo debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, the singer, songwriter, rapper, and producer established herself as a creative force on her own. She successfully integrated rap, soul, and reggae into a singular sound. Eclectic, uplifting, and empowering, the album was often cited by younger artists as a touchstone. Following its success, Hill was something of an enigma, her recorded output limited to a live set, scattered compilation appearances, and a handful of collaborations. Disenchantment with the entertainment industry, along with legal issues and erratic performances, did not lessen the impact of her '90s work.

Raised in South Orange, New Jersey, Hill spent her youth listening her parents' multi-genre, multi-generational record collection. She began singing at an early age and snagged minor roles on television (As the World Turns) and in film (Sister Act II: Back in the Habit). Her on-again/off-again membership in the Fugees began at the age of 13, but was often interrupted by both the acting gigs and her enrollment at Columbia University. After developing a following in the tri-state area, the group's first release -- the much-hyped but uneven 1994 album Blunted on Reality -- bombed, and almost caused a breakup. But with the multi-platinum 1996 release The Score, the Fugees became one of the most prominent rap acts on the strength of hit singles "Killing Me Softly," "Ready or Not," and "No Woman, No Cry."

Hill followed it in August 1998 with The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, her first solo release. Apart from a cover of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," popularized by Frankie Valli, each song was either written or co-written by Hill. She was also credited with the arrangement and production of the whole album, which was steeped in her old-school background, both musically (the Motown-esque singalong of "Doo Wop [That Thing]") and lyrically (the nostalgic "Every Ghetto, Every City"). As Miseducation began a long reign on the charts through most of the fall and winter of 1998, Hill became a national media icon, as magazines ranging from Time to Esquire to Teen People vied to put her on the cover. By the end of the year, as the album topped best-of lists, she was being credited for her part in assimilating hip-hop into the mainstream. The momentum culminated at the February 1999 Grammy Awards, during which Hill took home five trophies from her 11 nominations, including Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song, and Best R&B Album -- the most ever for a woman. Shortly after, she launched a highly praised national tour with Atlanta rappers OutKast.

Hill continued shaping her solo career, though it hit some significant snags. She faced a lawsuit from musicians who claimed they were denied full credit for their work on Miseducation -- a matter that was eventually settled out of court. After some film projects fell through, she retreated from the music scene as she raised her family and partially attributed her hiatus to feeling too compromised. The double-disc MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 appeared in May 2002 and documented a raw, deeply personal performance. It debuted at number three but quickly slid off the Billboard 200. During the next several years, her recordings and performances were infrequent and erratic, highlighted by a Fugees reunion for Dave Chappelle's Block Party. In 2013, she spent almost three months in prison for tax evasion but was more active after her release. The following year, the English-language version of the Swedish documentary Concerning Violence was released with Hill as its narrator. She executive produced and recorded six songs for the 2015 release Nina Revisited: A Tribute to Nina Simone, including interpretations of "Feeling Good" and "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair." ~ Brian Raftery

The first Fugees member to embark on a solo career, rapper/singer and guitarist Wyclef Jean has proven to be even more eclectic outside his group, achieving multi-platinum success as a genre-spanning headliner and collaborator. While Fugees' status was in limbo following the runaway success of The Score (1996), Wyclef took the spotlight as hip-hop's unofficial multicultural conscience, assembling or participating in numerous high-profile shows for a variety of causes, including aid for his native Haiti. The utopian one-world sensibility that fueled Wyclef's political consciousness would also inform his solo recordings. Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival (1997), featuring the Top Ten pop hit "Gone 'til November," and its likewise platinum follow-up, The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book (2000), fused hip-hop with styles such as reggae, soul, disco, Latin pop, and even opera. In addition to his niche as hip-hop's foremost global citizen, Wyclef became a noted producer, remixer, and featured guest, working with an array of R&B, rock, and pop stars including Destiny's Child ("No, No, No"), Santana ("Maria, Maria"), and Shakira ("Hips Don't Lie"). Clef's scope stayed global with Masquerade (2002), his second Top Ten pop album, and The Preacher's Son, his fourth consecutive Top Ten R&B/hip-hop LP, projects followed by Welcome to Haiti: Creole 101 (2004), a set of traditional Haitian Creole material. Among his several subsequent works are his second and third Carnival volumes, respectively subtitled Memoirs of an Immigrant (2007) and The Fall and Rise of a Refugee (2017), and Wyclef Goes Back to School, Vol. 1 (2019). Whether collaborating with Fall Out Boy ("Dear Future Self [Hands Up]," 2019) or promoting financial literacy ("Paper Right," 2024), Wyclef's output has remained unpredictable if always positive.

The son of a minister, Nelust Wyclef Jean was born in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti, on October 17, 1969. When he was nine, his family moved to Brooklyn's Marlborough projects. By his teenage years, Wyclef had moved to New Jersey, taken up guitar, and begun studying jazz through his high school's music department. In 1987, he also joined a rap group with his cousin Prakazrel Michel (aka Pras) and Michel's high school classmate Lauryn Hill. Initially calling themselves the Tranzlator Crew, they evolved into the Fugees, a name taken from slang for Haitian refugees. The trio signed with the Columbia-affiliated Ruffhouse label in 1993 and released their debut album, Blunted on Reality, the following year. It attracted little notice -- it peaked at only number 62 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop chart -- thanks to an inappropriate hardcore stance that the group wore like an ill-fitting suit. But the Fugees hit their stride on the follow-up, The Score, an eclectic, bohemian masterpiece that sounded like nothing else in 1996. Thanks to hits like "Fu-Gee-La" and "Killing Me Softly," The Score became a chart-topping phenomenon. With sales of over six million copies, it still ranks as one of the biggest-selling rap albums of all time.

Wyclef was the first Fugee to declare plans for a solo project, setting to work soon after the group completed its supporting tours. Released in the summer of 1997, The Carnival was even more musically ambitious than The Score. Its roster of guests included not only the remainder of the Fugees, but also Wyclef's siblings (who performed together in the duo Melky Sedeck), Cuban legend Celia Cruz, and New Orleans funk mainstays the Neville Brothers. The breadth of his ambition was further in evidence on the album's two hit singles; "We Trying to Stay Alive" recast Bee Gees' signature disco tune as a ghetto empowerment anthem, and the Grammy-nominated "Gone 'til November" was recorded with part of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Those two songs helped push The Carnival into a Top 20, triple-platinum showing. Wyclef subsequently stepped up his outside work for other artists. He collaborated as a producer, songwriter, and/or remixer with a diverse list of artists, including Destiny's Child ("No No No"), Whitney Houston (the title track of My Love Is Your Love), Bounty Killer, Cypress Hill, Michael Jackson, Santana ("Maria Maria"), Mick Jagger, and Canibus. He also served as Canibus' manager for a short time.

By the time Wyclef began work on his second solo album, rumors were flying about tension between individual Fugees, and despite their denials, the fact that no follow-up to The Score was in sight seemed to lend credence to all the speculation. Although Wyclef had previously announced he would put off his sophomore effort until after the next Fugees album, he was well into the project by early 2000, giving an early release of the anti-police brutality track "Diallo" (with guest vocals from Senegalese superstar Youssou N'Dour) via the Internet. The full album, titled The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book, was released toward the end of the summer and entered the Billboard 200 at number nine. Besides N'Dour, guests this time around included Mary J. Blige (on the Grammy-nominated duet "911"), Earth, Wind & Fire, Kenny Rogers, and even wrestling star the Rock. Clef also threw in a left-field cover of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here." This time around, some critics suggested that Wyclef's sprawling ambitions were growing messy, but the record went platinum nonetheless.

Still with no Fugees reunion in sight, Wyclef began preparing his third solo album, Masquerade, in 2001. He also appeared in the Jamaican gangster flick Shottas, and suffered the death of his father in a home accident. Masquerade was released in the summer of 2002, and in addition to the usual worldbeat fusions, it found Wyclef reworking songs by Bob Dylan and Frankie Valli, and featured guest shots from Tom Jones and Miri Ben-Ari. Masquerade entered the chart at number six, proving that Wyclef's freewheeling approach still held quite a bit of appeal. One year later, he returned with The Preacher's Son, and also released an album of traditional Haitian Creole music, Welcome to Haiti: Creole 101. A couple years later, Shakira sought him to co-produce, co-write, and appear on "Hips Don't Lie," a global hit that topped the Billboard Hot 100 and the pop charts in several other territories, including the U.K., Australia, and France. It was easily Wyclef's most successful collaboration.

Wyclef's solo debut got its sequel in 2007 when Carnival, Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant hit the shelves. The album had a diverse and lengthy guest list, ranging from Paul Simon to Sizzla. Its "Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)" became his biggest single as a lead artist in nearly a decade -- a platinum-certified, number 12 pop hit. Two years later he returned with Toussaint St. Jean: From the Hut, To the Projects, To the Mansion, which topped out at number 171 pop and number 36 R&B/hip-hop. Work on his seventh proper full-length began shortly thereafter, though it took many years for the album to materialize. The EPs If I Were President: My Haitian Experience and J'ouvert, along with scattered non-album singles and collaborations with dance acts (the Knocks, Gorgon City) and rappers (including Young Thug), all preceded 2017's Carnival III: The Fall and Rise of a Refugee, distributed by Sony via the independent Heads Music. The release coincided with the 20th anniversary of Wyclef's debut and featured guest performances from Emeli Sandé and LunchMoney Lewis. The similarly collaboration-oriented Wyclef Goes Back to School, Vol. 1 arrived two years later, around the same time Wyclef assisted Fall Out Boy with the track "Dear Future Self (Hands Up)." Fugees scrapped a 2022 tour planned in celebration of the 25th anniversary of The Score, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, but they reunited on stage at Roots Picnic 2023. Early the following year, Wyclef teamed with Pusha T, Lola Brooke, Capella Grey, and Flau'jae for the single "Paper Right." ~ Steve Huey

A member of the seminal '90s rap trio the Fugees, Pras' solo career didn't rise to the same heights as those of his colleagues, Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill, in part because he concentrated more on acting than music. Of Haitian descent (like his cousin Wyclef), Pras was born Prakazrel Michel in New Jersey. Along with his high-school classmate Lauryn Hill, he co-founded the rap group Tranzlator Crew in 1987; cousin Wyclef, who'd been hanging out with Pras quite a bit since moving to the United States, joined a short time later. Eventually, the trio renamed itself the Fugees, after an expression for Haitian refugees, and signed with Ruffhouse Records in 1993. Their 1994 debut, Blunted on Reality, was aimed at the hardcore crowd, which didn't really fit the group's own sensibilities, but with their all-inclusive groundbreaking sophomore effort, The Score, the Fugees created one of the biggest-selling rap albums of all time, adored by critics and record buyers alike.

Pras was the last of the Fugees to release a solo album, although he did cut his first solo track in 1997, covering Eddy Grant's '80s smash "Electric Avenue" for the soundtrack of the Chris Tucker flick Money Talks. In 1998, Pras contributed "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" to the soundtrack of Warren Beatty's Bulworth. With appearances from Ol' Dirty Bastard and Mya, "Ghetto Supastar" became a substantial hit, climbing to number three pop and number one R&B. Pras immediately rushed to put together his first solo album, solving the problem of coordinating guest appearances by inviting celebrities to leave him answering-machine messages. Ghetto Supastar the album didn't fare nearly as well as the single, spending only two weeks in the Top 100 upon its release in late 1998. Undaunted, Pras turned some of the narratives from Ghetto Supastar songs into a novel -- also naturally titled Ghetto Supastar -- in early 1999. He also struck a deal with Madonna's new film production company to turn Ghetto Supastar into a movie, starring himself.

First, though, Pras made his feature film debut in the 1999 Ben Stiller superhero comedy Mystery Men, playing a supporting villain. He then set to work on Ghetto Supastar the movie, whose title was eventually changed to Turn It Up (perhaps for variety's sake). Turn It Up hit theaters in the summer of 2000 (two years after Pras' initial hit single), and it too performed disappointingly. Still, Pras was slated to appear in the films Higher Ed and Full Contact, and began work on a new album in late 2000, which wasn't released until August 2005. ~ Steve Huey