Fugees (Refugee Camp): Lauryn Hill, Prakazrel "Pras," Wyclef.
Additional personnel: Garfield "Gus" Parkinson (vocals); Red Alert, Ras Baraka (spoken vocals); Handel Tucker (keyboards); Robbie Shakespeare (bass); Sly Dunbar (drums, programming); John Forte (programming); Backspin (scratches); Forte, Omega, Diamond D, Pace 1, Young Zee, Ra Digga.
Producers include: Wyclef, Shawn King, Lauryn Hill, Salaam Remi, John Forte.
Recorded at The Booga Basement Studio, East Orange, New Jersey; The Crib and Quad Studios, New York, New York; Anchor Recording Studios, Kingston, Jamaica.
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.
What the critics say...
Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.74) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's."
Rolling Stone (1/23/97, p.44) - Ranked #10 on Rolling Stone's list of the "Ten Best Albums" of 1996.
Rolling Stone (3/21/96, p.96) - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "The Fugees are a Neapolitan treat, sweet in three layers: rhyme, sample, and groove...the hip-hop threesome cops a grim veneer but escapes gangsta cliches by playing around with the formulas..."
Spin (9/99, p.126) - Ranked #17 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."
Spin (1/97, p.58) - Ranked #2 on Spin's list of the "20 Best Albums Of '96."
Spin (3/96, p.113) - 9 (out of 10) - "...[A] sense of organic interaction is the hallmark of this album....the album's most important factor...is its beats--chest-shaking, obscure-texture-having, freestyle-friendly beats..."
Entertainment Weekly (2/16/96, p.62) - "...showcases their acrobatic lyrical technique and restless intelligence. And unlike much East Coast rap, THE SCORE feels warm and intimate--partly because the instruments are live but also because the Fugees sound so relaxed and casual." - Rating: A
Q (12/99, p.90) - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s."
Q (4/96, p.109) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...an impressively panoramic soundscape, mixed into a 13-track seameless whole..."
Vibe (12/99, p.162) - Included in Vibe's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century
Rap Pages (3/96, p.31) - 8 (out of 10) - "...THE SCORE...effectively incorporates the energy of a hype stage show to wax....the Fugees have succeeded in creating one of the most innovative rap albums in recent memory. Don't sleep."
Village Voice (2/25/97) - Ranked #2 in the Village Voice's 1996 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.
NME (Magazine) (12/21-28/96, pp.66-67) - Ranked #22 in NME's 1996 critics' poll.
