How the group met and got started Today I am going to talk to you all about an American hip hop group from the mid 1990’s called the fugees. The fugees represent several different elements of music styles such as hip hop, soul Caribbean and reggae. The members of the group the Fugees include Rapper Wyclef Jean, singer/ rapper Lauryn hill and rapper Praas Michael. The name Fugees came from the term refugee meaning someone fleeing from a foreign country, they looked at it as since there are many displaced Haitians who look up to the United States for political and social asylum the term refugee is used as a derogatory term for Haitians in general. Pras and Wyclef were both born in Haiti and moved to the United States as children they are both also cousins. Wyclef is the son of a pastor and Pras is the son of a deacon. They both grew up in Brookyln, New York and then later moved to Newark, New Jersey as teenagers. Lauryn as a child listened to her parents Motown 1960’s soul records. Lauryn came from a musical family, her mother sang at weddings and played the piano, and her brother played the saxophone, guitar, drums and harmonica. Lauren had been singing in her church choir and in gospel groups with her family members since she was a little girl. Her first public musical appearance was at an Amateur Night in a show called its ShowTime at the Apollo she sung her version of a Smokey Robinson song called “who loves you” and was booed for her performance.
As a 13 year old freshman lauryn first met Michel known as Pras in high school “he was looking for fresh meat” she joked in an interview. He and his cousin Wyclef were in a band and wanted to add a female member to the group and felt her voice was the sound they needed to complete their group. They formed a group and would battle different people. The three battled other people from different high schools in the metroplex. This led them to actually forming a group as a duo.
They originally called themselves Tranzlator Crew and the trio began hanging out and exchanging musical ideas in the basement of Wyclef’s uncle’s house in East Orange. They later renamed the group the Fugees, and they began auditioning for different label representatives and finally got signed to Ruffhouse/ Columbia records in 1993, which included members of Kool and the Gang. They signed the record deal and got started on their first LP album. The group had a lot of internal problems with their label they were due to release their debuted album Blunted on Reality, but the album wasn’t released until two years later. The album was finally issued in 1994, under the guidance of producer Ronald Khalis Bell. The album made little impact in the music industry. The album had two underground hits called “nappy heads, Mona Lisa and Vocab and gained little attention for it despite its artistic quality and use of other musical samples. The fugees had a very rough start; the album had a wide selection of overproduced songs with a monotone sound. Their appearances were also not very delightful when it came to their concerts. Their shows featured live instruments and they were dressed in disturbingly bright color – coordinated outfits with an unorganized routine. If you ask them today how they felt about their performances starting out there response includes that “they were just happy to have a record deal and were doing whatever the producers told them to do.” Little did they know that their hard work would soon be appraised.
The groups were still considered underground and were not very known but that didn’t stop them from producing more songs and performing at shows. They released two remix singles from their previous songs and received a different type of response from the media. With the help of producer Salaam Remi the Fugees crafted a different song based on the song “Nappy Heads,” that remix plus its follow up “Vocab” evolved the band to radio charts, clubs and any place that plays music even MTV. They were now in the brink of stardom.
The attention the group was not getting was Unbelievable to them. Fans were in loved with female singer Lauryn Hill for her poetry skills and beauty. She was even considered by some fans as the completion of the Fugees alone. Many urged her to leave the fugees and go solo but Hill was not having that.
In 1996, one of the Fugees biggest –selling hip hop album of all time would soon arrive. “The Score” was their second album and established the group as a force. The fugees returned with an album completely different from their previous one that many thought this was their first debut. According to the band, “the album is conceptual, running from beginning to end as if it were the soundtrack to a fictional, unmade film.” The Score touched on various social issues including, police brutality, poverty, sexism, immigration, and racism.
The Score became one of the biggest albums of 1996. The Score included unusual choice of covers and sampling sources, for example, included covers of “No Woman No Cry” (Bob Marley & the Wailers) and “Killing Me Softly (With His Song)” (Roberta Flack), which was 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 was featured a sample of Enya’s Boadicea. The sample was used without the singer’s permission leading to lawsuit that resulted in a settlement where Enya was given credit for her sample. The Score was produced by refugee Camp Productions: Lauryn and Wyclef produced the beats and Pras and his cousin co-produced.
The Fugees sound, style and spirit is different than modern day rappers and hip hop groups. The group wanted to change the stereotypes of the Hip Hop culture. In an interview Wyclef recalled that the word about rappers was that all they do is “grip the mic and grab their crotch with their pants sagging.” The group wanted to let the media know hip hop isn’t only about that. The group reached fans of all types of musical genres besides Hip Hop. The Fugess had finally built their musical foundation.
The Score sold more than 17 million copies, making The Fugees the biggest selling rap group of that time and one of the most visible rap groups around the wold. The Fugees won two 1997 Grammy Awards, The Score won for Best Rap Album and “killing Me Softly” won for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.
The Fugees performed in Haiti as the first in a series of projects aimed at helping unite Haitian people around the world. The concert, took place in April of 1997, in Port –au-Prince. 75 thousand people attended and the money raised from the concert was to aid Haitian refugees, and develop and fund projects by other Haitian artist. The money also aided those children that were poverty-stricken in the country. It was later announced that the money that was raised had been “lost” and Haitian government failed to come up with reason on where the money went. No one knew if the money was misplaced or used for the funding and cost of The Fugees show or worse was it pocketed by government ministers. The Group Goes Solo
In 1997, months after their Haiti performance, The Fugees all began solo projects. Lauryn Hill began working on her album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” and Wyclef Jean started producing for other artist such as Destiny’s Childs and Carlos Santana and also recorded his debut album “The Carnival.” Pras worked with singer Mya first single called “Ghetto Superstar” for the movie “Bulworth”. After each member found success doing their own productions, The Fugees failed to reunite for a third album. Members of the group do not really speak on why they haven’t returned for another album but in an interview with Black Enterprise when asked about the status of The Fugees return Wycelf states “ Sometimes I feel like Paul McCartney and the Beatles—are they getting back together? The fugees never broke up. Everyone was doing solo projects. When we came back to do more music, we did Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, we did BET, put out one record called Take It easy. My thing is if the Fugees want to do another record, let’s go ahead and do it; let’s not keep talking about it.” Lauryn and Wyclef dated through the majority of the Fugees. Their relationship was considered complicated and during the summer of 1996, Hill became pregnant by Rohan Marley, the son of Bob Marley their relation was open and continued while she was with Wycelf as well. Wyclef was aware of their relationship and when she became pregnant believed the baby was his because Lauryn kept the identity of the baby’s fathering a secret. Many believe that conflict between Hill and Jean contributed to the end of the Fugees return.
When asked again about the return of The Fugees rapper Wyclef states in an interview for Scratch magazine he states “If the Fugees wanna come back you can’t break the format. Don’t come back and be like, I wanna produce a beat. That’s like me saying I wanna sing an R& B vocal. When we were working on the album, I was like to Lauryn, you need to do it like this. And she says “how do you know hats relevant?” I haven’t heard anything from you in the past like three to four years.” He is implying that Lauryn is the reason for the groups relapse. Wyclef also stated that Lauryn is a problem she would rather be a producer for the group instead. Following up on the Fugees, the album “The score” was considered one of the best Hip Hop albums of its time. As a result we now have two successful solo careers of both Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean. Post Fugees production of Lauryn Hill

In 1998, Lauryn launched her solo career with the release of her acclaimed album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”. The titled was inspired by “The Education of Sonny Carson, a film and autobiographical novel about a troubled African American youth. The album featured contributions from different R& B artist such as; D’ Angelo, Mary J Blige and John Legend. Wyclef didn’t support her recoding a solo album at first but later offered his production help, Lauryn refused his offer. Many songs off the album showed her many frustrations with the Fugees; the songs “ I used to Love Him” relates to the breakdown of her relationship with group member Wyclef Jean and the song “To Zion” spoke about her decision to her first baby that was encouraged to be aborted so she could continue her career with no interference. Lauryn Hill is a known humanitarian. In 1996, she received an Essence Award for her humanitarian work which included: founding of the Refugee Project, an outreach organization that supports a two-week overnight camp for at-risk youth, her support towards well-building projects in Kenya and Uganda, and for staging a rap concert in Harlem to promote voter registration. In 1999, Lauryn Hill received three awards at the 30th Annual NAACP Image Awards. In 1999, Ebony magazine named her one of “100+ Most Influential Black Americans.” Lauryn’s album was successful; it sold over 423,000 copies during the first week of sales and topped the billboard 200 albums chart for four weeks and the Billboard R& B album charts for six weeks. Although Lauryn Hill was compared to Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder after her release of the Grammy winning “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”, her sophomore album didn’t receive the same positive feedback as In her debut album. In her first album she spoke of lost loves, and the heartbreak that brought her to that loss, and she spoke of the joy of her first born, attracting an audience of all ages, and from different genres of music. It was a mix of soulful lyrics, and hip-hop beats. Her audience waited three years before she released MTV Unplugged 2.0, and when it dropped, it didn’t climb up the charts, and in fact it climbed nowhere. On “The Miseducation,” she was the medium between a hardcore rapper and a soulful singer, but in her second album, she rambled on about how she was inside a human shell, not being the person she really is. In fact her second album can make you feel she has a newfound proclamation as a prophet. Lauryn’s sophomore album, did not mesh well with the persona she had built for her public as an artist, her critics didn’t approve and felt as if it was somewhat a cliffhanger. AllMusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars saying that the recoding “is unfinished, unflinching presentation of ideas and of a person. It may not be a proper follow- up to her first album, but it is fascinating.” Rolling Stone called the album “a public breakdown”. Despite the terrible reviews the album debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum four weeks after the release. Wyclef Jean Wyclef Jean was the first Fugee to declare plans for a solo project, setting to work after the group completed their tour. 1997, Jean embarked on a solo career with the release of "Wyclef Jean presents the Carnival Featuring the Refugee Allstars." The album went multi-platinum and was considered a great boost for Jean's career as a solo artist. One song, the Grammy-nominated "Gone Till November," became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Its music video features a cameo appearance by Bob Dylan, a moment Jean cherishes to this day.
"This is one of the songs I'm most proud of -- having Bob Dylan showing up for the video. 'Gone Till November' is the blueprint to my career as a solo artist," Jean told CNN. Wyclef also produced for other famous artist as well including; artists including Santana, Tevin Campbell, Cypress Hill, Bounty Killer, Whitney Houston, Destiny's Child, Sublime, Simply Red, Mya, Sinéad O'Connor, Kimberly Scott, Mick Jagger, Canibus, The Black Eyed Peas and Eric Benét. Since then, Jean has released a series of successful solo albums and deployed his songwriting, production and remixing talents for a diverse roster of artists. Between 1997-2009 along with an awaiting album for this year Wyclef has released a total of eight albums. Wycelf is also active in the support of his native country Haiti and created his own foundation Yéle Haiti in 2005, to provide humanitarian aid and assistance to Haiti, which is currently the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Yéle is a non-political organization intended to empower the people of Haiti and the Haitian diaspora to rebuild their nation. "The objective of Yéle Haiti is to restore pride and a reason to hope, and for the whole country to regain the deep spirit and strength that is part of our heritage." -Wyclef Jean Wyclef’s priority for Yele Haiti is to raise money to build facilities that will consist of a sports center. When then January12, 2010 earthquake struck his hometown Haiti, Jean called on others to donate to his foudnation for Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund, Imploring “We must act now.” Wyclef Jean is collecting donations to help those affected by the Haiti earthquake. In a statement, Jean said “I cannot stress enough what a human disaster this is, and idle hands will only make this tragedy worse. The over 2 million people in Port-au-Prince tonight face catastrophe alone. We must act now. Wyclef’s charity Yele Haiti who offered relief to victims of the earthquake and raised over $2million to help earthquake victims were criticized attacking Wyclef’s foundation stating that his profits were previously used for personal benefits of his own instead of going to Haiti. Jean stated. “That he was never profited personally through his work with the organization and has committed significant amounts of his time and money to the charity. “ “Have we made mistake? Yes, “Jean said during a press conference. “Did I ever use Yele money for personal benefit? Absolutely not.” Wyclef is currently working on his ninth album set to be released late spring 2010. Conclusion The Fugees translated an intriguing blend of jazz-rap, R&B, and reggae into huge success during the mid-90. Their sophomore album skyrocketed the charts and made them one of the best Hip Hop groups of their time. Complications led them to dismantle the continuing success of the group but now as individual artists and Entrepreneurs alone they symbolize, success, achievement and humanitarianism. Hopefully one day they will set their differences aside and use their individual talent to create their long awaited forth album for their beloved fans.