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"Going into ’95, I was working on music for Spike Lee’s Clockers. Strip the love, the hurt, the bickering-strip it all, and you still have a masterpiece that made history. And to this day, fans speculate that Hill’s suicidal thoughts on "Manifest" were because of Clef, but who really knows? What we do know is that the love child of this toxic romance became one of the best-selling hip-hop albums ever. Then there are the stories surrounding The Score's tour, where Hill and Jean briefly reconnected before Lauryn got together with Rohan Marley. Pras recounted one harrowing tale of Wyclef breaking up with Lauryn moments before she entered the booth to record "Ready or Not," Hill crying her eyes out as she sang the hook. Specifics remains hazy and have evolved into urban folklore-everyone who touched the project has one story or another. L-Boogie would loosely document the affair in her 1998 opus, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, while Wyclef would be more blatant in his 2012 memoir. The tumultuous romantic relationship between a very young Hill and Clef, who was married and six years her senior, reached its peak during the recording of The Score. Internally, though, it was another story. Once the album landed on the Grammys stage in '97, where it took home two awards, it seemed like the Fugees had it all together. Other behind-the-scenes players like Diamond D, John Forte, and the Jersey battle rap outfit Outsidaz contributed to the piecing together of a classic as well.įrom the group to the label to the producers to the guest stars, no one had predicted the impact The Score would have on the music world. A wide range of talents made this possible: There was Wyclef Jean, the artists’ artist, who would push the creative envelope for the band Pras Michel, the businessman with the finely tuned pop ear Jerry Wonda, the project’s most prominent producer Salaam Remi, the confidant and creative paradigm from the Fugees’ 1994 debut, Blunted on Reality, and the producer of "Fu-Gee-La" Joe Nicolo and Chris Schwartz, owners of the Fugees’ imprint Ruffhouse Records, who gave the group room to breathe as they found their voice. Reminding the world that rap music could come to life via instruments was a huge part of their success as well, offering in many cases an alternative to gangsta rap’s harder side. Yeah, the Chinese restaurant skit is a little dicey, but on the whole, The Score balances intelligence and accessibility with an easy assurance, and ranks as one of the most distinctive hip-hop albums of its era.Lauryn Hill’s uncanny ability to volley between singing and rapping was a gift that would afford Fugees simultaneous credibility in pop and rap worlds, but it certainly wasn’t the only factor. Their protest tracks are often biting, yet tempered with pathos and humanity, whether they're attacking racial profiling among police ("The Beast"), the insecurity behind violent posturing ("Cowboys"), or the inability of many black people in the Western Hemisphere to trace their familial roots ("Family Business"). Even when they're not relying on easily recognizable tunes, their original material is powered by a raft of indelible hooks, especially the great "Fu-Gee-La" there are also touches of blues and gospel, and the recognizable samples range from doo wop to Enya. Their strong fondness for smooth soul and reggae is underscored by the two hit covers given slight hip-hop makeovers ( Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly With His Song" and Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry"). Not just a collection of individual talents, the Fugees' three MCs all share a crackling chemistry and a wide-ranging taste in music. It not only catapulted the Fugees into stardom, but also launched the productive solo careers of Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill, the latter of whom already ranks as one of the top female MCs of all time based on her work here. The Score's eclecticism, social consciousness, and pop smarts drew millions of latent hip-hop listeners back into the fold, showing just how much the music had grown up. Its left-field, multi-platinum success proved there was a substantial untapped audience with an appreciation for rap music but little interest in thug life. A breath of fresh air in the gangsta-dominated mid-'90s, the Fugees' breakthrough album, The Score, marked the beginning of a resurgence in alternative hip-hop.