Some songs are unforgettable, and timeless. Off course, The international hip hop stage counts today some great nouns who don’t have to blush for their creation or their performances. But when the model is too talented, it is hard to appreciate other musics than old classics, which make the work harder for new artists!
The Fuggees, who appeared in the middle of 90’s, don’t seem to go out of fashion. On the contrary, they are missed by plenty of fans, ready to sing in chorus their greatest hits: “Ready or not”, “Fu-gee-la” (see video) or “killing me softly”. Great Wyclef Jean, divine Lauryn Hill or enigmatic Pras Michel didn’t disappear, they just lead a peaceful existence, taking advantage of an individual carrier sometimes talentuous, relegating the Fugees time to the past. An amazing but revolved past.
They surely marked a whole young generation, attracted by hip hop and rap in a time when these types were expanding and tended to express a globalised youth’s frustrations and expectations, admirative of the « american musical giant » and fascinated by some of its most successful symbols : Notorious Big, Tupac, Mos Def or Nas. Then, The Fugees appear like an UFO in 1993, shared between virulent texts, rap samples, sophisticated melodies or amazing covers, which belong more to the 80’s RnB or jazz, and sometimes to reggae.
Marked by immigration and integration problems, The Fugees also become the spokermen of one part of american population, from foreign roots, and its claims. Their legitimacy is more due to their history than their skills : they all come from Haiti but only Pras Michel and Wyclef Jean escaped from the state to find prosperity in America. It is accidentally what will give them their stage name. Fugees is the diminutive of « refugees ». Marked by slavery and oppression their island overcame, these themes will be recurrent in their music and their public interventions.
Their first opus « Blunted on Reality », launched in 1994, is not really a great success, and will be only recognized after the second opus’ bring out : « The score », in 1996. If « Blunted on Reality » represented more than a first try, a great but none achieved style research, it nevertheless comprises genius musics like “Nappy Heads” and “Vocab”. For the ones who discovered the band with « The score », the result is quite surprising. Their rap is tough and explosive, and nothing shows an interest in other musical types, or a trend for eclecticism like the one which will make their second opus’ successful. Indeed, with beautiful covers like “Killing Me Softly “ of Roberta Flack or “No Woman No Cry” of Bob Marley and the Wailers, and samples which give them another dimension, « The score » was destined to meet a great success. It is what happened with the winning of two Grammy Awards in 1997 : best rap album, best RnB vocal performance by a band with “ Killing Me Softly “. “The Score” is accidentally recognized as one of the most-sold hip hop albums with more than 31 millions ones.
So what happened to Wyclef, Lauryn and Pras ? After a separation in 1997 for an unknown cause, each of them begins a individual carrier. Lauryn Hill’s opus "The Misseducation of Lauryn Hill", is world-widely successful, and Wyclef becomes producer for many artists (Canibus, Destiny's Child and Carlos Santana) and records his own CD « The Carnival » meeting a relative success. But some of his duos, notably with Carlos Santana (« Maria, Maria ») or Mary J.Blige (« 911 ») are musical jewels. Michel, with Mya and Ol' Dirty Bastard, records the entertaining « Ghetto Supastar » for « Bulworth » soundtrack, the movie starring Warren Beatty and Halle Berry. He will be more absent from the american hip hop stage afterwards.
Many meetings made us believe in a possible band reformation, notably their european tour in 2005, and the records « Take It Easy » or « Foxy », less recognized than their predecessors. Reformation seems today impossible, notably because of more and more suspected internal conflicts. Let’s hope a change, or maybe a possible relieving, that some observers recognize in Black Eyed Peas. But definitively, classics are difficult to surpass.
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