Label: Ruffhouse / Columbia
Reissued 2012, originally released 1996
The FUGEES translated an intriguing blend of jazz-rap, R&B, and reggae into huge success during the mid-'90s, when the trio's sophomore album The Score hit number one on the pop charts and sold over five million copies. The trio formed in the late '80s in the New Jersey area, where LAURYN HILL and PRAKAZREL MICHEL ("Pras") attended a local high school and began working together. Michel's cousin WYCELF JEAN ("Clef") joined the group (then called the Tranzlator Crew), and the trio 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). Though the group's debut album, Blunted on Reality, was quite solid, it reflected a prevailing gangsta stance that may have been forced by the record label.
Track Listing:
- Red Intro
- How Many Mics
- Ready Or Not
- Zealots
- The Beast
- Fu-Gee-La
- Family Business
- Killing Me Softly
- The Score
- The Mask
- Cowboys
- No Woman, No Cry
- Manifest / Outro