NR Essentials #19: Fugees - The Score
 

 

Fugees
The Score
1996, Ruffhouse

There's a lot of talk about the Golden Age of hip hop, though the definition of the era is loose (it's generally agreed to span sometime in the 80's to sometime in the 90's). In my view of the musical landscape, THE SCORE which was released in early 1996 pretty much signaled the end of the era. It was a record that garnered so much buzz (from both Under- and Over-ground) that it seemed a Creation that resulted in Destruction. To put the release date of this album into context, within the next 13 months both 2Pac and Biggie would be dead. And the Fugees would have imploded.

The buzz that led up to the release of THE SCORE was hard to explain. A lot of underground hip hop fans knew their first album, BLUNTED ON REALITY. But the record had failed to really gain a large audience. And critics pretty much hated it. But before the record was released, it seemed everyone was into the Fugees. And when the final product hit the shelves, it was instantly undertandable. This album was full of intellegent wordplay, catchy choruses, interesting samples (Enya!), live instruments, ballads, posse cuts, ridiculous skits, and pretty much everything else you could fit into one rap tape. It was an epic work that appealed to music geeks and thugs alike. As Lauryn Hill summed up in "Zealots," "...and even after all my logic and my theory / I'll add a motherfucka so you ignant n___'s hear me."

After it's release there would be rumors of Lauryn Hill being shot in the face. Beefs both real and maybe not real between Jeru The Damaja (who now?) and Wu-Tang Clan. And lots of other drama which would lead to splintered trio we now know. Wyclef, though a great songwriter has made a ton of messes called albums. Lauryn went crazy. And Praz. Well he made that song for the movie Bullworth. It was obvious in 1996 that the group was greater than the sum of its parts. And even more obvious now. Sigh.

Ready or not
Here I come
You can't hide...

Conflicts with night sticks
Illegal sales districts,
Hand-picked lunatics, keep poliTRICKcians rich
Heretics push narcotics amidst its risks and frisks,
Cool cliques throw bricks but seldom hit targets
Private-DIC sell hits, like porno-flicks do chicks.
The 666 cut W.I.C. like Newt Gingrich SUCKS DICK

always has been one of my favorites

Dom, the amount of quote-worthy lines on that album is insane.

It's a bit unfair to say Lauren went crazy. Mis-education is not the same sort of thing as the Score, but it's definitely up there. The Score is one of those records, it's always comforting to see that someone has that record in their house. Just a nice re-assurance that someone has got one of the crucial albums of the 90s.

in summing up their post-SCORE work, I was completely condensing things. I mean MISEDUCATION is a good album. And her UNPLUGGED was interesting at least. I should have put "went crazy" in quotes, cuz I was more focusing on how that's how people have seen her detachmnet from the limelight.

one man's feast is another man's famine

fuck that record.

Sure, granted. It's a real shame though, I think Lauren did one-and-a-half brilliant albums after the Score and Wycliffe has done some brilliant singles but... well, it's a shame. Then again, it's the law of hip-hop - at best, 2 great albums. I can't think of many in hip-hop who've done 4 great albums (MF Doom or someone excepted).

EDIT: to NR

really? i think it's kind of the hiphop version of the best of bob marley

That's also true. Depends on the crowds you roll with I suppose.

god damn that was a good time to be alive.. (95-99)

you had the Tribe Called Quest.. you had a slick rick come back.. you had Dr Octagon evolving into Dr Dooom.. The Outkast went Aquemini you had the Bob Digi going Prince Rakeim.. you had Snoop go party on No Limit.. you had Bone Thugz on the radio.. e-40 just dropped the Charlie Hustle.. good fucking times..

hell, in hip hop 2 great albums is rare. 4 is nigh impossible.

Public Enemy had three

It takes A Nation of Millions
Fear of a Black Planet
Apocalypse 91...the enemy strikes black



De La Soul

3 feet high and rising
De La Soul Is Dead
Buhloon Mindstate
Stakes Is High


Tribe Called Quest

People's Instinctive Travels
Low End Theory
Midnight Marauders


RUN DMC

Run DMC
Tougher Than Leather
King Of Rock
Raising Hell


the question is, is it harder to maintain a level of quality and "relevance" in hip hop than it is in rock or pop? Is "relevance" even a concern in rock music anymore?

I'd say DOOM, Ghostface, and Lil Wayne have more than 2 great albums. But three is a pretty accurate number of great albums in lot of Legendary discographies. Yeah.

No offence, but it makes me very uncomfortable when people get nostalgic about the awkward years of my teenhood. It's nice and convenient to say it was all good, but I do remember there being a lot of utter shite around at the time as well.

EDIT: To suchfriends...

I'm so so glad that you understand that Dr. Dooom is far better and more interesting than Octo. So mean ppl sweat Octo, but I'd take FIRST COME FIRST SERVED over it any day of the week. And I mean, "I was there" when Octo came out. I loved it. But Dooom just blew me away.

then yr teens sucked :(

and we are not necessarily getting nostalgic regarding being that age as much as remembering back when there was GOOD hip hop and even yes, good rap on the radio. The past ten years of rap music have been horrific, I personally blame the 3-Six Mafia.. too my recollection after Sizzerb the rap section went completely too shit

thats cuz Dr Dooom comes with that mad Yay ar-ee-uh style and beats.. that shit is fucking hip hop film noir

I liked pretty much everything Three Six released up until LAST 2 WALK.

"No Chorus" is one of the most ridiculous rap songs ever recorded. The outro alone: "your mixdown ain't right / your vocals are too low / your fuckin' cadence is off / you're whack..." haha. Incredible.

I think what makes the Score so much the shit is that is one of the few eastcoast records with enough westcoast flavor to the beats to be able to C-walk it up..

the problem with eastcoast shit is that it has no groove.. its all about the mo fos talking and rapping and telling a bunch of bullshit stories.. blah blah woof woof..

drop the beat and let i-man get in the groove.. if you can't c-walk I aint finnin pon it..

haha suchfriends, yr my boy. I love you, man.

but please don't sleep on the East, "the East is the seed."

what I love most about Dr Dooom is that whether on the 90s shit or the recent new Dooom album (which is also the fucking SHIT!) is that he takes the whole diss-a-nigga flows that Tupac started with Hit 'Em Up but didn't make it personal. He disses ALL KINDS of MCs and busters but never ever names names! genius!

He proves you can talk a grip of shit without it having to be personal or directed at anyone in particular.

Yup my copy of the Score still gets play but when it first came out it was in the deck for atleast two weeks straight before I pulled it out and listened to something else.

I know it's awesome. Except on the new one he disses Simon from American Idol by name. Haha. So weird. But yeah, Doc Dooom pretty much just makes diss tracks aimed at every rapper that isn't himself. Haha.

that's what I'm saying. That record was so evey day for me for months when it came out.

but Simon has it coming! Doc had to drop dime!

"fuck american idol, Simon and his whack ass.. he can kiss the bottom of my foot and paula can kiss my black ass!"

"the kind of guy who could piss on jazz funk and blue grass.. paint yr face black I bet all yr assets you'll come out with a blue ass.." genius!

haha. I wish all his newer albums were as consistent. His last GREAT album to me was KOOL KEITH PRESENTS THEE UNDATAKERZ from 2004 which is so so so under rated. That album is hilarious. Total mockery of horrorcore. And the beats are soooooo good minimal southern space tracks.

Since then, Dooom 2 was by far the best thing he put out.

rap is about the stories suchfriends, not the dancing,. go listen to mc hammer if you wanna dance and shit.

I woud rather hear a simple hard beat, with a hard rhymer, than any danceteria bullshit.

give me EPMD, Rakim, PE, Geto Boys, scarface, too short, slick rick etc etc

but then again, I am old.

agreed. undatakerz is one of the better since the 90s, but I do really dig the Mr Nagatco shit, I think that album is fly. His best work is with Kutmaster Kurt who is the DJ in Undatakerz right?

blind folks be like somebody turned the lights off...

and you have a beard, so...

scarface.. too short.. slick rick.. you can c-walk to ALL this shit.. and Too $hort IS YAY-ar-ee-uh fool! He is one of the pioneer originators of that style! and rakeim.. well I can only dig a bit of it.. the Prince Rakeim album is my favorite has the most grooves..

I don't mind if you tell a story but let me get in the groove over the track.. its music, not a lecture! Its rap, not thanksgiving with grandpa!


I chill with a bunch of wu nutz and other east coast riders.. none of them can dance.. and none of them care. But this shit is the west son, its not called a backyard boogie for nothin ;)

I don't know the identity of the DJ. He wore a mask, so it could've been. But I don't think so. I think the whole Undatakerz crew was unknowns. And I'm guessing from the South for the most part. At that time Keith was really fascinated by like No Limit artists and stuff.

Nogatco was a good record. So was Project Polaroid.

Do you like The Game? I love his 3 major label albums. They're pretty much much just homages to classic Death Row era shiz.

I like the post-50cent Game fo sho! After all, I chill in compton, its kinda mando! when in north long beach you have to bump the black knights, snoop and sublime. when in bompton or watts da game and eazy e is absolute essentials.. these are local area soundtracks!

Even DOCUMENTARY is good, since Dre produced. I'm not a G-Unit fan, but The Game was too good for them. He's so much more complex than they are.

People listen to the Black Knights? I had no idea.

I rocked Sublime all summer. One of my favorite bands in high school.

fuck yeah.. not as much these days, people are lame and into all that radio shit, but some OGz still keep it real

some shit you gots to keep to yrself my man.

I personally like both of Hill's solo albums quite a bit. MTV Unplugged is very underrated to me. She is arguably kind of crazy though.

Oh and yeah, it is amazing how few hip-hop acts actually manage to make it to 4 great albums. In addition to others mention (especially Doom), I'd say Jay-Z has probably done it, but that's countered by the fact that often the albums between the classics are real disappointments...

sorry to be so negative.. but gay-z fucking sucks!

but true, it is very difficult for 4 album masters, but then again, isn't that a challenge for most artists of any genre?