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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, The Score - Review﻿</title>﻿

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﻿<b﻿>﻿Fugees, ﻿<i﻿>﻿The Score﻿</i>﻿

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by Ashkan Hashemi﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, May - June 1996﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

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A true rarity in the world of hip-hop music is the presence of an album that kicks progressive lyrics while keeping the raps innovative and the beats fresh. Usually, the message overpowers the music, and we end up with unlistenable crap. Not so with "The Score" wherein Pras, Lauryn and Wyclef of the Fugees deliver the goods in a big way, weaving music and politics into a non-dogmatic, seamless whole. 

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Listen to "The Beast" for instance. An ominous groove and the cautionary refrain "warn the town the beast is loose" lay the foundation for this song about police brutality in the ghettoes. A more accurate and concise description of the role of the cops would be hard to find: "hand-picked lunatics keep politricktions rich." 

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Or the disturbing but no less true observation which precedes the funky re-make of Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry:" "it seems like we're tryin' to get everybody but they're getting us . . . last night all I heard was bullets and feet running and backs, and when the smoke cleared a little joker lay on the ground, no younger than 13 or 14 blood pouring out of his head, mother on her knees cryin' . . . Tomorrow, the headline gonna be 'the death of another nigger.' That's how it always is, we keep crying for an after-life while they keep stealing this one." 

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The anti-racist message is strong in "The Score", as is the call for unity ("Family Business"). In the figure of female rapper/singer Lauryn, we also get a strong female presence and a no-shit atitude i regards to sexism. For a change, female vocals are not relegated to background harmonies, but provide a refreshingly up-front presence. Check out the ease with which she slips from rapping to harmonizing on "Ready or Not," or the strength of her voice on the jacked-up but still soulful and moving re-creation of "Killing Me Softly." And Pras and Wyclef ain't no slouches either. 

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Stylistically, off-beat rhymes, clever word association, dizzying harmonies (especially on "Fu-Gee-La") and hypnotic synth loops combine with the ever-present back-beat to create a varied and infinitely listenable album. While the Fugees' roots might be firmly planted within the hip-hop tradition, "The Score" represents an innovative and promising addition to that tradition. Highly recommended. 

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