Back at their New Jersey high school, Lauryn Hill and Pras Michel joined forces to battle other lyricists at their school in hopes of someday making it big in the music industry. Wyclef Jean, Pras’ cousin, soon made the duo a trio and some six years later the three were already cutting an album entitled Blunted on Reality. But their journey to becoming one of the most popular groups in hip hop wasn’t an easy one, as the three struggled to break into the business, maintain their friendships, and continue to make prolific music.

Then known as the “Tranzlator Crew” and still just kids out of high school, the trio worked, scrimped, and saved everything they had to put towards studio time. Lauren, who was singing and acting at a young age, was able to wrangle up some money from her role as “Kira Johnson” on As The World Turns and her role in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. Wyclef, on the other hand, honed his guitar playing skills and worked as a cabdriver to contribute whatever he could to the group. Finally, as a result of the hard work of all three, they were able to put together and release an album. But despite two underground hits “Nappy Heads” and “Vocab” included on the LP, the album in general was a commercial failure.

So back to the studio they went, and with feverish determination they worked towards making their second album musically superior than their first. Changing their name to “The Fugees”- short for refugees, a name that alludes to Wyclef and Pras’ Haitian roots, the three blended the sounds of hip hop with elements of soul and reggae to generate an eclectic roster of songs. And what an accomplishment it was. Their sophomore album entitled, The Score was a colossal hit and became one of the best selling albums of 1996. The Fugees unique choice of covers also added to the album’s success including the remake of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” and a remix of The Delfonics “Ready or Not, Here I Come (Can’t Hide From Love). The Fugees, however, used a sample of Enya’s “Bodicea” in “Ready or Not” and landed themselves in some hot water when they used the sample without Enya’s permission. A lawsuit soon followed but was settled when Enya was ultimately given credit and royalties for the use of the sample. Nevertheless, The Fugees’ most popular hit “Killing Me Softly (With His Song)” a remake of the Roberta Flack hit, was what resonated most with fans and helped them gain even more recognition in the industry. The following year, The Fugees were rewarded for all their hard work with not only one, but two Grammy Awards. The Score won for Best Rap Album while “Killing Them Softly With His Song” won for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. In all reality, the album had only been released a year before and had sold over 17 million copies worldwide, was already winning prestigious awards, and not to mention, was being blasted from speakers everywhere. This was the kind of album that the three had worked hard to record, and it looked like their hard work was finally paying off.

After such a successful year, The Fugees shocked the nation by announcing they were splitting up and were each pursuing solo projects. Rumors flew surrounding the breakup, some claiming creative differences were getting in the way of the music, while others maintained that Wyclef and Lauren were having an affair which affected their working relationship. Unfortunately there was no real answer as to why they had split and fans were left wondering what really happened to the three childhood friends. Would they be considering reuniting as The Fugees one day? It was only a matter of time before we all knew.

Following the split from The Fugees, Wyclef Jean quickly set to work on his solo career recording his first album, The Carnival which included a roster of guest artists including The Neville Brothers and Celia Cruz, and even the likes of ex-Fugee groupmates Lauryn Hill and Pras Michel. The album was a success sparking two major hits for Wyclef, “We Tryin’ to Stay Alive” a funky remake of The Bee Gees classic, and “Gone Till November” the beautifully harmonic ballad featuring the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition to recording his own album, Wyclef did a lot of producing for many other artists including Destiny’s Child, Santana, and Mya among others. While the fate of the Fugees remained in limbo, Wyclef went on to record four more solo albums over the next few years, The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book, Masquerade, The Preacher's Son, and Sak Pasé Presents: Welcome to Haiti (Creole 101) . In addition, he produced a number of tracks for various films and won a Golden Globe award in 2005 for his track “Million Voices” featured in the film Hotel Rwanda.

Lauryn Hill also went on to continue her career as a recording artist and producer, and in 1998 released her solo debut entitled, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill a critically acclaimed and commercially successful album. Her first single “Doo Wop (That Thing)” leapt to the top of the charts that summer, and Lauryn soon found herself nominated for eleven Grammy Awards the following year setting a new record for Grammy nominations by a female performer.Winning Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song, Best R&B Album, Lauryn respectively walked away with five of the eleven prospective awards. In the years that followed, however, Lauryn became increasingly dissatisfied with the direction and commerciality of the music industry and became a social recluse. In 2002 she resurfaced and unveiled brand new material on MTV Unplugged, once again allowing fans to be invited into the intimate workings of her music.

While both Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill both garnered careers as solo artists, Pras Michel focused on soundtrack recording and acting. His first successful venture was featured in the film Bulworth starring Warren Beaty and Halle Berry, where he recorded a track called “Ghetto Superstar (That is What You Are) with Mya and Ol’ Dirty Bastard. On the acting front, Pras had a small role in the 1999 film “Mystery Men” and has since gone on to appear in several other films and TV shows.

Years have gone by since fans have seen The Fugees as part of a single unit, but just recently the trio announced that they had settled their differences and would be reuniting as a group once again. Their official reunion occurred when they appeared onstage together on September 18, 2004 in Brooklyn New York as part of Dave Chappelle’s film Block Party. Only those at the actual filming of the block party however, knew of their reunion, as the film wouldn’t actually be released until two years later in March 2006. It wasn’t until nine months later when they opened the 2005 BET Awards with a surprise performance, that fans first realized the actuality of the matter. The Fugees wasted no time in putting themselves out there as they embarked on a short but sweet European Tour from Nov. 30- Dec. 20, 2005 hitting countries like Austria, Finland, Norway, Germany, Italy, and France among many others. Not many print reviews exist of their performances in Europe, as many of their shows were underpromoted, but the main consensus from online fans was that The Fugees still had what it took to create and perform quality music.

Currently The Fugees are working on their third album as a group which is slated to be released sometime this year. One of their tracks called, “Take It Easy” was prematurely leaked on the Internet and was consequently declared their first single. While fans were excited to hear from the group again, the song received mixed reviews by a number of publications. As recent as Feb. 6, 2006 The Fugees played a special reunion concert in Hollywood, CA that was aired on live webcast on the Verizon Wireless Website. The Fugees has since teamed up with Verizon in an attempt to not only promote themselves as a group but also to showcase their first single as a ringtone download through the company. After nearly 10 years away from the industry, The Fugees are anticipated to return with as much style and spunk as they had when they first came on the scene, but fans will have to wait and see if The Fugees are truly able to reinvent themselves. Will they be able to record an able that will top The Score like it originally topped Blunted on Reality? We’ll all know later this year.