Fugees reunite during Lauryn Hill set in New York City
Fugees reunited during a performance by Ms. Lauryn Hill at New York City’s Global Citizens Festival last weekend.
The legendary rap trio performed together on stage on Saturday (September 23), playing ‘How Many Mics’, ‘Ready or Not’, Killing Me Softly With His Song’ and ‘Fu-Gee-La’.
The show was part of Hill’s current North American tour, which is a celebration of the 25th anniversary of her Grammy award-winning debut album ‘The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill’. It was confirmed alongside that announcement that Fugees would be joining her for the 12 dates.
Hill performed the debut album in its entirety back in June as part of The Roots Picnic, a festival curated by Philadelphia hip-hop group The Roots. It was at that show that Fugees hosted a surprise reunion, the first time Hill had been joined by Pras Michel and Wyclef Jean on stage since their planned tour in 2022 was cancelled.
In January 2022, the band announced that a 25th anniversary tour of their debut album ‘The Score’ had been called off. In April, Pras Michel was convicted for his involvement in a billion-dollar Malaysian money laundering scheme.
The group said at the time of the cancellation that the COVID pandemic had “made touring conditions difficult, and we want to make sure we keep our fand and ourselves healthy and safe”, though it was later reported that the dates were thrown into jeopardy by Michel’s legal issues.
The US Department of Justice later confirmed that Michel’s passport had been handed over as a result of the case.
In April this year, Michel was found guilty of 10 federal counts, including campaign finance violations, money laundering, illegal lobbying, witness tampering and lying to banks. The rapper and producer faces up to 20 years in prison.
Michel is said to have rejected a deal that would have allowed him to plead guilty to an obstruction of justice charge and lesser violation of failing to register as a foreign agent. Under those terms, he would have served 16 months in prison. The government would also have returned some of the roughly $40million that was seized from Michel’s accounts, which it believed rightly belonged to Malaysia. He has yet to be sentenced.
Fugees’ second and final studio album ‘The Score’ was released in 1996, going on to win two Grammy awards.
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Max Pilley
NME
