1994 - USA
East Coast Hip Hop, Boom Bap, Conscious Hip Hop
This is my hip-hop first love. I’ve never been a fan of French rap and never took the time to look for American and British hip-hop. But when I was scrolling on Facebook as a teenager, my eyes stopped on a video. It was a live rendition of Vocab by the Fugees. I was stunned. Three people, Wyclef Jean with his acoustic guitar, Pras and Lauryn Hill delivering some of their best verses. Of course I already heard Killing Me Soflty and Ready or Not on the radio, but I was just listening to it without paying much attention, just knowing they were « classics ». So, unlike the majority, I really discovered the Fugees with Blunted on Reality, and not with The Score. And now that my hip-hop culture is way more developed, I still can go back to this record and enjoy it for what it is, an album that showcases three talented rappers at the beginning of their career, that should not be turn red alongside The Score.
After a short introduction, the album delivers all its power with Wyclef Jean on Nappy Heads, an ode to Black History where he constantly change his voice, momentarily impersonating Louis Armstrong. Right here, and even if Wyclef Jean is not the best rapper of all time, he shows that he is capable of portraying different vocal characters with versatility, something he’ll be able to do on most of the songs here. Cherishing their influences from Haiti (both Wyclef and Pras have roots there), Jamaica and boom bap, they built an album at the crossroads of hip-hop and American history. And now I’ll mention Lauryn Hill, the biggest jewel of this record, proving she’s one the best singer-rapper of all time, whether it’s because of her singing skills (where you’ll find soul, jazz and gospel influences) or her songwriting on Some Seek Stardom and Vocab.
With its skits immersing us into Harlem and Haiti’s universe, we have a closer look to relationships between different Black communities. This is what you can hear on Lauryn Hill’s last verse in the extraordinary Refugees on the Mic, a song that has a melancholic vibe similar to A Tribe Called Quest’s Can I Kick It? And its Lou Reed sample. She recognizes that she cannot take the mic like Pras and Wyclef and talk about Haitian refugees, but she still can make a stand to praise for peace. In the last song Nappy Heads (Remix), she also talks about how lighter-skinned Black people can be wrongly looked at within their community. Because on this album, racism is mentionned in many different forms. The title Blunted on Reality comes from that observation as explained by Wyclef in an interview : “When the cop is messing around with somebody for something that the person didn’t do and they try to set ’em up, that makes me blunted on reality.”
Even though we can spot their influences, Blunted on Reality is highly noticeable because of the risks it took, probably also the reason why it wasn’t warmly welcomed. But when you hear Lauryn Hill’s stand-alone song Some Seek Stardom ending on a clarinet solo, or Vocab lasting five minutes with only an acoustic guitar to accompany their flow. What also is remarkable, is how personal this all feels, and by this I mean individually. Wyclef Jean, Pras and Lauryn Hill manage to uplift one another while staying faithful to their owns beliefs. That’s why you can hear so many point of views on religion in a song like Temple. Because maybe Blunted on Reality is not as precise as The Score when it comes to politics, but it surely is broader. Masterfully, the trio give birth to their legendary alchemy. Everything’s already here.
After a short introduction, the album delivers all its power with Wyclef Jean on Nappy Heads, an ode to Black History where he constantly change his voice, momentarily impersonating Louis Armstrong. Right here, and even if Wyclef Jean is not the best rapper of all time, he shows that he is capable of portraying different vocal characters with versatility, something he’ll be able to do on most of the songs here. Cherishing their influences from Haiti (both Wyclef and Pras have roots there), Jamaica and boom bap, they built an album at the crossroads of hip-hop and American history. And now I’ll mention Lauryn Hill, the biggest jewel of this record, proving she’s one the best singer-rapper of all time, whether it’s because of her singing skills (where you’ll find soul, jazz and gospel influences) or her songwriting on Some Seek Stardom and Vocab.
With its skits immersing us into Harlem and Haiti’s universe, we have a closer look to relationships between different Black communities. This is what you can hear on Lauryn Hill’s last verse in the extraordinary Refugees on the Mic, a song that has a melancholic vibe similar to A Tribe Called Quest’s Can I Kick It? And its Lou Reed sample. She recognizes that she cannot take the mic like Pras and Wyclef and talk about Haitian refugees, but she still can make a stand to praise for peace. In the last song Nappy Heads (Remix), she also talks about how lighter-skinned Black people can be wrongly looked at within their community. Because on this album, racism is mentionned in many different forms. The title Blunted on Reality comes from that observation as explained by Wyclef in an interview : “When the cop is messing around with somebody for something that the person didn’t do and they try to set ’em up, that makes me blunted on reality.”
Even though we can spot their influences, Blunted on Reality is highly noticeable because of the risks it took, probably also the reason why it wasn’t warmly welcomed. But when you hear Lauryn Hill’s stand-alone song Some Seek Stardom ending on a clarinet solo, or Vocab lasting five minutes with only an acoustic guitar to accompany their flow. What also is remarkable, is how personal this all feels, and by this I mean individually. Wyclef Jean, Pras and Lauryn Hill manage to uplift one another while staying faithful to their owns beliefs. That’s why you can hear so many point of views on religion in a song like Temple. Because maybe Blunted on Reality is not as precise as The Score when it comes to politics, but it surely is broader. Masterfully, the trio give birth to their legendary alchemy. Everything’s already here.