Angus explains how he learned to appreciate rap

Sometimes people ask me how I got into hip-hop, or why I like it, or if there are any seminal hip-hop albums they should check out. The answers to those questions are actually very similar.

Nick got me into it in college, although I liked the occasional pop rap song (mainly by Will Smith or Puff Daddy). And he got me onto it thanks to this seminal album.
The Score, by the Fugees, has a lot to answer for. It mainly started me down the road towards listening to more rap and hip-hop. Why? I'm about to explain.

For starters, this album contains a lot of singing. And singing is something we're all familiar with. The hooks (choruses, for non rap speakers) are catchy and easy to singalong with. So the barrier for entry is pretty low. Especially thanks to these two covers:
Killing Me Softly
No Woman, No Cry
No rapping, no crazy hip-hop beats or annoying DJ cuts. Just well-sung, heartfelt songs. 'Killing Me Softly' was superbly done by Lauryn Hill, while Wyclef Jean sang the Bob Marley track.

Those two tracks opened the door to The Fugees to a lot of people who might have otherwise ignored them. Once that door was open, they got to hear tracks like 'Ready Or Not', which sampled Enya, 'Zealots', and 'Fu-gee-la'. Other tracks, like 'Family Business' have a beautiful track underneath serious and complex rhymes.

The album was awarded the coveted "5 mics" rating by The Source magazine, at the time the most influential media organisation in hip-hop. It has sold more than 18 million copies worldwide.

The Score established the group as one of the most loved and most talented in hip-hop. Unfortunately it was to be their last real effort at producing music together. The group was effectively done by 1997. Lauryn went solo and won a boat-load of Grammys for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Wyclef went on to become a mainly successful producer, while Pras had a couple of hit singles and then went into managing other rappers.

For the longest time, a Fugees reunion was a pipe dream. It took comedian Dave Chappelle to bring them back together in 2004 for his block party in New York. They were the headline act for his surprise party, and it made news across the globe (in music circles, anyway).

Lauryn clearly has personal issues, and one of those issues appears to be a lack of desire to be involved in making music anymore. Kanye said it in 'Champion': "Lauryn Hill said her heart was in Zion/I wish her heart still was in rhyming." And that's really I think what the hip-hop public wants. To hear Lauryn Hill rapping again. Her followup solo album was a mix of mostly acoustic songs, with very little rapping. It was moody, raw and uneven. Some great things there still, but it didn't have the disciplined production Wyclef and Pras brought.

Anyway, if you don't watch anything or listen to anything from this post, please watch at least the first four minutes of this video. That's all.

Lauryn Hill feat Fugees - Killing Me Sofly (Dave Chappelle's
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I love the crowd. So still - until the 2:30 mark.

Anyway, they were the reason I started getting into hip-hop.

A few other tracks related to the Fugees:
Nas - If I Ruled The World (feat. Lauryn Hill)
Pras - Ghetto Superstar (feat. Mya and Ol Dirty Bastard)
Wyclef - Guantanamera
Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop (That Thing) (cool video clip too)
Lauryn Hill - Everything Is Everything (another cool clip)
Lauryn Hill - To Zion (a song about having a baby at the height of her career)

Soon I'll be talking about other hip-hop artists I enjoy. It'll mostly be American, as I don't have a great appreciation for a lot of Australian hip-hop yet (apart from the Hoods, of course).