Fugees - The Score

About "The Score"

The Score is the second and final studio album by the hip hop trio Fugees, released worldwide on February 13, 1996, on Columbia Records. The album features a wide range of samples and instrumentation, with many aspects of alternative hip hop that would come to dominate the hip-hop music scene in the mid- to late-1990s. Primarily, The Score's production was handled by Fugees themselves, Jerry Duplessis and Warren Riker, with additional production from Salaam Remi, John Forté, Diamond D, and Shawn King. The album's guest verses are from Outsidaz members Rah Digga, Young Zee, and Pacewon, as well as John Forté, and Diamond D. Most versions of the album feature four bonus tracks, including three remixes of "Fu-Gee-La", and a short acoustic Wyclef Jean solo track entitled "Mista Mista".

Upon its release, The Score was a commercial success, peaking atop the U.S. Billboard 200. It also topped the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart for eight weeks, becoming the longest running number one for a hip hop group, and topped the 1996 year-end chart. The singles "Killing Me Softly", "Fu-Gee-La", and "Ready or Not" also achieved notable chart success, leading the album to become the third best selling album of 1996 in the United States, and helping the group achieve worldwide recognition.

The album received mostly favorable reviews. It received a nomination for Album of the Year at the 39th Grammy Awards, becoming the second rap album to receive a nomination in the category and the first from a hip hop group; and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, along with Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Killing Me Softly". In retrospect, The Score has garnered a considerable amount of acclaim over the years, with many music critics and publications noting it as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s, as well as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. The Score was included on the list of 200 Definitive Albums in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and was ranked number 134 on Rolling Stone's revised list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" (2020).

As of February 2021, The Score has been certified seven times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It is the best-selling album by an American hip hop act in France, where the album has been certified Diamond. With an estimated 22 million copies sold worldwide, the album has become one of the best-selling albums of all time, at the time of its release it briefly became the best-selling hip hop album of all time, and remains the best-selling album by a hip hop group. As of June 2021, the album is the fifth-most streamed 1990s hip-hop album on Spotify.