A group pulls its own single from stores while it still sits in the Top 20, then watches the follow-up climb to No. 1. That is the strange commercial logic Fugees rode in 1996, when 'Ready Or Not' reached the summit of the UK chart on September 21. Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, and Pras Michel had already broken through with 'Killing Me Softly', a cover so dominant that the label withdrew it from sale mid-run. The replacement single became one of the year's biggest sellers in Britain, earning platinum status on both sides of the Atlantic.
From Tranzlator Crew to Fugees
The trio formed in 1990 in South Orange, New Jersey, long before anyone imagined a chart-topping run. Jean and Michel shared Haitian roots, and the name Fugees came from 'refugees', a nod to that heritage. Before settling on the moniker, they performed as Tranzlator Crew. Their first album, Blunted on Reality, arrived on February 1, 1994, though the sessions dated back to 1992. A dispute with the label delayed the release, and Ronald 'Khalis' Bell of Kool & the Gang handled production duties.
The debut did not exactly announce a world-conquering act. 'Nappy Heads' managed No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the group later admitted they had surrendered too much control to producers. But the experience sharpened their instincts. When The Score landed in February 1996, the sound was leaner, stranger, and entirely their own. The album topped the Billboard 200 and eventually moved past seven million copies in the United States alone, certified seven-times platinum by the RIAA.
The Enya sample and the lawsuit
'Ready Or Not' borrowed its chorus from The Delfonics' 'Ready or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide from Love)', a Philadelphia soul staple. But the track's most distinctive texture came from somewhere else entirely: a sample of Enya's 'Boadicea', lifted without permission. The Irish singer's ethereal vocal loop floated beneath Hill's verses, creating an unlikely bridge between New Age ambience and boom-bap. It was a brilliant collision of worlds, and it was also legally indefensible.
Enya sued. The case ended in a settlement that gave her songwriting credit and royalties, a resolution the group accepted without public bitterness. Fugees thanked her in the liner notes of The Score, acknowledging the patience she showed while the dispute played out. The sample stayed in the mix, and the song's commercial life continued uninterrupted. 'Ready Or Not' became one of the best-selling UK singles of 1996, a fact that must have stung any label executive who had doubted the group's instincts.
The sample stayed in the mix, and the song's commercial life continued uninterrupted.
Grammy success and side projects
The Score turned Fugees into a phenomenon. It became one of the most commercially successful hip-hop albums ever released, and the second rap album nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. At the 1997 ceremony, the group took home two trophies: Best Rap Album for The Score and Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for 'Killing Me Softly'. The latter had previously been recorded by Lori Lieberman and Roberta Flack, but the Fugees version became the definitive one for a new generation.
Side projects multiplied quickly. The group covered Bob Marley's 'No Woman, No Cry', collaborated with Simply Red on 'Angel', and joined Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest, and John Forté for 'Rumble in the Jungle' from the documentary When We Were Kings. Both collaborations reached the UK top five. They also founded the Refugee Camp All-Stars and staged the largest concert in Haiti's history. Then, almost as suddenly as they arrived, the trio splintered into solo careers.
Reunions and legal troubles
Jean released The Carnival in 1997 with all three members appearing. Pras scored a hit with 'Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)' alongside Mýa and Ol' Dirty Bastard for the film Bulworth. Reunions flickered: a Sesame Street video in 1998, a celebrated set at Dave Chappelle's Block Party in 2004, a European tour in 2005. A 25th-anniversary tour for The Score was announced in 2021, postponed by COVID-19, and quietly cancelled in August 2024, three days before the first show.
The aftermath has been uneven. Pras received a 14-year prison sentence in 2025 over the 1MDB scandal. Hill and Jean reunited at the 68th Grammy Awards in 2026 for a tribute to D'Angelo and Roberta Flack. Total sales exceed 22 million records worldwide. Barack Obama has called 'Ready Or Not' his favorite song, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included it among the Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. Rolling Stone placed The Score at No. 134 on its 2020 list of the 500 greatest albums.
Thirty years after 'Ready Or Not' topped the UK chart, the song still carries an improbable weight. It is a hit built from a stolen sample, a soul chorus, and a group that refused to be contained by genre or expectation. The Delfonics provided the hook, Enya provided the atmosphere, and Fugees provided the friction. That friction is what keeps the record alive in playlists, documentaries, and presidential anecdotes alike.