The Score (CLEAN ALBUM)

Vinyl edition.

The Score won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, and "Killing Me Softly" won the 1997 Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The album was also nominated for Album of the Year.

On their second album, the Fugees incorporate a couple of mid-'90s hip-hop trends: cinematic construction and references to Asian fighting techniques. But THE SCORE transcends much of the genre's recent output because it focuses as much on musicality as on beats. In fact, the deep beats often take a backseat to tense atmospheres and film noir style. More importantly, the three rappers—Haitians Wyclef and Pras, and New Yorker Lauryn Hill—swing, syncopating around the beat like jazz instrumentalists, making THE SCORE a complex and challenging listen.