Fugees - Killing Me Softly (Lyrics)

Details

Description

Artist/Group: Fugees
Album: The Score
Released: 1996
Label: Ruffhouse/Columbia

Watch the Official Video of this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKOtzIo-uYw

--------------------------------------------------

American hip hop group Fugees released their version of the song (titled "Killing Me Softly") on their second album The Score (1996), with Lauryn Hill singing the lead vocals. Fugees' version became an international hit, reaching number one on the U.S. Top 40 chart and number two on the U.S. airplay chart. The song topped the charts in over twenty countries. In the United Kingdom it was the best-selling single of 1996, additionally it is the country's biggest hip hop song by a group, and remains one of the best-selling singles of all time in the United Kingdom. It was also the best-selling single of 1996 in Belgium, Germany, Iceland, and the Netherlands. It has since sold 1.36 million copies in United Kingdom, and has been certified 3× Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. In the United States, the song has been certified 3× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for selling approximately three million units in the U.S.

This version sampled the 1990 song "Bonita Applebum" by A Tribe Called Quest, which itself samples the riff from the song, "Memory Band" from the psychedelic soul band Rotary Connection. The Fugees single was so successful that the track was "deleted", thus no longer being supplied to retailers whilst the track was still in the top 20, in an effort to draw attention to their next single "Ready or Not".

The Fugees' recording won the 1997 Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and their music video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video. "Killing Me Softly" was hailed it as one of the most essential hip hop songs in history by XXL. VH1 placed it on their '100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop' list. In 2020, the song saw a resurgence in popularity on the social networking app TikTok. The following year, Rolling Stone included it in their revised list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

"Killing Me Softly" was the last song Fugees recorded for The Score, after member Pras made the suggestion to cover it. They wanted to "see how we can create break beats. And of course, we all love A Tribe Called Quest and we went in like 'Okay, let's cut that sample.'" They then added a bass reggae drop. Initially, Fugees wanted to change the lyrics of the song to make it anti-drugs and anti-poverty but the songwriters, Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, refused.

Fugees' version features "percussive rhythms" with "a synth sitar sound, Wyclef's blurted chants, Hill's vocal melisma on the scatted bridge, and a bombastic drum-loop track".

J.D. Considine from The Baltimore Sun felt that Lauryn Hill's rendition of "Killing Me Softly" "is so convincing, you'd think it was a sample." Celebrating the album's 20th anniversary in February 2016, Kenneth Partridge from Billboard said, "It's a lovely cover that maintains the spirit of the original while taking the material in new directions." Upon the release, the magazine's Larry Flick viewed it as a "crafty cover". Peter Miro from Cash Box stated that the trio's reworking of the Roberta Flack standard "succeeds wildly." He explained, "Basically they dropped a new rasta engine in the ballad for the diddly-bopping, head-nodding masses. Bet this will be the only version they think exists." Another editor, Gil L. Robertson IV, picked it as a "standout track" of The Score album. Alan Jones from Music Week deemed it "a sensational update", adding that it "touches myriad musical bases, appealing equally to pop, R&B, easy listening and dance fans. Stripped to its bare bones, it is beautifully sung, with just enough rapping to set it apart from the original. The whole thing is superbly underlined by a bumping bass and percussion. Simple, refreshing and a huge hit." James Hamilton from the RM Dance Update noted it as a "plaintive girl and muttering chaps' sparse bass bumped and sitar plinked but still tenderly crooned remake". In January 1997, Spin described the song as "an instant classic, pumped out of every passing car from coast to coast, with Lauryn Hill's timeless voice never losing its poignant kick".

Fugees recorded a dancehall version with Bounty Killer rapping, and Hill singing a rewritten chorus. However, they did not receive permission to release it on The Score.

--------------------------------------------------

Follow Us:
https://www.hhbars.com
https://www.facebook.com/realhhbars
https://www.instagram.com/realhhbars
https://www.tiktok.com/@realhhbars

#fugees #raplyrics #hiphoplyrics #lyrics