Fugees (; sometimes The Fugees) was an American hip hop group formed in the early 1990s. Deriving their name from a shortening of the word "refugees". The group consisted of Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, and Pras Michel. Jean and Michel are Haitian, while Hill is American. The group rose to fame with their second album, The Score, one of the best-selling albums of all time. They are often cited as being one of the most significant alternative hip hop groups of the 1990s.
In 1993, the trio signed to Ruffhouse, distributed through Columbia Records. The following year the group released their debut album, Blunted on Reality (1994), the album received mostly favorable reviews and included the underground Salaam Remi remixed hits "Nappy Heads" and "Vocab". They followed it up with their second and final studio album, The Score (1996), which was a commercial success, peaking at number-one on the US Billboard 200 chart and being certified seven times platinum in the United States. It received universal acclaim, and is considered to be one of the greatest hip hop albums of all-time; the album included the hit singles "Killing Me Softly", "Ready or Not", and "Fu-Gee-La". Afterwards, they released the single "Rumble in the Jungle" (featuring Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest & John Forté), which peaked at number three in the UK. In 1997, the group disbanded so the members could pursue solo careers. They reunited In 2004, and began touring for two years before officially disbanding.
The Fugees have sold over twenty-two million records worldwide, and are one of the biggest-selling hip hop groups of all time. In 2007, MTV ranked them the ninth greatest hip-hop group of all time. U2's Bono dubbed them as "the hip hop Beatles". In 2012, BET placed them on their list of 'Hip Hop's Greatest Trios' The Fugees have won many accolades, including two Grammy Awards and a Brit Award for International Group.