Ready or not, they won’t come.
The Fugees have pulled the plug on their eagerly anticipated reunion tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of “The Score.”
The iconic hip-hop group — comprised of Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel — announced Friday afternoon the 12-city international jaunt was scrapped due to the pandemic.
“The continued Covid pandemic has made touring conditions difficult, and we want to make sure we keep our fans and ourselves healthy and safe,” the trio explained in a joint statement. “An idea sparked to honor and celebrate this 25th anniversary of The Score but we see now it may not currently be our time for revisiting this past work.”
The Grammy Award-winning group kicked the jaunt on Sept. 22 with an intimate pop-up show in New York City as part of the Global Citizen Live global series of concerts.
The event, which was delayed for hours, marked the Fugees’ first performance together in 15 years.
The dates were planned to pick up with a Nov. 2 gig at the United Center in Chicago, as well as dates in Oakland, California, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, Newark, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Paris, London, Nigeria and Ghana.
But on Oct. 29, the South Orange, New Jersey-formed group alerted fans on social media that the tour would be postponed until early 2022, “to ensure the best chance that all cities on the tour are fully open so we can perform for as many fans as possible.” Friday’s announcement scuttled those hopes.
Considered one of the best hip-hop albums of all time, “The Score” hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and sold over 22 million copies worldwide.
With the blazing singles such as the Teena Marie-inspired “Fu-Gee-La” and “Ready or Not” (based on the 1968 Delfonics classic), the 13-track Ruffhouse/Columbia Records opus earned two Grammy Awards: Best Rap Album, and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, for their contemporary cover of Roberta Flack’s 70s classic “Killing Me Softly.”
Executive-produced by each member of the group, along with contributions from Jerry Duplessis, Diamond D, John Forte and Salaam Remi, “The Score” remains one of the most streamed albums from the 1990s on Spotify.
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